I’m not sure what age the dizzying blur of red, white, blue, and gold caught my attention, but I do remember being fascinated with the ability to ricochet bullets and lasso the bad guys.
My early childhood was filled with classic heroes-versus-villains TV shows. Batman, starring Adam West, Dukes of Hazzard, where the cops were the bad guys, CHiPs on motorcycles, and even Andy Griffith occupied my time after long days of subtraction, reading about George Washington, writing words in looping cursive that I would rarely use anywhere else, and chasing the other kids around with a stick.
But, one of my top favorite shows of all time? 1975’s Wonder Woman. Where Princess Diana of the Amazons with the help of Major Steve Trevor fought the Nazis during World War II and saved the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
All of this was accomplished while flying around in an invisible jet and in Americana-inspired tights and corset.
My heart, be still.
One day, my TV screen was replaced with a smaller screen with green font and an attached keyboard. There were games about surviving a trail to Oregon, clunky racing games, and the classic Solitaire. Also, this new contraption required a typing class to master its communication. The times, they were a changing.
Luckily, the introduction of the computer also meant the capability to access almost any and all information available. Gone were the days of searching a card catalog for a resource book to only traverse down the walls of shelves and find it missing. Just a few carefully typed words and anything you wanted to know about a penguin was right there on the now colored Windows-based screen.
We didn’t have a PC at home until my senior year, but the high school library had many available and we were encouraged to use them at least once a week during my English I class. The computers were lined against a wall with a single one by itself in a corner. An idea bloomed over time.
It seemed like forever until no one sat at the computer in the corner and I was able to snag it. But, that fateful day came. It came not with an announcement, or a shout, but with me worming my way to the front of the line as we filed out to the library. I took my seat at the computer, started it, and waited.
A quick glance let me know that my teacher and librarian were engaged in conversation with each other and not paying attention to me, not that they would have anyways, I never made any trouble.
Remembering Wonder Woman and knowing this newfangled internet was full of all kinds of pictures, I began to type.
Glancing around again, I quickly typed, http://www.
Now to check again. They’re still chatting. I began to slowly type so I could change midstream if needed.
A
M
A
Z
O
N
and then quickly again .com.
Enter
Textbooks!!!! Ugh!!!
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