Daria - My Kindred Social Misfit

These past couple of weeks I've been feeling a bit nostalgic. In a way I yearn for the feelings and ease of life I had when I was younger. But the reality is that my life as a kid wasn't easy and my feelings were a MESS of highs and extreme lows. I was (and still am) gay, I read a lot (Nat Geo, Animorphs, Ranger Rick, X-Men), didn't like sports, watched anime and I was damn near a complete social outcast. To put it simply...I was different. The kids around me were pretty unaccepting, impressionable, lost and angry, so they made fun of me and ostracized me...Bitches! In turn I became lost and angry and shut myself off from the world. No one seemed smart enough or understanding enough to talk to so I stayed silent. With no one to make me feel safe I retreated to my own world...sometimes...many times...my own hell.

I think that's why I relate so much to this episode of Daria. In a way she was me and I was her and her parents are kind of like mine too. I assume that raising me was probably difficult at times. Not all of their hopes for me were realized, other parents and their kids had it easier in other ways and they couldn't brag or talk about about my social or love life because, let's face it, it didn't exist. My parents tried and sometimes they succeeded. But sometimes they failed...miserably.

....It's definitely not easy being a weird kid and it's not easy being the parent of that kid either. In society's eyes, my parents and I were dealt bum cards. But we played them as best as we could. Anyhoo, check out "Boxing Daria" below.