This is the story of a boy named Barry...

My friend Rich from work told me a story about a boy named Barry today. Barry went to the same high school as Rich, but he was a class ahead of Rich. Barry wasn't particularly scholarly in high school. But he was really into basketball. He would dribble the ball to school, and dribble it all day long. Rich saw Barry play pick up basketball games all the time. Barry played on the varsity basketball team his senior year. Even though Barry wasn't really into scholastics in high school, you could kind of tell that he was smart. He would go home at lunch and type out his paper that was due in the afternoon, and return to school Barry also worked at the same Baskin Robbins as Rich, although they did not work there at the same time. One time Rich was talking with Barry in front of Barry's grandmother's apartment, and an overhead flower planter fell and broke on the ground, barely missing Barry's head. Rich said Barry looked down and said, "That's not good." After high school, Barry started college at Occidental College in LA. Occidental College is a good school, but it's no Columbia, Harvard, or University of Chicago. Rich said Barry was a late bloomer. Rich showed me the quarterly newsletter magazine that he still gets from the Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii. I looked with fascination at the photo of Barry with his 5th grade class, taught by Mrs. Hefty. Mrs. Hefty had the knack of making every child feel special, including Barry. She made them feel that they could accomplish anything. I continued to turn the pages and saw photos of Barry with his half-sister Maya and his mom. And of Barry graduating from high school. So what happened to that boy named Barry that Rich knew from high school? He now goes by his full name of Barack. Yes, THAT Barack.