Just Wondering

[Julieduke]

If you could meet any celebrity weather alive or dead who would you want to meet and why?

[North_of_Border1]

Tough question. There are many actors that I like but aside from the cast of DOH which would be awesome to meet I would like to meet Erik Estrada.

The reason is that he made me feel better about being who I am at a time when I didn't like being me. Let me explain:

I'm Italian. First generation born in Canada. I was raised in a white french speaking city. There were no ethnic minorities there at that time. Although I'm not a visible minority I always felt different. Nobody could pronounce or spell my name right. My parents were not like other parents. Nobody but me knew what polenta or mortadella was. I didn't know what meatloaf was. I was bullied too.

In the show Chips (I was 8 when it first aired) the most popular character was Poncherello played by Erik. He was THE MAN of the hour. In the show everybody loved Ponch. He was the most handsome and coolest cop. Erik was in every magazine. Posters all over the place.

Now I know Erik is Latino not Italian. Neither was Ponch. He was supposed to be Italian but Erik changed it. Nevertheless as a kid I didn't see any difference between Latinos and Italians. The names sound the same and the language is very similar. I understand it well. Most of the time.

After every episode I went to bed thinking "They all think he's so cool and he's like me. So I guess I'm pretty cool too." It put a smile on my face.

And just for that I will always appreciate him.