I never made it to Orlando.
“Double Dare” was recorded in front of live studio audience at Nickelodeon Studios, Located at the Universal Studios Resort in Orlando Florida.”- John Harvey, Double Dare
Live. Studio. Audience.
Three magic words that defined a generation’s understanding of play. Double Dare was not just a program but rather a play-based pedagogical model that would inspire a small, curious kid on the south side of Chicago to pursue life’s adventures and to take on challenges with confidence and wonderment in early 1990's.
Never before had I seen the adventurous spirit of imaginative free play be celebrated in a manner only seen and understood by the world’s greatest athletes.
Every climb, every jump and every tumble was shared with children from all walks of life. We were slimed together, we took physical challenges together, we played as one.
This was the epitome of youthful expression, amplified by a radically new environment built for play with the strict focus of challenging kids to persevere, develop communal grit and celebrate their unique gifts and talents. This was where I wanted to be.
“Orlando was not a place but rather an idea. An idea that compelled me to leverage my creativity and physical ingenuity as a catalyst towards living the life I had dreamed of. “
I watched in amazement as kids my age, with my complexion and my sense of humor, were on full display on the grandest stage: broadcast television. It was obvious that Nickelodeon had made a very deliberate decision to highlight diverse children at a time when the world labeled young boys of color as “super predators”. Disposable by-products of a savage environment who were destined to live fast and die young. Throw-a-way kids who could not contain our supposed propensity to destroy the very communities we were raised in. This false narrative cast a very dark cloud over our collective aspirations. It wasn’t a matter of if we would come to an untimely demise, but rather when.
However, as time passed Nickelodeon provided a contrasting narrative. They showed me that kids like me were worthy of having an audience bare witness to our brilliance, rather than our inherited generational trauma that manifested itself in our fragile emotions and physical disposition. Orlando was not a place but rather an idea. An idea that compelled me to leverage my creativity and physical ingenuity as a catalyst towards living the life I had dreamed of.
Despite numerous attempts to convince my parents, I never made it to Orlando. However, the seed that was planted in my soul evolved into an insatiable desire to play, my way.
It became an eternal source of gratification and societal acceptance.
It became the cornerstone of my purpose.
It became my “why”.
While pursuing my why, I began a “Hero’s Journey”, or a predestined path that leads us from our regular self towards our exemplar self, as defined by Joseph Campbell. My divine adventure brought me from the south side of Chicago to the south bay of San Francisco. It was there that my “why” met my “how” and as life would have it, I had finally made it to the place that I was always meant to be.
“ …the act of dreaming is often regarded as a dangerous, fleeting axiom that arrogantly assumes the privilege of growing old is equally distributed.
The idea for Super Heroic was born from my own experiences with feeling less than my peers but greater than the expectations placed on me by society. It serves an intrinsic remedy for the battles I had faced earlier in life from unwarranted generational trauma bequeathed to me at birth, that grew into depression and PTSD, as I became an adult. Where I come from dreams are often vacated for a more acceptable, dire reality. Because the act of dreaming is often regarded as a dangerous, fleeting axiom that arrogantly assumes the privilege of growing old is equally distributed. As kids growing up in the Chi, we were not living, we were simply waiting for life to end.
For many of us, creativity and imaginative play became our saving grace. The allure of telling multi-variant narratives, creating immersive experiences and radically unleashing the brilliance and potential of disenfranchised youth served as a rally cry for my generation. We would become the ones we were waiting for.
We would become our own Heroes.
Our partnership with Nickelodeon is not about the product. It’s not about the attention I receive nor is it about the impact to Super Heroic’s positioning in a crowded landscape. It is about manifesting a life of servitude by channeling our creative efforts into protecting and investing in the dreams of our most precious asset, our children.
I never did make to Orlando…but I did make it to the exact place that I was always meant to be.
A place of peace and possibility. A place where kids like me can simply “be”.
Be more than what society tells them they can be.
Be who they truly are in their purest form.
Be loved not for what they do but for who they are.
Simply put, they can just enjoy being a kid in front of a…
Live. Community. Audience.
