Stories of Where I Came From by Michael King

Along with everything else in my childhood, being from Kansas was not acceptable to me. As I saw the world, I wasn’t where I belonged. From the very limited perspective I had at the time, my environment had no class, no culture and certainly no elegance. I didn’t even know how to speak the language correctly, or in my expectation, properly. And that was the key concept in my mind, properly. I felt I should be in a world where everything was proper, and I felt embarrassed to be living in poverty and ignorance. And even though I later learned differently, my concept of Kansas was just that, poverty and ignorance, a bunch of hicks trying to exist on farms as sharecroppers. And where I was, that was true.

From my earliest memories, I saw myself, or at least wanted to see myself, as self-assured, secure, respected and very proper. Of course none of that was true and I was embarrassed, ashamed and unhappy.

Later, when I learned to speak without the poor grammar, mispronounced words and the middle Kansas accent, I was also moving away from the poverty and hopelessness and the embarrassment of my childhood. I now see that in rejecting my surroundings and environment, I also rejected my family.

I now know that someone can be from Kansas and not be a hick. I was so pleased that when I was 10 we moved to New Mexico. All I’d ever known was living in a shack on a farm, where my father was a sharecropper, a mile outside of Nashville, Kansas, population about 110. Now we lived in a town, Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, population about 10,000. It was exciting and very different. My vistas were expanding and opportunities for becoming the me that I wanted to be, seemed possible, but I also experienced much pain and unhappiness.

I discovered that we lived in the wrong part of town, got laughed at because I still talked like a hick and since I hadn’t been around people, I didn’t have the skills to make friends.

Fortunately I did well in school and learned to speak correctly. I excelled in classwork and participated in plays, art contests and exhibits and won a scholarship to college.

I escaped the destitute and hopeless existence of my early years and in college found the environment and happiness I had for so long wanted.

Fortunately where one comes from doesn’t mean they have to stay there. It isn’t the geography or even the environment that is important. It is the consciousness. It took me too long to realize that. But, I did, and have accomplished a great deal. I was an officer in the air force, taught school, worked as an art therapist, a mold maker for fine arts bronzes, did retail, both as owner and as an employee, and worked in retirement communities. I have traveled to 44 countries and have seen many environments much worse than mine. As I see it now, I created much of my own unhappiness. I am now happier than I’ve ever been and have a life that is wonderful, a lover that is fantastic and a family where there is love, respect and kindness.

About the Author

I go by the drag name, Queen Anne Tique. My real name is Michael King. I am a gay activist who finally came out of the closet at age 70. I live with my lover, Merlyn, in downtown Denver, Colorado. I was married twice, have 3 daughters, 4 grandchildren and a great grandson. Besides volunteering at the GLBT Center and doing the SAGE activities," Telling your Story"," Men's Coffee" and the "Open Art Studio". I am active in Prime Timers and Front Rangers. I now get to do many of the activities that I had hoped to do when I retired; traveling, writing, painting, doing sculpture, cooking and drag.