Follow the Model by J. Alexander

Author:J. Alexander
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: SIMON SPOTLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT
Published: 2009-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Finland has changed a lot, but when I first arrived there almost fifteen years ago, it could be rough for a black gay man. One time I was sitting in a café minding my own business when a drunk man at a nearby table suddenly began harassing me. He yelled out that I was a nigger. He said I had brought AIDS to their country. He looked at me with sheer disgust, and I was shocked. I ignored him and just held my head high, but the next day I was walking down the street with a tall blond model I had been working with when out of nowhere another drunk man came up and tried to kick me in the crotch. It was a horrible moment. I think he thought I was in the country stealing his women. (Little did he know I was there stealing their men!) I think I was considered just a big ol’ black threat. There are certain things I don’t let bother me, and that was one of those things. When he tried to kick me he could barely stand on his own because he was so wasted, and he fell on the street in the ice. My first reaction was to stomp him—not kick him, but to stomp him in his face while he was on the ground. It was my very first reaction, but even quicker, I had to think not to do it. It was my true South Bronx ghetto upbringing. Mother******, you tried to kick me, I’ll kick your ass back, was what I was thinking.

But then I realized, He’s drunk, he’s stupid, and he’s mad. I was able, once again, to calm myself down and just continue on my way.

Soon after I returned from Finland, the same client took me to Sweden’s Fashion Week for the same reason and I started traveling twice a year to both locations on a regular basis. Elite eventually took me on full-time, too. So I started working for the Elite Model Look, their international competition where they scout different countries and modeling agencies for new girls to hire. Every year there is a huge competition from country to country, ending with a giant Elite contract. I was being sent to London, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Korea to teach the girls how to walk before the big main event. The shows were fun but they were usually a big mess—I’d be working with anywhere from fourteen to twenty girls, only around half of whom spoke English, and the rehearsals always started late because of confusion and disorganization. For all of these shows, local choreographers were brought on to work as well, and it was difficult to try to marry my walking skills with the choreographers’ moves. There was more than one personality clash during those times.

WALK THIS WAY:

Breathe First

It’s so easy to spontaneously react when someone calls you a name or threatens some sort of violence. That first gut reaction to someone else’s nastiness is one of the reasons why our jails and prisons are so full.

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