by Michelle
2. October 2009 17:13
Yesterday, was a day that I will remember when I'm 70 years old. A memory of my son Tucker, 14 years old, sitting across the table from the super smart, seriously sweet executive production team of Bizarre Foods as they pick his brain for the teenage perspective of a Bizarre Food show.
Tucker -- who, in his high chair, wouldn't touch his cheerios, but gnawed a red pepper like an apple. Tucker who prefers eating feta cheese on his burger to American. Tucker -- who won't eat pizza, but sautes clams, minnows, June bugs and crickets from our backyard with "butter, salt, pepper, and sweet basil." Tucker -- who has one of the highest IQ's I know of, but has raging ADHD. Tucker -- who can talk about the conflict in the middle east, but can't turn in his social studies assignments. Tucker -- who in the car on the way over to Bizarre Foods was so jittery/headache/nauseous from his ADHD medicine messing with his sensitive system that he could hardly see straight. Tucker -- who, although suffering, by the time we got to Bizarre Foods had pulled himself together.
When we entered the studios, Tucker shook hands and introduced himself to BF team. Tucker served his apple crisp and poured them coffee. He pitched his ideas for bringing Andrew's world to kids everywhere in America, no matter what community or socioeconomic background. He traded shop talk and got the inside scoop on his favorite Bizarre Foods episode (when Andrew ate a raw beating frog heart with chop sticks.) And he discussed how eelpout found in Minnesota is similar to lung fish found only in Uganda.
I sat utter awe of Tucker. To be at the table with decision makers in an industry you are passionate about and to be confident enough in your ideas to communicate them effectively, is a skill most people struggle with (even myself as a GenX Mom.)
This is Tucker, with his friend Mason, cooking a cow tongue. Definitely a story I would put in a Memoir of Me Book. What about you?
