I grew up with some really cool cartoons, like everyone in my awesome generation. Sure, they taught me some weird things- like, Colonel Universe made me believe that all coffee beans were evil and should never be farmed- but otherwise they were full of moral lessons that were woven with the narrative with expertise. Unlike nowadays, seriously…it’s all so blatant and transparent. Kids aren’t that stupid.
Though it’s weird how I used to define doing ‘something’ with my life. I used to want to be one of the Bosses of the Multiverse, like in the series She-Woman and the Bosses of the Multiverse. Wow, that was really progressive now that I think about it. A woman who uses a magic sword to fight evil from the back of a giant wolf? So cool! But then you get older, and now I think, what…welding is cool? Fishing trips and snapper racks? There were no shows about welding and fishing when I grew up. All my heroes wielded swords and flew around blasting things with energy beams. I wonder…what is it that makes us change priorities?
The real world, I guess. I can’t join She-Woman’s band of defenders, because that doesn’t exist. I guess if the show’s ideas of justice really hit me and stayed relevant, I’d have become a police officer or something. But then, I didn’t, because I don’t think I’d be good at that. Eventually I became a cynical teenager, and I sort of liked the idea of working on marine fabrication and fishing rods and whatever. Huh. Seems boring now that I put it like that. But I guess that’s just the real world, and you can’t just grow up with your head in the clouds. Unless your dream is to write picture books or something, then it’s probably okay. I kind of like writing, even though I haven’t done much of it…maybe there’s a story to be told about Melbourne marine steel fabrication, and how it eventually led to one young man using his welding skills to become a Boss of the Multiverse. I’m really just a big kid, I guess.
-Leroy