Life On The Spectrum: Chapter 3

When I saw the Special Edition of Star Wars: A New Hope in 1997, my 7-year-old self found it boring. But two years later, when I saw Episode I: The Phantom Menace, hooked I was. I immediately went home and borrowed the original three movies from my neighbor Lee, watched them endlessly and made my parents buy me copies of my own. I finagled all the merchandise I could find, even collecting all the Pepsi cans with the characters on them that were on the shelves at the time.

Summer 1999 was the Summer of Star Wars in my life, just as 1977 must have been for so many in a previous generation. My bedroom was completely re-done with Star Wars things. Power Rangers didn’t fall too far: it remained second on my list of obsessions, but it was clearly last year’s news.

The downside to that summer: my second year of the Summer Elementary program was worse than the first. I was irritated; I was argumentative with counselors and I wanted desperately to get out. Worst of all, I was first exposed to music by the likes of “Backstreet Boys” “N’SYNC” and “Britney Spears.” I could not help but think that the music the other kids were listening to was crap. I grew up listening to Classical Music, which my Grandfather loved; Beach Boys songs (notably “Barbara Ann”) that my dad loved to play: and the James Taylor album Hourglass, which I first came to enjoy because of the accompanying built-in CD-ROM. Listening to what they played at the Program seemed like a serious step backward in terms of musical satisfaction.

All in all, I hated the summer program. I hated the counselors, hated the program, and I hated the fact that this was my summer, which the Beach Boys were telling me would be fun, fun, fun. I hold no animosity toward the counselors now; I know they were really young themselves. But mostly I hated that here it was summer and I was watching what they wanted and listening to what they liked instead of being home and watching my movies and shows, and listening to the music I was beginning to be so fond of.

And my relationship with the other summer program kids? Well, I wanted badly to belong, but really didn’t know how to do so. And the results weren’t good.

One day, a man showed up at the program to ask me questions about my school life. I was honest with him and could tell he was taking notes. “What for?” was my first thought. Later, I think that same day, I would find out the answer. It turned out the final straw for both the counselors and I came when my “friends” at program dared me to kick a girl in the butt. I did so because they said they would not be my friends anymore if I did not. To this day, I am anything but proud of that day.

I was quickly kicked out of the summer program, and at the end of the summer I found that I would not be returning to my elementary school for the fourth grade at all. I would be going to a completely different school. When I first arrived at this school, in a town fairly far from my home, I was scared. But after my first day I actually preferred it. The students in my class were really amusing characters. Somehow I still managed to thrive educationally despite my continuing erratic behavior. I was happy because I had all my Star Wars School Supplies, and some of my classmates were at least as much trouble as I was, if not more. My bus driver would sing hilarious songs about “beating your children” to me and my companions, which at the time we never thought of as anything but amusing.

But it was the day after Thanksgiving 1999 that started the next seismic event in my timeline. My parents, brother and I drove to an airport early in the morning to take a plane to a place that my parents had hinted at our attending for years: Walt Disney World! All I knew about Walt Disney World (WDW) at that time was from travel pamphlets and from my cousins, who go at least 4 times a year, literally every year.

When we arrived in Florida, we were met by a limo that would take us to the WDW property. The driver, a black man with an obvious Caribbean accent, was asked by my brother, 6 at the time, “What language do you speak?” The driver laughingly replied “English.” I could tell we were in for an exciting time, and couldn’t believe it was actually happening.

We were dropped off at Disney’s All Star Music Resort Hotel, a music-themed hotel with a big lobby, food court and featured individual buildings based to a particular genre of music. My family stayed in “Calypso;” my mom’s parents met us down there and the stage was set for a time that would change my life forever.

After settling in, we went to the “Downtown Disney District” and went to the Movie Theater to see Toy Story 2, which was brand new at the time. My brother and I loved it and I even thought it was better than the first Toy Story. Over the next several months, Woody and Buzz and some new characters would take over our lives again. In the previews, I also found out about Fantasia 2000, news of a sequel that I knew would thrill me, since the original Fantasia was (and is) one of my favorite Disney films. So that day was quite spectacular. But then came the second day of our Disney experience, which just might have been the greatest day of my life.

Before that day, the upcoming Millennium change was not really something I thought about frequently. But this was the first full day of our Walt Disney World vacation. At the written guidance of my Disney-mad aunt, we spent the first day at EPCOT rather than the park that most visitors would choose to go to first, the heavily marketed Magic Kingdom. I knew of EPCOT only that it had a “Giant Golf Ball” at the entrance and included cultural replicas and cultural exhibitions on countries from around the world. When I entered I saw the giant Golf Ball but next to it was a gigantic representation of Mickey Mouse’s hand holding up a wand out of which came the number 2000, since the resort and EPCOT in particular were throwing a huge Celebration for the upcoming Millennium change. I was excited; we went under the Golf Ball and saw a sign. It turned out that it was not a Golf Ball at all but “Spaceship Earth.”

We found out that there was a ride inside so we went in and entered the ride vehicles as they ascended up into the inside of the sphere. Then a voice (Jeremy Irons) spoke “Like a grand and miraculous spaceship, our planet has sailed through the universe of time, and for a brief moment we have been among its many passengers.” What followed was a fascinating journey through the history of mankind and how the power of communication had brought the human race together and how we could use it to build a better world.” The narrator’s last line was “Since the dawn of recorded time, communication has revolutionized our lives and changed our world. We now have the ability and the responsibility to build new bridges of acceptance and cooperation between us, to create a better world for ourselves and our children as we continue our amazing journey aboard Spaceship Earth.”

As the narrator spoke, I saw fiber optics stranding around a little model of Spaceship Earth symbolizing how small our home planet really is. I got off the ride a much wiser person than when I first went in. It was a life-changing experience, and it was just the beginning! We spent the rest of the day checking out the different pavilions and countries and I realized that the theme of the park was that all the people of the world must come together to build a better future and that the Millennium change to 2000 was a significant turning point in history, which is why Epcot was hosting it.

To top it off, that night featured my first viewing of the then-new IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth. The show is a depiction of the history of the Earth and how the human race must join hand in hand to create a better future for us all—all told in music, explosives, fireworks and a model of the Earth with projection screens for continents. I was crying halfway through the show and hugging my brother and telling him Happy New Millennium! I have seen the show several times since and have had similar warm feelings but I don’t think I have ever cried as many tears of pure joy before or since. My experience that day enlightened me and my life would never be the same again.

The rest of my trip to Walt Disney World was spectacular and I loved it all so much, especially the Tapestry of Nations parade at Epcot, a celebration of the uniting of world cultures to celebrate the future hand in hand with Puppets and massive Drum-clocks, which would later on inspire me to become a drummer. When we went home I was deflated and although the trip had been fantastic, I was devastated that it was over. I returned to my daily life but what happened that day in Epcot would color my experiences from then on.

Sadly, I was unable to properly greet the New Millennium, since my last days of the 20th Century were spent sick with the flu, as was the case for everyone in the family except my dad. I managed to see a lot of the television coverage on the Disney-owned ABC News featuring the score for Reflections of Earth as the musical accompaniment but I was too exhausted by flu conditions to stay awake for the Millennium change, which is something I regret to this day.

All I remember is my father yelling “Happy New Millennium,” into the guest room, where I was sleeping because I was too exhausted to go to my top bunk bed. My dad taped the Philadelphia fireworks, with the music featured almost exclusively from Disney’s Tapestry of Nations and Reflections of Earth. I went into the new millennium with optimism and excitement.

And with a few exceptions, the year 2000 was very kind to me. One notable setback came the morning of my 10th birthday, March 22, 2000, when I suddenly felt sharp pains in my stomach and abdomen. Excited to share birthday cupcakes with my friends, I insisted that I was okay to go to school. At first I tried to fight through the pain but almost as soon as I got to school the pain became unbearable. So my Mom picked me up and took me to the pediatrician, who sent me to the same hospital where I had been born 10 years before to the day. I had appendicitis; thus I spent the night of my 10th birthday having my appendix removed. I still have the photo to prove it. When I returned to school the class had a dual Welcome Back/Birthday Party, and I was touched. My first year at the new school ended smoothly.

Other good things happened as well. In May 2000, my youngest cousin Amanda was born to great fanfare, the daughter of my Aunt Pam and Uncle Don. Then came “Callaghan 2000.”

In July 2000, the entire paternal side of my family, including my relatives from Nebraska who at the time I barely knew (except for my Aunt Mary, who would frequently fly back East to visit my grandparents), rented 2 houses in the seaside community of Sea Isle City, New Jersey, for a week. It turned out my Nebraska cousin Ryan, a good 18 years older than me but a good guy, was a huge Star Wars fan with an especially humorous dislike of Jar Jar Binks that I found hilarious. So we talked about Star Wars quite a bit and got along really well even if he did break his promise to my parents to take me and my brother to Pokemon The Movie 2000. My mother took us and did her best to sleep through this epic film. (A future pizza magnate named Herman Cain would pay more attention. In his primary campaign for Republican presidential nominee in 2012, he would use a lyric snippet from the title song of the movie as his personal mantra. )

While the adults weren’t always in synch, “Callaghan 2000” was a great bonding experience for me and all my cousins and in retrospect was one of the highlights of my life. Things were pretty much great all that summer.

I returned to school for 5th Grade in Fall 2000 feeling on top of the world. Most of the students in the class had completely changed over, but it was okay because I actually got along with everyone better, whether holdovers or newbies. And in November 2000 the family flew to Nebraska for my Cousin Anne’s wedding and for Thanksgiving. I got to spend more time with Ryan and family, which was great. We went to see the actual podracer used in Star Wars: Episode I and I remember distinctively our all going to see the Ron Howard film How the Grinch Stole Christmas on its first night of release the night before Thanksgiving. On our final night in the town of Wahoo, Nebraska, we attended the Wahoo, Nebraska, Christmas Parade, which featured a guy dressed as the devil in a Santa Claus suit for some reason. None of us could ever figure out the purpose of this “Satan Claus,” but my father said he’d never think of Nebraska the same way again.

A few weeks before Christmas 2000, I broke my fibula while horsing around at a Cub Scout Pack Meeting so that kept me limping for a while and made Christmas that year challenging, but at that time of my life it was still the best time of the year. Luckily I was awake to greet the year 2001, which I began still riding the emotional high of 2000. I was in 5th Grade, and the world was mine for the taking. My daily ritual continued to revolve around Fox Network’s Kids block, which featured Power Rangers Time Force (of course) and Digimon, which was a similar show to Pokemon, though it was actually more serious and adult. In May 2001, the second season of Digimon wound down in a very dark way. (At least it did so in America; the show had already aired the previous year in Japan.) The events depicted in the show were supposed to take place a year later in 2002, and they would soon be reflected in my own life.

The story featured the main villain Oikawa, a friend of one of the main character’s late father, who was the only person who accepted him because of his peculiar interests. I identified with the character immediately. The premise was that after the father of the main character died, Oikawa became possessed by a dark force that drove him to plant seeds of darkness into young children with troubled and lonely childhoods that would help him take over the digital world or something like that, I was really into the plot. After the episode aired, it was time to go to my former (and my brothers then-current) Elementary School for their Spring Fair and book sale. On the way to the Fair, a certain song would come on one of my father’s many CDs that built upon the darkness I had just seen in that Digimon cartoon and that song would haunt me to this day.