Calling on Kevin Corvais!

Back in December, Jim and I found ourselves out on Long Island, at a benefit “snowflake ball” to raise funds for individiuals with disabilities. We saw a short video about a group home for autistic children and I was reaching for my napkin to wipe my eyes.

“Our son has autism,” we said.

The salad came, the wine was poured, we asked the couple next to us (glancing at their placecards) if they had children. After a few rounds of the conversation, the man said,

“My son is singing on American Idol.”

Like any proud parents, they showed us a photo of Kevin from their wallets and I offered one of Charlie. I confessed, I had never watched American Idol, but from then on we followed Kevin’s ratings assiduously in the paper and on the web. I appreciated his being tagged “Chicken Little” on the basis of his looking like the Disney film character (who looks kind of like, Charlie…..).

Alas, on March 22nd, the end came for Kevin and now he is back to high school in Levittown (between talk show appearances with Ellen Degeneres). And, “conjuring up some ambitious dreams for himself, including public-speaking engagements, raising awareness about diabetes [which he has]……”, the New York Times reported in “Is There Life After ‘American Idol’”.

Hey Kevin! The Autism Idol ought to be an autistic person but maybe a song……Charlie can do a great version of “The Chipmunk Song”…….