GROWING UP WITH KATE

[deborah watts <74742.335@CompuServe.COM>]

I thought that would get your attention. Actually, I didn't 
physically grow up with her, but I did grow up in England and I have
a distant memory of this skinny brown-haired woman swinging her arms
about doing cartwheels across the television screen screeching 
something unintelligible to my nine year old consciousness. And then
I was brought to America, and I gradually understood what all the 
screeching was about. Now, I credit Kate with the tempering of my 
(in)sanity. It's not so much her voice, or the melodies, or the 
lyrics, (even though are remarkable). It's what she understands, or 
understood at an age when most of us are avoiding the labors of 
maturing. Even though I have literally worn out my original tapes 
and records (circa 1978), I can listen to The Kick Inside and 
understand a certain line in a way I never have before. In 
literature, that is one mark of a classic, and I consider Kate an 
artist before all else. She has elevated my soul.
Have you ever noticed how, if you mention Kate to someone and they 
actually know who she is, they either revere or despise her? I very 
rarely meet anyone indifferent to her. She creates a force to be 
reckoned with.
If you're interested, I have other "growing up with kate" anecdotes 
- the perspective of having Kate in your nation's Top 10. (It's hard
for me to imagine that happening here.) So let me know. 

-- 
d. watts