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story time: presidential edition

adventures-in-theatre

so you know how everyone has a story
you know
like the story
like if you’re at a party and someone turns to you and says, tell the story
and you know exactly what they mean
the story
well
i have a story
and not unlike most good stories, it involves three key components:
barack obama
pre-2008 reebok sneakers
and the absolute earth-shattering horror you can only feel after making the worst mistake of your life

so here we go
it all began eight years ago
(i was a gangly child then)
and barack obama came to town
(when i was a young girl)
(my father took me out into the city)
(to see the president of the united states, obama)
(barack obama)
except it wasn’t the city but where my parents worked
and my mother was hired to take pictures of obama shaking the hands of others
(rich people)
(ceo’s)
(people who didn’t wear reeboks to meet the president)
so i skipped school to see obama
(naturally)
(but my teacher was a republican so it still counted as an absence)
and the adventure begun
but as i soon learned
most of the adventure was waiting in a large room with my mother and some secret service men for roughly eight hours
because there is no timing with obama
(barack obama)
no one can know when obama is supposed to be there
(barack obama)
there is no, like, obama warning system
(barack)
it’s just that one second he’s not there
and the next second
he’s there
(barack obama)
so it was eight hours
and i remember nothing from those eight hours except for when one of the secret service men tried to talk to me
‘how are your studies,’ he said
how’s school, he probably meant
but i didn’t understand at the time
i was a gangly child
i was scared
he was tall
(i cried)
and then all of a sudden
(about eight hours into the eight hours)
he was there
(barack obama)
he was beauty
he was grace
he was
(barack obama)
he walked into the room
he wasn’t wearing reeboks
(i noticed)
(i began to feel i’d made a mistake)
my mother took pictures of him shaking the hands of others
(rich people)
(ceo’s)
(none of whom were wearing reeboks)
and at the very end
obama began to leave
(barack obama)
i was happy enough to have graced his presence
but my parents
my parents were not happy
they needed more
‘mr. obama,’ they called
and they pointed to me
‘of course,’ obama said
(barack obama)
he’s so nice, i thought
and then it hit me
oh no, i thought
oh yes, my parents thought at some point, probably
i’m obama, obama thought, most likely
i was going to meet obama
up close and personal
obama
(barack obama)
the rest was a blur
and the next thing i knew i was there
with obama
(barack obama)
his hand was shaking my hand
his hand was on my hand
(nothing had ever felt so right)
‘so what’s you’re name,’ he asked
(with obama’s voice)
(because he was obama)
(barack obama)
and i almost forgot but i told him
and he said it correctly even though it’s weird
(obama said my name)
and we were off to a good start
how was i to know
how was i to know the horrors to come
‘so how old are you,’ he asked then
and that’s when this dream became a nightmare
‘twelve,’ i said
a seemingly innocent answer
but here’s the thing
i was
thirteen.
(thirteen)
(13)
(12+1)
(16-3)
(13.0)
(Thirteen.)
what have i done, i thought
(panic! at the election)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3LGopSVju4
i still don’t know why i did it
did i really forget?
did i do it for the thrill of the chase?
to see if i could?
maybe
but obama didn’t know
i did it, i thought, i lied
i lied to the president of the united states
i pulled it off
the greatest lie in history
the greatest heist
(i didn’t know what a heist was)
(i was thirteen)
‘oh so you’re in 6th grade then,’ obama said
shit.
i was so close
shit what do i say, i thought
the journey is not over
the nightmare rages on
what do i say
i open my mouth to say, yes
‘no,’ i say
what the fuck, i think
‘no i’m in 7th grade”
(because i was)
maybe he won’t know, i thought
but he did.
(obama’s been around the block)
(obama knows what’s up)
‘so you’re ahead of your class, then’ he said
(i wasn’t)
(i failed basic math at least twice by this time)
‘yes,’ i said, just wanting this nightmare to be over
just wanting the lie to end
for obama to call me out on my shit and arrest me
to spend the rest of my youth locked away in prison where i couldn’t hurt anyone any more with my lies
i waited
i waited for arrest
but arrest didn’t come
and that was even worse.
obama trusted me
obama thought i was a good kid
obama thought i was ahead of my class
(ahead of my class)
i let him down
i let obama down
(barack obama)
i watched him leave
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYNH1baA_7k
obama, i mouthed out after him
obama i’m sorry
(he trusted me)
why did i do it, you ask
i don’t know
after all these years
i still don’t know
it still haunts me
i still wake up at night, shaking, and i think
i lied to the president of the united states
(twice)
the photographic evidence of my nightmare hangs in my father’s office
i’m smiling through my pain
i’m wearing reeboks
obama is not
(barack obama)
i hope that someday, after obama’s retirement
we can put this all behind us and start anew
start fresh
(no more lies)
(no more deceit)
but i’m not naive
i know that we can never really go back
back to the way things were
five seconds after i met him but five seconds before i lied
but i can dream
i can hope
obama
obama i’m sorry
(barack obama)

Designer & Client DeeKay Kwon

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story time: presidential edition

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Designer & Client DeeKay Kwon

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story time: presidential edition