The other day while watching a Jeopardy show, I aced all of the questions in a category about liquor without really trying. This might surprise anyone who knows me, because I haven't had an alcoholic drink in many years, and was never into drinking. I'm rather knowledgeable about alcoholic beverages, however, because of my mother!
Most people have mothers who teach them about flowers, birds, cooking, the social graces...you know, nice stuff! My mother, however, was rather heavily into beer, and actually couldn't enjoy the greatest meal in the best restaurant unless she was able to get beer served with it. My mother fit most definitions of being alcohol-dependent, and actually tried hard to get me to develop a taste for beer before I went away to college...she was not successful!- -Ain't that a kick in the head?--I disappointed my mother by not becoming a beer drinker! Through intensive exposure and vicarious learning, I came to know a lot about alcoholic beverages in general and beer in particular.
I came to know the inside of taverns even when a child, and was taken to bars while on family vacations.- - My mother actually had a beer can collection! I came to know the fine points of domestic versus imported beers, and it was not unusual for my parents to down a pitcher of beer with a restaurant meal. My mother consumed at least a quart a day, often having a "nightcap."
Some parents wind up being ashamed of their children's drinking...I wound up being ashamed of my mother's! Even when a senior citizen. she was actually cut off by bartenders in some establishments, a fact for which I give them credit. Alcoholism, you see, is not a problem restricted to the young...
...things like this are why I can't really get excited or nostalgic on Mother's Day...
-- I think that I was born furry, and had that animal-orientation even before I realized what it was and could attach a name to it. I had tons of comic books and watched countless hours of 'toons on TV, especially the classic Warner Brothers stuff. This interest and orientation continued into my teenaged years and into adulthood, albeit secretly...adults aren't supposed to still be watching cartoons or identifying with animal characters in them! It was actually kind of a solitary existence, since I never realized that there were others like myself until the advent of the internet.
How have 'toons changed since I was a kid?--Well, generally with some exceptions, production values are lower, and they aren't as well-drawn; story lines are far more daring, however, and go places that were utterly unthinkable way back when. More real life situations are covered as well, which means that 'toons have actually become somewhat therapeutic, almost psychotherapy for the masses. Edgy and dark things are not only acceptable, but are far more mainstream, and art and literature can be united in the best of them...
