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Janis Joplin: 55 Years Ago Today
There have been many sad days in history, and the loss of one of the most talented singers of the ’60s is just one of them — Janis Joplin.
THE BEGINNING
Born Janis Lyn Joplin on January 19, 1943, she reluctantly called Port Arthur, Texas home. Not considered a beautiful woman, she found herself the butt of jokes and school bullying. At Thomas Jefferson High School, kids often taunted her and called her names like pig, freak, n-word lover, and creep.
The bullying continued somewhat at home too. The eldest of three children, her parents felt Janis needed more attention than her siblings to keep her in line — Laura and Michael were closer in age and closer in relationship and saw Janis as just another adult in their lives. Feeling like an outlier in a family of five, she sought the approval she desperately craved outside the home, but that attention-seeking often pulled her into groups of what society considered outcasts — those not aligning with societal expectations, which largely included those from the other side of the tracks…low income (dirt poor), people of color, and often, music/dance halls. All places a young white middle class girl had no place being. And she did nothing to quell any of the rumors school kids spread about her.
“I was a misfit. I read, I painted, I thought…” — Janis, during a later…
