This installment of Married Geek Couple is in great part about things we grew up with, one way or another…
Barb: You and I share a love of children’s literature. How did you get into the “Great Brain” books?
Park: I think the Great Brain books were something I discovered on a shelf in a classroom. Maybe third grade? Or… Maybe another Reading Is Fundamental giveaway.
Barb: One of my fave jokes from The Simpsons mentions that Lisa reads The Great Brain books. One of us! One of us! We accept you! One of us!
Barb: Next question: How’d you get into The Rocky Horror Picture Show?
Barb (to Park): Last time, I asked you about kids’ books. This time, it’s time to talk about other Geek culture subjects:
Barb: What were your favorite cartoons as a kid, and why?
Park: Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, because it actually was pretty well-written and acted dialogue-wise, and had lots of guest-stars from the rest of the Marvel Universe.
—Battle of the Planets, because anime and style.
–Warner Brothers cartoons, because hilarious.
Barb: I got you a “Battle of the Planets” action figure set (still in box) and a t-shirt you wore until it was just threads.
Barb: You learned to read and started reading at the age of two-and-a-half. What are the first books/stories you remember from that time?
Park: Not a lot, off the top of my head. I do remember seeing a for-tiny-babies library book called “The Egg And I” about a hen and her egg and thinking “I think I’ve heard about this, it’s also the title a movie or a book for grown-ups or something. Clever.” Toddler-me probably didn’t THINK the word “clever,” but it’s the non-toddler translation of my reaction.
…But… well, there were a few classics, now that I think about it a little more. Mike Mulligan had a steam shovel, I think? And I think there was also a brave little tugboat? And Curious George (went to the hospital, I think? And/or flew a giant kite?)– Oh, and Danny and the Dinosaur. Okay, so, yeah, classic literature.
Recently here at Wicker Man Studios, our publisher, Rodolfo, suggested that we needed to talk more about ourselves and help people better get to know us. So, Barb and I will be doing a series of postings about ourselves entitled “Married Geek Couple.”
But to practice, over Thanksgiving, while my mom was doing stuff in the kitchen, Barb suggested I go talk to my mom and ask her questions and get answers—because knowing about my mom is a part of knowing about me. So I just started asking my mother whatever questions came to mind, and here’s the results of that:
My mom, in this century, with some Texas bluebonnets
Park Cooper: Tell me about Papa’s [Mom’s father, my maternal grandfather] baseball team.
Dian Cooper: Ohhh. Papa was a great baseball pitcher. He always played baseball. Every job he ever had, he was hired because he was the best baseball pitcher.
Park: You mean like working for the oil field company baseball team.
Dian: And in the army. He played baseball in the army.
Park: His glasses didn’t interfere with that?
Dian: That was before he needed glasses. He was gassed in the oil fields, that’s what happened to his eyes.
