Because I am
“I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory.” -Lin Manuel Miranda as Alexander Hamilton and I relate to this line more than any other line in any other production.
About 4–5 years ago, my entire social media was inundated with posts about the must-see musical, Hamilton. And I recoiled.
First, I’m a rebel. If something is too popular, I assume its a fad, a trend, something lacking depth. It’s the Gen X in me. I’m working through it in therapy.
Second, I don’t like musicals. Well, that’s not entirely true. I don’t like most musicals. What are the odds this popular history-based musical would be my cup of tea, especially since, third, history wasn’t my best subject.
Don’t get me wrong, I love History, but I didn’t like the way it was taught.
Teach me the lessons of history, not the dates. Don’t teach me about white supremacists, teach me the names of the slaves.
To me, history, particularly the white-american-christian history I grew up learning, was boring.
If only they’d taught it Hamilton style.
Maybe it wouldn’t have affected me the same way five years ago though. I was a completely different person in a lot of ways. And five years ago, before Donald Trump was president, seems like a generation ago considering I write this having been mostly cooped up in my house with my kids since March 12th as we…
