What Fame Means To Me by Reginald Lawrence
Fame opened up an entire world of possibilities for me. Leroy (gene) - opened up a world of dance for me. When Fame began I was 14. I had NEVER seen BLACK people on television celebrated the way that Gene and Debbie were. They made me wanna dance. From Dance I moved on to Theater and have been producing, writing, and performing for over twenty years.
My DVR is set to Ovation- My two boys and I watch fame reruns together regularly. I still talk to my high school dance teacher who looks surprisingly like Debbie Allen (even now). I regularly ache for the loss of Gene- because he was such a symbol for me when I was a teen.
Your site helped me renew my connection. I have spent my entire professional life with some little part of me connected to the influence of that show. It's important to know that it is not nostalgia for many of us- it's an active engaged life in the arts that was nurtured by that 30 year old t.v show. You and it are a pleasant reminder that we all still share important connections and what we create has value that may never be apparent to those of us who do the creating.
Gene never knew what he meant to me. Debbie does not know either. I never wrote to them to say thank you. But I am writing to you-- because sometimes you do need a little reminder of how important your efforts are to others.
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