Kofi Reeves-Miller

For most of my childhood and adolescence, I’d probably ( and accurately) be described as a man of few words. I think on most days I could go through a whole day at school or a gymnastics practice and utter under 100 words during either. I don’t know why exactly but there was a seal on my lips. I didn’t want to say anything and I didn’t have anything to say.

I’m still not the type to think the world has to know whatever I’m thinking or feeling at any given moment, and I don’t think I’ll ever be that. But over the years I can almost plot the progression in how open I’d felt towards my peers and how capable I was at, making jokes or conversation as I think back to moments in each grade.

This all culminated my senior year, when I contradicted a deadly disease, known to many as “Senioritis”. Being at my wit’s end in terms of school and schoolwork I feel directly led to me being at my trolliest. And it was everywhere. Trolling Lit discussion posts, catching my friends in class during my lunch period, class presentations, you name it.

At this time of my life, where I seemed to be finding my voice, I had also started to sing a lot and the Brooklyn 99 clip, the one of guys in a police lineup singing “I Want It That Way”, was stuck in my head for the majority of the year. One time our substitute teacher told us to say our name and one thing about ourself. So of course I had to say, “[My name] and… I want it that way.” She asked me I wanted to sing so eagerly but nervously obliged, even imploring the class to join in for the closing lines. With how catchy it is, it not surprising it caught on with some of my friends.

After practice in the football locker room, as everyone was changing and winding down, we started singing that and got it to fill the whole locker room. It’s not like we sang everyday but it relaxed the vibe of the team and made it feel a little more connected. And a younger me really would’ve never expected myself to be the leader of a charge like that, so I just have to sit back and laugh sometimes.