It's sad, really, that I am spending what little free time I have exorcising my obsession with a television show that appears on the SciFi Channel. I could, after all, be writing about the effect of existentialist philosophy on late 20th century American literature, but there you go. This is my blog and I get to say what I want.
My daughter is in fifth grade and she is very very smart. She also likes Battlestar Galactica. (She does, however, hide under a pillow and say "yuck" during anything that remotely resembles a sexual encounter, even if it is just a kiss. Alas, I fear that this will come to an end in about 2-3 years). I think, though, that her all-time favorite shows are Dr. Who and Zoe 101. Go figure.
My sons are almost two years younger (they are twins, in case you can't figure that out). They are identical, meaning that they are essentially genetic clones (13th Cylon model, maybe?). They both have autism, and I do not mean they talk all the time about, say, the Civil War, until the person listening just wants to kill them. You know, geeky guys with long hair and really bad taste in clothes, the really smart kids who attend MIT or Cal Tech and go out on their first date when they are 45 (if at all).
They have the really-messed-up-brain autism. They can't talk and can't read or write, although we have made huge progress in getting them to dress themselves and eat at the table using spoons and forks. We are also working to teach them how to watch tv (bet you never heard that one). Their favorite activities are running around screaming while rubbing a piece of string (and then sometimes eating the string), or running around banging two items together. Lately this has been two spoons, although in the past it has been any two objects that come to hand (including two crystal candlesticks which, of course, shattered). When they are upset they tend to bang their heads on any hard surface they can find, including windows, walls, floors, me, etc. They will do this in the house and outside, which tends to upset people if we are, say, in a diner, at Home Deport, or in the grocery store.
I do not believe that autism is cased by vaccines, and if YOU think so, please keep your thoughts to yourself. I also do not believe that (a) God gives special kids to special people, (b) before they are born, babies pick their parents and our kids chose us because they knew we would be such great parents, (c) God gives us disabled children so that we can be better people, (d) God gives people horrible situations as punishment for being bad, or (e) autism happens because parents (especially moms) withhold love from their children (THE most popular theory, btw, until sometime in the late '70's).
I believe that we have had incredibly bad luck and it just happened. I try not to take it personally. I believe that all children are entitled to unconditional love from their parents, although there are many times when I don't like my children that much. My kids are incredibly good-looking, btw, and that certainly makes it easier to love them (which may not be admirable on my part, but is the truth). They are also very sweet and very affectionate.
I think I am suffering from something I call "The Purple Rose of Cairo" syndrome. In case you don't remember, "The Purple Rose of Cairo" is a Woody Allen movie set in the Great Depression, and the main character is a woman whose life is so shitty that she watches the same film over and over again as a means of escape. I am also not a huge science fiction fan, although I loved the original Star Trek series (I was like 8 at the time) and "The Next Generation." "Deep Space Nine" was pretty good until the last year or so, when I got lost in all the geopolitical machinations. "Voyager" was often, but not always interesting, and I never saw the prequel series. I like all the even-numbered Star Trek films. I don't read science fiction at all, but I like speculative movies and fiction a lot.
In this blog I will be devoting some posts about individual characters. I will also be providing a show-by-show analysis of my observations on the plot, themes, and characters. I will not be provding a synopsis of each show, if you want that go to Battlestar Galactica on the SciFi channel web site. There will be spoilers, so if you haven't seen the entire series you may want to stop right here.
I have not listened to all the podcasts, and I am going to hold off listening to the rest of them since I don't want to be unduly influenced by their content (it feels a little like cheating).
(I also really like parentheses, in case you couldn't tell.)
Enough about me, let us join Battlestar Galactica's quest for Earth.
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