March 2015 Question #2

Asked by the handsome dr_tectonic:

"What things are you a big fan of that you never expected to be? (Movies, music, books, comics, other.) What has won your heart even though it doesn't really fit your image of what you like?"

Hmmmm... I'll give you two things:

• Rock music from the 1960's -- My parents were conservative folks who were teenagers in the 1950s. As such, when I was growing up, we never had anything that would have played at Woodstock in the house. "Hippie music" or "druggie music" is what my dad referred to it. The LPs and 8-tracks in our house was 1950s and 1960s R&B (The Drifters, Diana Ross and the Supremes, The Platters) or Country Music (Conway Twitty, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Charlie Rich). The only common artist my parents enjoyed equally seemed to be Elvis Presley. I adopted my parents' view of 1960s rock music without even really listening to it, referring once to Janis Joplin as a screeching owl on drugs.
  
  When I went to college, I got exposure to other types of music and the soulful allure of the music of the Woodstock era suddenly made sense. Yes, Janis Joplin was still on drugs, but her voice became textured and emotional when I finally gave it a decent listen, not the screeching I believed. I learned to appreciate this music much more, enjoying songs from Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, CCR, and The Who. My iPhone isn't full of this music, but they are present in bits and pieces among everything else.



• The second thing is food. I used to turn my nose up at everything that wasn't meat and potatoes, or a common fast food, like pizza. My hometown did not have any ethnic food restaurants beyond the most basic Mexican restaurant. My parents never pushed us to try anything new as it wasn't available. I didn't try Chinese food until college, but even that was Americanized. I usually dodged anything new until I moved to Cincinnati and had more worldly friends who introduced me to some of the cool restaurants about town. It was then that I learned to love Indian dishes, Thai food, Cuban cuisine, etc. I have found over the years that there is very little I will not eat. Seafood is probably where I draw the strongest line, as I've never really enjoyed it (and yes, I tried them). Even today, if I suggest to my mom to try Indian food, she'll balk. She's likely never had it and will never eat it because it is too far outside her comfort zone. She has no idea what she's missing.

What about you guys? Have anything like this to share?? :)

March is question month. If you would like to ask me anything, go here.