Booger Brown Converse's

I have been wearing a version of Converse Chuck Taylor’s for most of the decision-making time of my life. The times when I may not have always been considered an adult but I was picking out my clothes in the morning. That is what I call the decision-making periods of life. These are the years when I wore sweatpants with a polo shirt and of course, my chucks. I looked like a cross between Doug Funnie and Skeeter Valentine.

Needless to say, as cool as I felt walking through the halls in my pair of red Converse shoes, I was not as welcomed as one may think. The Michael Clinton of today was not the Michael Clinton who roamed the halls of Minooka Community High School between 2000 and 2004. The young Michael Clinton was soft spoken and made a point not to be noticed. A very reserved young man who was known by his teachers as the “shy kid” just trying to make it through the horribleness of high school.

MCHS was probably like every other high school in the country. It had its popular group, athletes, smart kids, gothic punks and of course, the geeky-nerdy-losers. I was in more of the geeky-nerdy-loser group. I had my friends who I would eat lunch with, and tell jokes to. Around my friends, I was slowly becoming the immature, loud, aggravating person I am today.

However, when I was in class and all the groups of popular kids, athletes and everyone else began to mix. I would stay in my shell and hope that I wasn’t noticed. High school was a time when kids get made fun of for anything different. When you are as weird as me, it opens the door for much criticism. Flying under the radar just seemed like the smart thing to do. Especially when my efforts to fit in came at a terrible cost.

For instance, my football career was short the summer of my sophomore year. I decided I’d give the sport a try. I had always been a fan of football and thought it looked easy enough. The head coach was my homeroom teacher and I was on his good side so he liked me. In fact, he was kind of excited that I wanted to play on the team.

The first day of practice I was placed as a wide receiver, because I was tall and skinny. The scrimmage that day was a combination of varsity and junior varsity on offense against the varsity defense. Once I got my route I was going to run for the upcoming play I lined up ready for the snap. As I looked to my left the quarterback looked right into my eyes and gave me a nod. I felt like Wile-E-Coyote standing in the shadow of a falling piano waiting to get crushed. Basically, I had a bad feeling about this. After the ball was snapped and I glanced over my shoulder I saw the quarterback throwing a pass to the smallest receiver on the field, me. Just as my fingers scratched the pigskin a very large varsity quarterback hit me like a Mack Truck. I flew about 10 yards before I hit the ground and rolled nearly another 10 yards. I got up, walked to my coach, took off my pads and said, “I’m done!” and I quite the team. I learned that day, trying to fit in just wasn’t worth it.

That was why staying below the criticism radar was so important. I would show up for school everyday at 7:30, then go to all my classes saying as little as possible and at 3:02 in the afternoon I left school after sighing a breath of relief. Of course, there are things in life that just happen because… well, God just hates us. It was the day of sophomore year photos and I was wear a plaid button-down orange shirt and sporting a classic buzz haircut. I smiled my best smile for the cameraman and the bright flash of white consumed my vision. I rubbed my eyes and walked over to my friend who turned and said to me laughing, “you have a booger hanging from your nose?” I couldn’t believe it. The day my photos came, sure enough, there was the big brown booger, stealing all the attention from my smile. I couldn’t believe that the photographer took the picture with that thing hanging from my nose.

In high school, no matter how cool I thought I was wearing Converse Chuck Taylor’s. I will always be remembered as that kid who had the booger hanging from his nose in the yearbook.