Itta Bena resident Troy Brown is in good company this week.
Brown is the former dean of student affairs at Mississippi Valley State University and is currently campaigning against Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott in the November election.
Brown is one of six Americans who have overcome various learning disabilities to be profiled in the Oct. 30 edition of People magazine.
He shares the spotlight with luminaries Paul Orfalea, founder of Kinko's copy shops; Fannie Flagg, bestselling author of such books as "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe" and "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas"; Rhodes Scholar Tom Gray; Charles Schwab, founder of Charles Schwab Co. brokerage firm; and Ann Bancroft, the first woman to cross the ice to both the North and South Poles.
Each of Brown's fellow interviewees have made significant contributions in their various fields despite being afflicted with a learning disability.
"They may have trouble reading and spelling," states the article, entitled "Heavy Mettle," "but those with the grit to overcome learning disabilities like dyslexia emerge fortified for life."
Brown has been diagnosed as being dyslexic.
Novelist Flagg agreed. "It's a blessing in a way, if you can overcome it," she is quoted as saying.
Often taunted by classmates, Brown's dyslexia was not diagnosed until he reached college - and he told almost no one even after his diagnosis.
The article relates how Brown's cover was blown in a big way when comedian Bill Cosby introduced him as being dyslexic during a commencement address at Rust College in Holly Springs, where Brown received his undergraduate degree.
Aware that Cosby's son, Ennis, had been dyslexic, Brown shared his own affliction with the famed comedian as the two drove in from the airport.
As an encouragement to the aspiring doctoral candidate, Cosby handed the ceremonial purple-and-white stole he had received just moments before to Brown, saying, "I want Troy to wear mine along with his."
(For more information on learning disabilities, readers may go to www.people.com.)
