Linda Lovelace for president?

One morning when I was nine, I read in the paper that a woman was running for president. I asked my mom about it, and proclaimed my support. It was in the paper, so it had to be true; the fact she was endorsed by the voice of Hong Kong Phooey was enough of an endorsement for me.

(For those of you who are now as innocent as I was at age nine, Linda Lovelace was the star of "Deep Throat," the 1972 adult film which is probably the most successful film of all time, box office receipts vs production budget. Lovelace became an overnight star, though spent the rest of her life trying to alternately reclaim and then deny her role in establishing the porn industry in mainstream America. She was killed in a single-car auto accident a few years ago.)

I don't know where my progressive streak came from. In many ways, my family is very conservative with very traditional small-town ideals.

My folks met, fell in love, and got married while at a small college in the middle of Kansas. My dad had fleeting dreams of going into medicine, so after a year of marriage they moved to Minneapolis, where he soon dropped out of school for the practical need of earning a living. He joined 3M, and worked out a transfer to Springfield, MO, in order to be closer to both their families. My mom, meanwhile, chose to stay at home to raise their three sons. She did take in extra money by running a slightly illegal day care (unlicensed babysitting during the day).

After a while, in a demonstration of courage that profoundly impacted my life, first my dad and then my mom decided that it was important to finish their college degrees. So, they began taking night classes at what was then Southwest Missouri State University. That was very cool for me at the time because they were able to get family passes to school resources like football games and the outdoor swimming pool.

My dad finally graduated in 1979 with a degree in architectural drafting, and a minor in this new thing called computer science. This created a slight conundrum. With his degree, my dad was suddenly overqualified for his position in the adhesives division at 3M. Essentially, he tested glue.

My mom graduated a year later with a computer science/accounting degree. As she had the marketable degree, and as my dad was being pressured at his job, Dad made the very progressive decision, and announced it, that if Mom could find a job, he would follow her. Remember, this was back when The Captain and Tennille Show was the hottest thing on TV.

Maybe they weren't so traditional after all.

Mom interviewed for positions in, among others, Seattle and St. Louis, before landing a position, coincidentally, at 3M Corporate in St. Paul. So, in March 1981 (after John Lennon's assassination but before the shooting of President Reagan), my dad quit his job at 3M, we packed up the 1964 Chevy Impala and drove 14 hours to the frozen tundra of Minnesota. Temps were only in the 20s when we arrived, and it was the coldest day of my life.

My dad spent a few weeks unemployed before being rehired at 3M; they both spent the next 20+ years there until they were rewarded with early retirement.

All of this, of course, happened after Ms. Lovelace announced her candidacy. Still, in the case of my folks, not only did they love each other (and they did, and still do), but they respected each other. Looking back now, I think this may have helped form my opinion that women can achieve anything.

It never occurred to me otherwise. I was secure enough to read, and actually enjoy, all the Nancy Drew books while I was still in grade school. I never could understand why should would date her Big Dumb Boyfriend Ned, it always seemed like she could do better (what about the level-headed Frank Hardy of the Hardy Boys?). I clearly recognized that there were plenty of girls who were my superiors in kickball. My guy friends recognized it too, and would sometimes razz me, but as it really didn't bother me all that much, they soon f0und other ways to amuse themselves.

It wasn't until later on that I began to learn that girls weren't supposed to be as good as guys in a lot of areas, but we were supposed to pretend they were. Why, it was practically unheard of for there to be women doctors, or cab drivers, or plumbers, or so I was told. But I never really believed it.

Someone asked me once if I was uncomfortable having a female manager. I had to stop and think about it. Certainly, I recognized that my manager was female, but until I was asked the question, it never occurred to me that I should have a different opinion based on gender.

Over time, I did learn to respect the achievements of women, not because they were in some ways inferior to men, but because they were perceived to be inferior to me, so to achieve equal or greater success really meant something.

This came to mind today because I had the opportunity to meet one of my all-time favorite authors, Greg Rucka, at a signing in Scottsdale. Along with being an acclaimed novelist, he is also on my list of two best comic book writers today (Ed Brubaker being the other). I will read anything that Rucka or Brubaker write, even if it is their grocery lists.

Rucka has written all the major characters -- Spider-Man, Daredevil, Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman. While I love his work on these comic book heavyweights, I almost prefer more when Rucka takes on the B-level or even C-level characters such as The Huntress, The Question, Elektra, or the new Batwoman.

(Short digression:

-- The Huntress was originally conceived as the love child between Batman and Catwoman; in a retcon, she was repositioned as the orphaned daughter of a Gotham City mob boss, a sort of female Bruce Wayne if his father had been the head of one of the Five Families.

-- The Question was created by Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko; he doesn't have any powers except for a mask that completely hides his face leaving him featureless. He has conspiracy paranoia, always asking questions and never compromising, and was the direct model of the character Rorshack of The Watchmen. The original Question developed cancer and died, but he passed his mask on to former Gotham City police detective Renee Montoya.

-- Elektra was the first girlfriend of Matt Murdock, the Daredevil, until she saw her father killed by ninja assassins (it's not easy being a parent in the comic book universe). Elektra put her gymnastic training to become a hired assassin herself, which inevitably led to crossing paths with her former lover. Yes, Elektra was the subject of the awful Jennifer Garner movie, and yes, the story was LOOSELY based on a Greg Rucka story, except they took out everything that was good and and re-wrote the rest.

-- Batwoman is a relatively new creation and is NOT the heel-wearing, purse-carrying, compact-throwing Kathy Kane of the 1960s. I don't have much of the current Batwoman's back story; turns out, she is a former lover of Gotham City police detective Renee Montoya, the new Question. Batwoman and the Question are due to star in their own comic book coming out sometime this summer.)

Interesting to note, all of these "minor" characters that so fascinate me are female. Sometimes, when I think about it, I wonder, do I like these characters because they are female? But then I realize, I like these characters because Rucka so clearly likes these characters, and respects them, and I often don't even think about gender issues.

I'm not sure what point I'm trying to make, except maybe two:

1) Greg Rucka is a damn good writer. If you aren't reading him, you should.

2) My parents are pretty special.

For the record, I never saw the movie, "Linda Lovelace for President." Someone please tell me, did she win?