A Photographic Autobiography

T hey say a picture is worth a thousand words, but in my opinion, a picture without words at all can engender no more than a suppostional thought. T his book is about more than just a person. It’s about the frailty of life and memory. T his book was created because one day I will be too old and wrinkled to remember most of what happened. But this book isn’t really for me, because I had the opportunity to live each of these moments. T his book is for for my children and my grandchildren to read in disbelief that I was ever so young or so brass.

by Michael Peacock

To be honest, I probably won’t believe it either at that point.

by Michael Peacock

Michael Peacock

A PHOTOGRAPHIC AUTOBIOGRAPHY

S PRINGFIELD | M ISSOURI | 2012

1

Table of Contents

IN THE BEGINNING

02

a. Birth and the days before knowledge b. The awareness begins to come about c. The age of ultimate cuteness

GROWING UP

08 16

a. I just do what I’m told b. Do I really have to wear this? c. I think I got it. .nope

THE AWKWARD YEARS

a. The middle part b. Brace face c. Puff-ball

28

THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND

a. Off to college/off to university? b. The crazy life of a college bachelor c. Hello family 01

IN THE BEGINNING

1989

Birth and the days before knowledge

1990

I’m walkin’ & talkin’

1991

T he awareness begins to come about

1992

We have a dog named Rocky

1993

T ha age of ultimate cuteness

1994

T he awareness begins to come about

My fiirst SOM

I get my baths in a sink...

Living in Guadalajara La Creación Rocky runs away Living in Guadalajara

03

waaaaaa..

THE BIRTH OF A CHAMPION

Once upon a long time ago, in a time far, far away, I was born. My name full name is Michael Christian Peacock García, but that is really just from a Mexican standpoint.

I was very fortunate to not receive the the middle name of Jordan...as in the most famous basketball player ever Michael Jordan. I was in fact named after my uncle Michael Wayne Peacock, whom I never got the chance to meet. The details of my birth are as follows: It was 8:10 in the morning at the Brownsville Community Health Maternity Center on Thursday, July 27th, 1989 in the sizeable state of Texas. I almost didn’t make it. My umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck & I was purple. They say everything is bigger in Texas, & that seemed to be the case with myself. I weighed in at eight pounds twelve and a half ounces, measuring twenty-two and three-quarter

inches. George Bush Sr. was president at the time, just in case anybody was wondering.

I’ve always been a very giving person, even from birth. When I was born, I asked my mom and dad to give my older brother a tub of play-dough on my behalf. When I was finally able to go to my first home, it was to my grandmother’s house, Momo. Of course this residence was merely temporary, as my more permanent abode was a travel trailer in Raymondville, TX. I used to sneak out at night and meet up with the other babies in the area to shoot some pool on the weekends. I was never very good.

I was a bit selfish at this time in my life. I used to nurse about every two to five hours even at six months. This was in addition to eating baby food and drinking juice.

Michael Christian Peacock García

05

same height two years older

At this point in my life, I am about two-and-a-half years old. I am well accustomed to matching Jonathan at this point, because mom and dad thought it was cute, or made it easier to keep track of us. Either way, it didn’t bother me. I’m pretty sure I thought it was cool at the time as well, because I didn’t really acquire any semblance of a fashion sense for many years to come.

I remember we were living in Ciudad de los Niños at this point and Jona was about five. We would go skateboarding in the driveway next door because it had such a steep incline. The downside was that there was a grate at the bottom, which caused some interference.

It was at this house where we got our first family dog Rocky. Rocky was a cocker spaniel and we loved him even after the day he ran away. We had a fenced-in garden with large wooden gates that he was somehow able to get out of. We never saw or heard from him again.

Since we lived just a few hours from the beach, we were able to travel there often. I was a big fan of the water, probably because dad used to be a surfer, so I felt that

BEACH BOYS I had an afinity for it.

One of the times when we went to a beach, dad was preaching at a church we had helped build. When we were coming out of the kid’s service on the second floor, one of the other kids pushed me and I fell down the stairs from the second story and landed head first on a concrete floor.

I should have died that day, but God was watching out for me and all I got was a bruise after I woke up. This was the first of many close encounters throughout my life.

I find that I have a nack for coming across unlikely scenarios; it’s also possible that I am just a fool.

07

GROWING UP

1995

Living in Houston

1996

T he gift of Miko

1997

Living in Rancho Contento

1998

Homeschooled!

1999

Still homeschooled!

2000

Spending y2k at the border

Green Valley Elementary Moving to Guadalajara

Getting Saved Bleach-blonde highlights Getting an N64 Channelview Christian School PokĂŠmon Cards

09

Jona

Me

Ti m o

TRAVELING MISSIONARY KIDS

I can’t look back on growing up without thinking of how stinkin’ blessed I was/am. Many times when you hear that someone grew up as a missionary kid, you think one of two things: “cool, he got to travel a lot,” or “I’m sorry, he’s probably a weird kid.” I was lucky enough to fit into the former category rather with just a pinch of the latter.

I am most assuredly different, no matter where I live, & I can safely attribute that to being an MK. Since I was able to travel so much, I grew accustomed to entertaining myself in the most inventive ways. I remember I used to be able to look anywhere & simply focus, believing that I had supernatural eyesight that could see atoms. To this very day, I can’t tell you that I wasn’t right. I didn’t really even know the

properties of atoms or molecules at the time, and yet I could see tiny specks, generally red in color, bouncing around against each other in the air. Ask me about it, because I can still see them if I try.

Anyway, more important than my mystical powers was having an identity. My identity became founded in my family and in being a missionary kid. People say that we (mk’s) have identity problems, because we don’t know where we’re from. I knew exactly where I was from. I was from the United States and Mexico. Who ever said I had to pick one? As such, I was able to proudly represent my country by dressing up like a charro with my brothers and sing in front of churches. The cute little MexicanAmerican kids.

11

Monkeys

GROWING PAINS

When we lived in Mexico at this point, it was in the gated community of Rancho Contento (Happy Ranch). So far in my life, this has been the most incredible place to live. Our house was a one-story, separated into two levels by just a couple of steps. We lived about three-quarters of the way to the hole of the ninth on the golf course. On the other side of the golf course was a full-sized soccer field. Adjacent to the field was a basketball court on the left and two clay tennis courts on the right, with a swimming pool next to the tennis court.

The streets of the community itself made it hard to pursue skateboarding, as they were made of stones. Not cobblestones, mind you, but smooth pieces of black rock with grass interspersed between them.

I shared a room with Timo at this point, since Jona was the oldest & he got his own room, not that I minded at the time.

We slept in bunk-beds & eventually shared our room there with turtles, hampsters,

guinea pigs, and fish. I guess our room just seemed like the ideal place for pets.

In our back-yard we had a poinsetta bush and other flowers, along with a tree that bore a strange small, orange fruit with fuzz on it and large seeds that tasted delicious.

Although all of these things were great, the in-ground trampoline was the greatest draw of the back-yard. I don’t know how many times we dropped balls & things underneath the trampoline & whoever dropped it had to dodge everyone else bouncing above him while he was getting it.

Not to rush a change of subject, but another important factor of fun at the house was our wired-haired dachound, Miko. We got him for Easter when we went to go visit Memaw in Houston. He was the best dog ever. Although he wasn’t an inside dog, we went outside enough playing with him that he might as well have been. I think I’d call these the Golden Years.

13

N’ S ync?

HOMESCHOOLED!

Even though we were living in Guadalajara, we tried to visit our relatives in Texas every Christmas. Most of them (still) live in Brownsville. In the wonderful picture to the left it shows the hairstyle that I maintained for about four or five years, which was a middle-part. This middle part lasted so long because I thought it was so cool. As I always seem to think about myself somehow. Necklaces and rings are another thing I seemed to think was cool at the time.

Although I cannot solely place the blame on homeschooling, I feel like I can at least place a part of it there. I homeschooled from second through fourth grade at Rancho Contento using the ACE program. When you homeschool, and you don’t have cable television, the only factors you have to go by to decide if something is ok are your own sensibilities, which cannot be trusted yet. I had choker necklaces, bracelets, and silver rings galore during this time, to complement my awesome bleach-blonde highlights.

At this time we still lived in Rancho Contento, and I remember seeing “snow” for the very first time. It was the first time it had snowed in Guadalajara in over a hundred years. It wasn’t actually snow, it was more like sleet, but it covered about one inch and was gone by the next day.

That didn’t stop me from trying to throw snowballs with thin cloth golves. This led to my hands practically freezing off so that I put them in my jacket...then falling on my face on the tile porch. I thought I had broken my nose. I didnt. I just cried all day thinking I had. I also whopped my eyebrow, which left a bump that lasted for years.

When we moved back to Houston, I spent fifth grade at Channelview Christian School. I remember that we had pine trees in our front yard because I remember the pinecones. While we were here we found a stray dalmation that mom and dad didn’t let us keep. We ended up giving it to the fire station. Channelview was the first time I ever sang in a choir.

15

THE AWKWARD YEARS

Listening to non-Christian music

2003

Magic: the Gathering

2004

Meeting my future wife

2005

Taravellah Public High School

2006

Finishing Middle School

2002

Starting to play instruments

2001

American School Foundation of GDL

Back to Guadalajara

Going to Argentina

Moving to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida Becoming a skater poser

Calvary Christian Academy Moving to Ozark, Missouri

17

LIVING IN MEXICO

Living in Mexico at the time that I did, before major gangs & drug lords, was a treat. I remember wandering around the dirt streets on the poor outskirts of town, looking for churros soaked in chile, or any of a whole host of candies I could get for two pesos (25 cents?). I never had the problem of getting sick eating the food or drinking the water, which is why I always thought it was funny when American church teams got sick when they came down to work with my

I don’t know how I was ever truly dad. able to come out of that deep, dark hole of

What I miss most about Mexico fashion from the Dark Ages. I do know that is most definitely the food. Favorite it definitely dragged on into Middle School, restaurants like La Trattoria and Richard’s which led to my “perfecting” the middle Chinese were Sunday treats. True Mexican part. I remember I would spend about fifteen food, though, is unbeatable. I can picture or twenty minutes in the morning trying the deep-fried quesadillas with mushrooms, to make the front of my hair look like it or the tongue tacos at the corner taquería. was waves overhanging my face. It was, of Tortas ahogadas, molletes, pozole, roasted course, solidified by a solid gel that would corn with cheese & chile...incomparable. inevitably wear away to reveal a helmet of hair.

Luckily, I began to grow out of that towards the end of our term in Mexico, when I was in ninth grade. In Mexico, that is still considered a part of Middle School, although it’s considered High School already in the US.

19

I guess I drank Red Bul l a l o t

THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF GUADALAJARA

Of the eight schools I went to from elementary through High School there are two that I can say were hands-down the best schools. One of them was the American School Foundation of Guadalajara –ASFG for short. I attended this school from sixth grade through ninth. It had incredible impact on my life, creating in me a standard of achievement, both social and academic.

My classmates here had known each other since kindergarten for the most part, & I was an intruder.

At this point in my life I definitely experienced identity crisis. Until this point in my life, I was just nice to everybody. I did not have a way with words, and no sense of fashion still. I remember one time in

particular, me & Timo were walking down our neighborhood in the Colinas de San Javier when we encountered some of his classmates .I don’t remember exactly what was said, but I remember that the outcome was that I was shamed by little girls three grades beneath me. I tried to make up comebacks, & they backfired in my face every time.

If anything, my time at this school gave me a goal, which was to be smarter, wittier, and better looking. That last one was because I was starting to like girls at this point in my life & becoming self-consious comes with the territory.

21

& wil y

. . s d n e i r f r u o y l ou tel a

I had my first real crush at the American School. We were in eighth grade & her name was Chara Krangle. She was the Canadian daughter of the theater instructor. She was the best-looking girl in school. I remember the stud in tenth grade asked her out & she turned him down. As it turns out, she liked me too. I gained quite a bit of confidence after that. I asked her out, but I was too shy for that to last more than two weeks of not really even talking. We made good friends, though.

For Spring break of that year we took a class trip to Cancun. There I was able to see the pyramids of Chichen Itza, my first experience with ancient history. I had wanted to be an archeologist back then, so it was a dream come true. I remember the beaches there were white sand, the finest sand and clearest waters I have ever experienced.

On one of our beach outings, we had the option of paying two-hundred dollars to ride the dolphins (riiiiiiight), so Chara and I chose instead to swim across the entire bay until we reached where the dolphins are held. Instead of a controlled session, we got to pet the dolphins under water. I was a little afraid that they would

bite me since no one was around to tell them not to. For some reason, that was one of the best moments of the whole trip, except for the way back, where Chara & I held hands as we fell asleep across each other in the plane. That was my first “romantic encounter.�

MY FIRST CRUSH

Around the same time, my dad somehow acquired a wide variety of instruments: a drumset, a bass, and an acoustic-electric guitar. This was the beginning of my short-lived instrumental history, but long-lasting appreciation for music itself. Jona & some friends played in a cover band & they needed a bass player, which is what I was at the time. His friends were really into Nirvana, & that was the first non-christian music I ever listened to.

23

Argenti n a 2k6

That was definitely the least eventful year in my High School career. For my Junior year, mom got a job as a Spanish teacher at Calvary Christian Academy. It sounds horrid, I know, but it was in fact quite the opposite.

This was the number one school I have ever attended, including college.

I was a part of the first Junior clas at the school, hoping to make it to the first graduating class. The campus had a cafe, caffeteria, and a full fancy restaurant. Nothin’ special, right? It also sported an indoor skate park, a paintball field, two baseball fields, a soccer field, and a football field. Yup. had our own pool. I was really excited to

The facilities are not what made move there. I mean, it was freaking Florida it special, though. I found that unlike the for goodness sake. When we moved there, I had to go to the first public school since first school in Mexico, my classmates were grade. I went from a class of fifty to a class of extremely inviting, as well as genius, creative, fun, and artistic. Jesse Lash taught me how 350. It was definitely a step down from the elite private school in Mexico. I felt cheated, to skimboard. The Anderson twins showed because I went from being pushed to succeed me what hardcore was. Hilary Westmoreland through challenging peers to a public school helped me find good music. Nick O’hare was just a good all-around friend & a great couldn’t care less about my success. It was guitarist, and the best part about them was the only year of my life that I took the schoolbus to school, which was definitely an that they were so talented at everything that they pushed me to compete with them. interesting experience.

My last year in Mexico was 2004. It was at the last missionary retreat there that I met the girl that was to become my wife, Taylor Speer. She was so small & pretty, yet she was three years my junior & for a fifteen year old to like a twelve year old is ludicrous, so I definitely didn’t tell anybody.

My family and I moved to Tamarac, Florida the summer of 2004. That was the smallest house I can ever remember having lived in. It was also the first house where we

CCA & FLORIDA

25

shoot me, I’m sexy.

I THOUGHT I WAS COOL...

Throughout High School, I prided myself on being drama-free. There was really only one incident that marred my perfect record, & yet it was quite a girl problem. At CCA, there was a girl named Nicole Arcello. She really liked me, and I didn’t really feel the same way. Then she introduced me to her best friend Stephanie, who she had been friends with forever, and I liked her quite a bit. I asked Nicole if Stephanie liked me & she lied & said no. Later I also found out that Stephanie asked Nicole if I liked her & she said no...so I gave up on that. Long story short, I grew to like Nicole, then I didn’t anymore & I realized I still liked Stephanie. Nicole was extremely upset & turned a lot of people against me. The end.

It wasn’t until the end of the year when we went on a class trip to Argentina that those people finally started liking me again. Then I moved away.

Ozark, Missouruh was my death sentence, or at least I felt like it at the time. Here I was at the prime of my life about to graduate from an amazing school in Florida, & then I land in Misery, with Ozark Public High School.

In reality, it was the beginning of some of the best years of my life & I didn’t even know it.

My family moved to McGuffy Park phase III, where my neighbors were the Donaldsons, & down the street was Mason Mercer & in phase II was Joel Salmon. At first, I thought all of them were the biggest losers, & I still do, but now so am I. It was here that I began my hardcore phase of life, where we started going to hardcore shows almost every weekend, failing a lot at first, but eventually learning to slam-dance, which is actually a great workout. My senior year I probably went to about a hundred shows. Sooooo cool.

27

THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND

Ski retreat

First house on National

Graphic design becomes a big deal Working my fiirst internship

2011

California trip

2010

First girlfriend

Going to El Salvador/Nicaragua

2009

Obama vs. McCain

Graduating High school

2008

Architecture

2007

T he beginning of collegee

Studying abroad in Volos, Greece

Getting married Micah is born!

Graduating College

Ultimate frisbee starts

Meeting Taylor Speer...again Ultimate frisbee starts

First Apartment at Ozark Trails 2012

Freelancing

Going on a cruise

Starting Peacockerie! Design Getting a teaching job

29

That last year of school I experienced a lot of firsts. I got my first job on July 3, working at Lambert’s Cafe. I also got my driver’s liscence & my first car, a red Grand Am, my first concert, my first student of the month award, and my first prom with Anna Brandenburgh. Now I’d done everything & I was ready to be part of the graduating class of 2007. Graduating was one of the greatest joys

THE END OF

HIGH SCHOOL

ever. I was finally going to become an adult.

The night I graduated was grad night, and I partied through the night. My dad picked me up at five in the morning to catch a flight to Ft. Lauderdale so I could make it in time to the CCA prom. Their prom was held on a triple-decker yacht, with cocktail waiters & the whole deal. The day after prom was Florida’s Cornerstone Music Festivel, which of course I had to go to. Sadly, that was only a one-day event, but it was definitely one heck of a day.

While I was staying with Nick, I bought my first laptop, which was a white macbook that I was able to buy with my graduation money. After that, I knew I would never go back to PC. That was just the beginning of my summer. The rest of the family came down to Florida, & we all went on a ten day cruise on the Royal Carribean’s Voyager of the Seas. It was the most luxurious cruise I have been on to date.

After the incredibly relaxing time on the cruise, we went back to Springfield, Missouri, where dad worked with Convoy of Hope. Convoy was just beginning its intern program & my dad felt like I would be a great asset to the team. Their destination was El Salvador, so it definitely helped that I already spoke Spanish. It was a forty day internship, which was the longest I had ever been away from home.

While we (the interns) were in El Salvador, we worked on building water filtration systems for the people there since, at the time, about ninety percent of the country didn’t have free access to clean water. There were only two couple of hour windows a day where we had running water at the Bible School to shower & clean up. It was quite humbling.

31

Chri s tmas wi t h Chri s Burgess

At the end of that summer, but still in the crazy year of 2007, I began college at Drury University in Springfield, twenty minutes from my house. It was something I had never even believed I would ever achieve when I was younger, but here I was.

I was living in Sunderland Hall, a part of the Environmental LLC. At this point I had decided to give architecture a try, but I really had no idea what to expect. Little

architecture is that no matter how much work you put into it, there is always more that can be done, whereas a paper is done, and its done.

My across the hall neighbor was Lauren Brown, who was my best friend until she moved to KU after our third year. She was the hardest worker I have ever met, & once again I found someone to push me in an area that I definitely needed work.

COLLEGE & STRANGE THINGS

Second semester of my freshman year at Drury I met a girl named Shelly Pfeifer. Next semester she became my first real girlfriend at eighteen years old. We dated was I to know that the following years were for a couple of months before I broke it off.

After that, college just got crazier & crazier. going to be the most dedicated years of The Good Ol’ McGuffy Boys gang was born tortorous pain in my life so far. & was filled with pranks, shows, events,

People refer to architecture as a dancing, restrictions, secret rules, and most cult, and that is essentially what it is. As of all, fun. The official members were: myself, an architecture student, you are a world Tim, Mason Mercer, Jordan Donaldson, Joel away from the rest of the majors. Instead Salmon, Cody Seboldt, & Tyler Maxey. It of writing papers you are building models.

Instead of relaxing on the weekends, you are lasted until Tim moved away in 2009, but the working some more. The funny thing about spirit lived on.

33

Istanbul Bl u e Mosque

TRAVELING ABROAD TO GREECE & TURKEY

Although I re-met my wife and got married before this, for the sake of organization, I moved it to the next page.

In 2011, the spring semester of my fourth year, I went to study abroad in Volos, Greece. I flew from Houston into London, where, due to airline mistakes, I barely missed my connection flight. I flew into Athens about five hours too late & I didn’t speak a lick of Greek. Somehow I was able to call Panos & make my way over to the hotel. After staying in Athens for a week

& visiting the island of Aegina, we drove to Volos, where most of our semester took place. My roommate was Micah Whorton, who by this time was my new best friend.

While we were in Volos, every weekend was a three-day weekend, which made for great parties. From Volos we were able to go snowboarding on the mountain of Mykranitza just above the city, where we were still in site of the sea.

It was the very first time I had ever left the continent, & it was an amazing experience to live in a small town like that.

From Volos we travelled to Thessaloniki, Sparta, Southern Greece, & Istanbul.

Istanbul, Turkey was something of a controversy with the Greeks, many of whom still called it Constantinople. Istanbul was a city of nearly 400 mosques, and some incredible architecture. I will never forget our tour guide, to whom I taught the word “mock”. He was not so very fond of me & even threatened to resign as our tour guide at one point.

Although it was all so great, I missed my recent wife & clothes dryers, real restaurants, toilet paper in the toilets, and simply being able to speak english when I need something.

35

Marri e d.

Back to meeting Taylor. I saw her for the first time since Mexico at an MK dinner. I barely remembered her, & I was seeing someone at the time. A couple of months later I saw her again at the annual Thanksgiving Ski retreat. At this point I decided I needed to start making my moves.

Eventually she gave into my charm & we started talking. Our first date was at my house in Ozark eating wings & brownies....

OK, so I’m not so slick. A couple of weeks later we went on a third date to Ozark’s Fantastic Caverns. After an interesting ride through the cave with a tour guide who was a friend, I invited Taylor over to my apartment & I asked her out.

In the Potter’s House coffee shop about a year later, December 18, 2010, I married the most beautiful girl in the world, Taylor Mikael Speer. We spent the night in a Hilton Suite before driving down to Port Isabel, TX to spend our honey moon. We were able to be together until January 30, when Taylor flew home & I flew to Greece the next day.

About a week after I got back from Greece, May 12, 2011, our baby boy Micah David Peacock was born. He was the cutest thing I had ever seen & little did I know

GETTIN’ MARRIED & STARTING A FAMILY

that he was going to change my life forever.

Being a parent was an adventure greater than any I had ever known or probably ever will know. Now I’m proud to be a husband, a father, & soon to be a college graduate.

That isn’t the end, however. It is just the beginning.

37

T his book is dedicated to my family

& the future families to come.

T hey say a picture is worth a thousand words, but in my opinion, a picture without words at all can engender no more than a suppostional thought. T his book is about more than just a person. It’s about the frailty of life and memory. T his book was created because one day I will be too old and wrinkled to remember most of what happened. But this book isn’t really for me, because I had the opportunity to live each of these moments. T his book is for for my children and my grandchildren to read in disbelief that I was ever so young or so brass.

by Michael Peacock

To be honest, I probably won’t believe it either at that point.

by Michael Peacock