Enter Michael Jackson, Stage Left

Have you noticed a sudden profusion of Michael Jackson quotes? End of "Don't Stop the Music" (current Rihanna hit, for those of you who don't live with a middle schooler)? Naomi and the dancing lizards in that Super Bowl ad? Yep, it's time for the 25th anniversary Thriller re-release, and the tentacles of corporate cultural America are reaching out as far as they can (credit for insight and information goes, of course, to S) (or rather, I noticed the phenomenon; he furnished the analysis).

Remember the first time you heard "Billie Jean"? I do. I was in City Center, in a car, with a friend who is now a famous poet (yes, Jenny, that one), and a friend who is now in a top position with a major politician (hmm, the accomplishments of my erstwhile friends was not at all the aim of this post, and neither was a severe blow to my self-esteem...). I think there must have been another friend or two, though now I'm thinking how could we have been in a car? We were never in cars, except, well, sometimes we were in cars, though when we were, we probably shouldn't have been, and the political friend actually did drive, though none of the rest of us did, us being the girls of my grade--the boys of the grade above us, who were the boys we hung out with, did drive, because they lived in leafy suburbs, while we lived in City with lots of public transportation. Wow, where on earth am I going with this? OK, the point is that I have an absolutely clear memory of being in this car, right in the middle of City Center, in front of the diner and the newstand, hearing "Billie Jean" and having my mind blown. That's all.