National Socialists, Revenge, and Creepy Pedophiles

First, if you want to read my piece on National Socialists adopting a highway, just click here.

Onward ...

My daughter had a field trip today. I showed up at school to take her and waited outside her classroom, at which point I was approached by a school employee. She informed me that I could join my daughter in the cafeteria. In order not to appear awkward, I said, "Thanks for coming over to make sure I wasn't a creepy pedophile." Don't know why I said it. I was being sincere. The look I got, though, said I had just come across as a creepy pedophile.

When will I learn to keep my mouth shut?

At the field trip, I had a seat on a bench to watch my daughter do her thing and have fun. I was the only father there. One of the mothers decided to sit next to me (much to my surprise, though I will admit that out of the mothers I always see there, she always seemed to be the most interesting). She set a book down between us. The cover art looked like it was Charles Burns of Black Hole fame (not to mention an Iggy Pop album). I asked if it was Burns, and sure enough it was.

Score.

This started a conversation that was pretty damn pleasant. Movies were discussed, and while I usually dread this because at some point someone will say, "I really liked [whatever movie is super fucking popular at the time -- which is Avatar at this writing]. It was cool." I'll cringe and try to relate, but it will be strange at best, and I'll eventually excuse myself to see if I can find life on some other planet.

This woman, however, wasn't adverse to movies with -- gasp -- subtitles! So it was a good conversation. Then we started talking about movies we let our kids see. I mentioned that my girl used to like Kill Bill Vol. 1, but has not wanted to watch it since she got older, and I mentioned how it was never really a big deal. She just doesn't like it now. My daughter, who apparently not only has Daredevil-like hearing, also has an uncanny sense of irony.

My girl came over to us and showed me a scratch on her arm. "A boy did this to me," she said. "I want my revenge. Do you have an axe?"

"No."

"A knife?"

"No."

"I shall my revenge some other way."

And off she went.

All I could do was look at the other mom and say, "Father of the year."

Crazy.

Howard Zinn dying today bugs me. Celebrity Watchdog George Anthony Watson sent me a link which quotes Noam Chomsky and Ben Affleck. He was one of a small group of people who tell it like it is, who changed the way people view history (much like Chomsky changed the way people translate the news), and acted as inspiration to countless activists. His passing leaves a void that will be hard to fill.

R.I.P.