Article July 16, 2007 Issue

NOT SMART? NOT ATHLETIC? NOT POPULAR? THAT WAS ME!

BY ANTHONY WHITEHOUSE

IT'S EASY TO GROW UP thinking you are a complete klutz. I mean, how are you supposed to feel as a kid when you're barely smart enough to stay in college, aren't athletic enough to make the football team, and are so awkward it seems as if nobody wants to be your friend?

In my youth, this seemed to be my situation. And there always seemed to be those naturally gifted people around who managed to do it all with apparent ease. Such as the guy I attended college with. He was not only good-looking, on several school sports teams, attending school on a scholarship, held in great esteem by his friends, but he was also an accomplished musician. And, dare I say it, he wrote a major pop hit in later life.

I was really bewildered by this seemingly unequal distribution of talents. I even wondered if it was some kind of curse on me in particular.