Wendy Brown Date: Friday, October 03 @ 09:10:51 CDT Topic: Hero Highlight
By Editorial Staff
In this youth-obsessed culture, Father
Time can be a real SOB. This is especially true for aging adults who didn’t
have a fulfilling childhood and/or lack the means for plastic surgery. For some
parents in this situation, about the only option left is reliving their younger
days vicariously through their kids.
This month’s hero, though, has shown
these desperate thirty-somethings that there is a much more gratifying
alternative to avenge the evil wrought by the hands of time. Instead of
reliving your youth through your
child, why not do so by becoming your
child?
Much like Roger Bannister proved in
1954 that the human body could run a mile in under four minutes, Wendy Brown of
Green Bay, Wisconsin showed that it is possible for a 33-year-old mother to
assume her 15-year-old daughter’s identity.
While it sounds far-fetched, Brown
managed not only to pose as her daughter at Ashwaubenon High School, but also
practice with the cheerleading squad, get assigned a cheerleader’s locker, and
even attend a pool party at the cheerleading coach’s house. Meanwhile, the daughter
was living in Nevada with Brown’s mother.
School officials and teachers said
Brown appeared older but had a teenager-like demeanor. A school employee even
said that Brown told her she wasn’t good at math and cried when she talked
about moving from Pahrump Valley High School in Nevada. Brown knows that, if
you long to recapture your teenage years, it helps if you’ve never mentally
left them.
For those who might want to follow
Brown’s example, here are some helpful tips to glean from her experience. First,
make sure your kid is in another state at least two time zones away. Second, it’s
much easier to blend in with teenagers half your age in a place that isn’t
known for beautiful kids, like Wisconsin. And finally, if you’re invited to a
pool party, wear a one-piece to cover the C-section scar.
Some less enlightened people, like
those in law enforcement, have deemed Brown’s actions as identity theft. We at Red Shtick see it differently. If Bill
Cosby can get away with telling his child, “I brought you in this world, and I
can take you out,” what’s wrong with a woman pretending to be her child? She
took the kid’s identity, not her life.
Police discovered Brown’s real
identity after a truancy investigation was initiated when she didn’t attend
school after the first day. Truant officers found Brown sitting in the county
jail after the $134.50 check to the cheerleading coach for her uniform bounced.
Just like a teenager to spend money she doesn’t have.
Brown reportedly told Green Bay police
she wanted to make up for missed childhood experiences, like getting her
diploma and joining the cheerleading squad. Simply getting her GED wouldn’t
make the grade for Brown.
While some may be appalled by Brown’s
actions, we applaud them. Brown may have failed in maintaining her reclaimed
adolescence, but she opened the door for countless adults in similarly sullen
straits.
Additionally, as a retro teenager, she
could have taught actual teenagers important things they might not have
otherwise learned. For instance, pubescent girls with parents
less-than-forthcoming about the birds and the bees could have had the blanks
filled in by a biological 33-year-old woman posing as a 15-year-old girl.
Also, she could have shown fellow
cheerleaders how to really keep their boyfriends happy. Go, team!