OCTOBER 22 — 1962 CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS Pt. 1: JFK sends warning to America about nuclear missiles; 1997 Happy birthday Acacia Brinley; SPORTS: 2000 Clemmons throws bat at Piazza, 1985 KC wins first World Series, 1972 A’s win first World Series in 42 years, NFL 1950 L.A. Rams beat Baltimore 70-27
22 1997 – Happy birthday Acacia Brinley! She’s a famous pop singer, but that’s not why I bring her up. She has a huge online media YouTube presence, but I’m not bringing her name up for that either. Pop singers and multimedia stars are a dime a dozen. I haven’t even liked pop music since the 1980s when I was a teen. So why do I like Acacia so much? Because it’s hard to find a really true person. True to her, and true to everyone else on the Internet. In fact, the simple concept of being true is what got her an online audience of millions of viewers. Acacia wasn’t always popular; she definitely didn’t start out that way. She started on Tumblr actually, in a very modest lifestyle in Boston. She was bullied in school, didn’t have a boyfriend, and didn’t play sports or music, didn’t has a lot of money and felt like she didn’t fit in. On Tumblr, in the privacy of her own room, she was able to share with her friends pictures of herself, which is how she became known as the Selfie Queen of Tumblr. I’m not sure, but I think my podcast is actually on Tumblr and I still have no idea what it is, but that’s because I’m an old man. For young Acacia, it was the perfect place for her to be herself, a kid without a lot of self-esteem, talking to other kids going through the same thing. Her presence continued to grow, until brand names like Drop Dead UK, Brandy Melville, One Piece and Nasty Gal who started paying Acacia money for her to wear their gear. Then mega-companies like PepsiCo and McDonalds reached out to her. Her presence spread to Twitter and Instagram, and now everyone was talking about Acacia. But some people get real big and tough when behind the keyboard of a computer, and next thing she knew Acacia was dealing with a negative backlash. It was as if the bullying from her school grew by tenfold and jumped on the Internet, calling her ugly, a slut, a whore, and all she was doing was just trying to be a teenager in a world where 89% of people between the ages of 19 and 29 use social media. But she was bigger than the bullies. She recognized their crude comments for what they really were: nothing. Acacia didn’t do anything special to go after the haters hating on her, she just continued to be herself, and she rose above it all. It worked. She became a singer for the band Watercolor; she has millions and millions of fans when you combine Facebook, Twitter and all the others. You can still catch her talk on her media channels about cinnamon rolls, eating ice cream with a knife and how weird her friends are. In other words, she’s become a sensation, simply by being herself. That’s why we like this kid so much and one of the reason she’s one of my favorite living Americans.