CURVE YOUR ENTHUSIASM (11)
By:
August 1, 2023
One in a series of 25 enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, on the topic of reconsidered passions, reassessed hates, and reversed feelings everywhere in-between. Series edited by Adam McGovern.
What is Going On?
One of my earliest memories is from early 1960; I was between two and three years old. I remember looking around and thinking “What is this? What is going on?” I saw adults all around me and I thought “They know what this is but they won’t talk about it.” I watched my father and a neighbor speaking seriously on the porch nodding and confirming each other’s utterances. “This must be it!” I thought. I listened intently as they discussed the best way to remove a large stump from the front yard. They agreed that a winch would be needed in any case.
It was around this age I remember lying in bed and feeling terrified. I was paralyzed except I could turn my head. I was on my back, and looking left I could see down the hall. A light bulb hanging from wires lit the hall with yellow-orange light. It was low enough so an adult could reach up and steady it as they pulled the chain that turned it off and on. Coming towards me was what I later learned was called a Tall Grey. It looked exactly like those later seen in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Long thin arms and so tall that he had to move his head to avoid the hanging bulb. That stood out to me, that and the feeling of terror. Several smaller greys surrounded him and moved down the hall with him. Just like the movie. I didn’t remember this until much later in life.
I used to believe in UFOs. Now that I think about it I fervently wanted them to be real. I can’t recall when I first heard of them but the idea was electrifying and I was secretly obsessed. I read everything I could find about them back when books were still a thing. Passport to Magonia by Jaques Valee was ultimately deflating because he really had the most informed view on the topic. He basically said the idea of flying through space to Earth from another planet was just not realistic. If you go fast enough you will encounter a solid wall of space dust mixed with pockets of various gasses. The best case would be Proxima Centauri, a little over 4 light-years away. Imagine spending four years somehow cutting your way through all the space crap to get to Earth. Once you are here you flit about and kidnap people while they sleep and do weird things with them. I don’t see the payoff. Plus you would do it so much and to so many people that even being aliens is not a good explanation. So interdimensional beings was his conclusion. Bit of a letdown.
Now the government is showing videos of things they can’t explain. It’s official! It might just be my age now but my response is, “Yeah, whatever.”
CURVE YOUR ENTHUSIASM: INTRODUCTION by Adam McGovern | Tom Nealon on PIZZA PURISM | Holly Interlandi on BOY BANDS | Heather Quinlan on THE ’86 METS | Whitney Matheson on THE SMITHS | Bishakh Som on SUMMER | Jeff Lewonczyk on WHOLE BELLY CLAMS | Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons on HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER | Nikhil Singh on LOVE ISLAND UK | Adrienne Crew on CILANTRO | Adam McGovern on MISSING PERSONS | Art Wallace on UFOs | Fran Pado on LIVERWURST | Lynn Peril on ELTON JOHN’S GREATEST HITS | Marlon Stern Lopez on ADOLESCENT REBELLION | Juan Gonzalez on STAN & JACK or JACK & STAN | Christopher-Rashee Stevenson on BALTIMORE | Josh Glenn on FOOTLOOSE | Annie Nocenti on SIDEVIEW MIRROR | Mandy Keifetz on BREATHLESS | Brian Berger on HARRY CREWS | Ronald Wimberly on GAMING AND DATING | Michele Carlo on HERITAGE FOODS | Gabriela Pedranti on MADONNA | Ingrid Schorr on MAXFIELD PARRISH AND SUE LEWIN | Mariane Cara on ORANGE.
JACK KIRBY PANELS | CAPTAIN KIRK SCENES | OLD-SCHOOL HIP HOP | TYPEFACES | NEW WAVE | SQUADS | PUNK | NEO-NOIR MOVIES | COMICS | SCI-FI MOVIES | SIDEKICKS | CARTOONS | TV DEATHS | COUNTRY | PROTO-PUNK | METAL | & more enthusiasms!