People often ask me how I came to be a geek after growing up in a neighborhood that at the time was overrun by drugs, gangs and things of that nature. It was simple, actually. The popular
HBO show "The Wire" described this perfectly. In these types of neighborhoods there are two kinds of kids: corner kids and stoop kids. Based on that you can guess which category I fell under.
I was raised in a fundamentalist Christian environment. We weren't allowed to do anything fun, because everything fun was "the devil." I was not allowed to listen to popular music. It was either oldies on the radio or nothing. I was kept in the house closely guarded without any real knowledge of what was happening in the outside world. To keep this from becoming a problem I was introduced to the world of video games and comic books. We'll touch on that a little bit later.
To shield me from the evils of the world I was enrolled in a Christian academy for Pre-K and Kindergarten. It was a lot different than what you would find in a public school. Lunch was brought in on a cart by a lady named Ms. Rosie. There was snack time which consisted of a juice box and pb & j sandwiches cut into four squares. We had daily chapel services too since it was a Christian academy. On that recess playground though, is where I learned about movies that weren't "The Robe" and "The Ten Commandments." I still fondly remember the day when
Annie Fernandez sat at the top of the slide, with about four of us crowding around her in the wooden jungle gym, and she told us about this great movie that she had just seen: "The Monster Squad." It blew my freakin' mind! I had to see this film!
The Christian academy was also how I was introduced to Star Wars and Godzilla movies. Yes, you read correctly. After school while waiting for our parents to pick us up the Christian academy would stick us into a room by the front door, cut the lights and put on a movie. "The Empire Strikes Back," "Return of the Jedi" and an assortment of Godzilla movies were all we'd watch. I wouldn't even get to see all of the movie since my parents would almost always come pick me up right around the time that Jabba The Hut's Skiff Yacht blew up and our heroes sped off to safety. For years I thought Return of the Jedi ended this way. Seriously.
After my Kindergarten year, around 1987 or so, the Christian Academy closed down and instead of being sent to another one I was instead beamed aboard the nearest *gulp* public school. In between all of that was the church. Going to church on Sunday mornings was a ritual that I never quite got ahold of. To a kid this seemed really absurd, but it was a way of life. Dress up in your best clothes, tuck a bible under your arm and look presentable to the throngs of people, church going people who would tell you how adorable you are and would pinch your cheeks. It got really old. After awhile it made us very cynical. We would be packed into a room during Sunday school where we were talked to like children and were told the stories of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Then they'd give us crayons and let us draw Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
I wasn't the only one stuck in what eventually became a pitfall. As the years passed we all grew more and more displeased with the dog and pony show. I often felt like a science project being put on display for all to gush over, say "hallelujah and bless the children", and basically treat us like little angels. The core group of what became known as the "Snack Pack" were as follows. (most pictured above) Myself, Paul, Gus and later Marcus. The rest were dorks who didn't wanna be in the "Snack pack." The ones who still hadn't seen the light yet. The L7's.
Allow me to explain what the "Snack Pack" was. At our church we had Sunday school for the kids. That was it. After you were too old to attend Sunday school you were phased out. There was no youth group. Our pastor, an old school relic who believed that we are all going to hell, each and every one of us, a man who spit fire and brimstone at EVERYONE, subscribed to the notion of Corinthians 13:11 "but when I became a man, I put away childish things." Obviously this man did not have children and he had no idea how to handle teenagers. So that group of us who had been in that church all of our lives were starting to rebel. Thus the "Snack Pack" was born.
Sunday morning was the time for us to behave like normal kids. Wednesday and Sunday night service was like a full moon to us. We'd sit in the back row of the church van and curse, tell dirty jokes and talk about hot women. "Did you see the Rumpshaker video? Holy crap!" "Nevermind that! How bout that 2pac I 'Get around video'!" "Wow!"
We'd also take to teaching the younger kids cuss words, clogging up the toilets with foreign objects and watching them overrun and competing against each other to see who could get at "Bianca," the hottest girl at church in our age group. I say in our age group because there was this SEXY, HOT, FINE ex-model who had short straight hair, was dark skinned, and had these beautiful full lips that just called your name. Also, she had these sexy sleepy eyes that just get me everytime. She had married one of the church members, and even the pastor went on record as saying that a woman like that would take him away from the church! Dude brought her to church every Sunday, probably to show her off. And in the end HE stopped going while SHE came every Sunday with her bible in hand and all that good stuff. Hallelujah! Praise Jesus! Wow! She was so fine!
Sorry about that tangent. After awhile it became obvious to everyone what was going on with the "Snack Pack". In order to subdue the tyranny we dishing out the cantankerous old man finally created a young adult Sunday school class. On top of that he made it to where we didn't even have to attend Wednesday and Sunday night service. Instead we went to a more "youth friendly" sermon, which was delivered to us by the dour grump's incredibly young wife. Honestly, she probably only had ten to fifteen years on me back then. He was pushing sixty. *tsk tsk* But it was too late. We were already full blown cynics.
In order to quell the beast that was rising in me my parents threw comic books and video games at me. They wouldn't let me go out and play with kids my own age...they figured the other kids would rot me even further. Instead I immersed myself in the exploits of Spider-Man, Wolverine, Iron Man, The Avengers, Batman, Superman, X-Men and my absolute favorite, Darkhawk! Star Trek and Star Wars kept me in line while all the other kids in the neighborhood joined gangs and beat each other up. Simon Belmont, Samus Aran, Super Mario and the cast of Street Fighter II allowed me to unleash my pent up frustrations and anger toward everything.
Then I entered middle school and it was all downhill from there. That's when I met G, who would go on to become my best friend and future collaborator for the days that inspired my first novel, "Tales of a Misguided Urban Youth." But we'll get to that at a later date. Stay thirsty my friends.
