The Black Expo experience

I remember getting TLC’s debut album on a cassette tape. Making my way through the crowded aisles of the Convention Center to the booth with the tapes (if you know, you know), I was elated to find the music I had been waiting for. I knew I was in the right place. There was a time when the Indiana Black Expo Summer Celebration was the one and only place to be in the summertime. Outfits were purchased far in advance, ironed and laid out the night before. Beauty and barber shop appointments were made. The hair had to be on point. Cars were washed and polished for cruising through the streets. The cars had to be clean when you rode through. It was not a matter of whether you were going; it was a foregone conclusion. You simply could not miss the Expo, as it came to be known. People came from all over just to be in the building. Expo was where I ran into every cousin and long-lost classmate. It was social media before social media, the place to catch up and find out how everyone was doing. Because everyone was going to be there. Expo was also...