Confess!! What small nuggets of 'cool' do your parents have?

[Richardo]

Did one of them work for a legendary liberal?
WAS one of them a legendary liberal?
Scout a ballplayer? (my Mom likes to think she was among the first one to recognize Roberto Clemente's potential) :)
Did (do) they listen to cool music?

What bit of cultural coolness makes you proud of your folks?

Mine:
- They were early and rabid fans of Nat King Cole.

- My Dad is a secret fan of 'Reno 911' (pretty racy viewing for a Deacon.)

[Bertha Venation]

1. my dad has a terrific sense of humor

He is goofy as they come, but he always makes me laugh.

Maybe not cultural cool, but I dig it. It's one of the things about him that I can point to with a smile.

[KurtNYC]

2. My mother does an impersonation of Baretta

(This was before he killed people.)

She would give me my allowance and say "And you cud take dat to da bank!"

[Lone_Star_Dem]

3. My mom was a protesting, bra buring hippie in the 60's

That woman makes me very proud. :)


edit.. note: she burned her bra not bars. :P

[motely36]

7. Damn, I was just about to comment on that

[Lone_Star_Dem]

19. I'm fast!

Saw it as it posted. I guess I could learn to proof read someday...nah. :D

[Richardo]

20. It still says 'buring' BTW

:D

[Ediacara]

4. My folks used to smoke weed, and much to my surprise, still do.

[motely36]

5. My dad worked on the Apollo 11 project as an engineer

and my mother was one of the first women ordained to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church.

[JimmyJazz]

25. Wow - those are some really cool genes you have working

for you! :yourock:

My parents are die hard republicans so I have nothing else to add to this thread. I am an anomaly :)

[flvegan]

6. My mom voted dem for the first time this year

She's also a vegetarian and works out almost every day. Pretty cool in my book.

[Beer Snob-50]

8. MY parents turned me on the ray charles

way back in the late 60's.

[Richardo]

9. Oh yeah, and my Mom was a Teamster shop steward

...at the School District's distribution center. :thumbsup:

[sui generis]

10. my parents love to play video games

"Tail Gunner" - my dad flies and my mom does the tail gunner. They sit in front of the tv and swoop and lean and dodge and call out positions to each other: "Gitta, you have a bogey at 1:00", "I'm on it, schatz"

Then they blow the enemy to hell - . I've seen them take a missile amidship and they both throw the controller and fall off their chairs. Quite dramatic.

[Richardo]

12. That's hilarious - and somehow endearing

What a team! :D

[Crankie Avalon]

11. They are immigrants who risked imprisonment...

...by escaping from behind the then still existing "Iron Curtain," came to a completely new country with no money, zero connections, AND a baby (my mother was pregnant with me when they fled and I was born in a refugee camp in Italy on the way to America), and made a better life for themselves all by themselves.

They are also both multi-lingual and became Americans without ever becoming "ugly Americans."

[Allenberg]

15. That's a great story.

[Allenberg]

13. ...

My dad saved a kid's life while working as a volunteer firefighter in the late 60s and my mother is one of the biggest football fans around. :)

[tsakshaug]

14. hmmmmm

this is tough....
they were significantly older when they had me (mid-40's) so with that kind of age gap......
My father has several patents on lightning arresters, and has been inducted into several exclusive scientific groups-one at the same time as Arthur C Clarke.

Both lived on farms in the depression and survived

[vi5]

16. Other than that they were cool parents, nothing really...

They were the most unhip people you'd ever want to meet. Total squares. They grew up in the heart of the 60's and never listened to rock and roll or jazz or anything cool. Just crap like Johnny Mathis.

But they were totally down with anything I was into growing up. My dad would walk into record stores in the 80's and ask where they kep the Slayer or Agnostic Front records when I asked for them for christmas.

My dad also accompanied me to concerts ranging from Iron Maiden, to Rush, to The Ramones, Dio, Van Halen, Public Image Limited, and many more when I was too young to go myself and couldn't get friends to go with me.

[livinginphotographs]

17. Both marched in Civil Rights marches in the 60's.

My dad was the "accountant" for a biker gang. (He counted the money after they robbed convenience stores).

Both grew up to be Republicans. :shrug:

[bowens43]

18. My parents are as rabidly anti-bush as I am.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

21. My lukewarm (ok.. cool!) parents

My dad is a mechanical engineering genius... he has a few patents for multipoint fuel injection systems...

He is an avid Beatles fan... he used to play the Beatles when I was young and I revolted against them... now the Beatles are about 60% of what I play on my iPod everyday...

He has a great sense of humor and, for some reason, any dog who approaches him loves him

My mom is a great cook. Both my mom and dad have great interior decorating skills, much better than those you see on TV..

And they're both as liberal as they come, which by itself makes them cool!

[Texasgal]

22. My parenst were big hippes

We lived in a commune for most of the 70's. They were in an folk-rock band that sang songs about peace and love.

The fundies changed them and now they are big neo-cons. :(

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

23. Dad:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=2394756#2394825

[kedrys]

24. My dad was a jazz musician when he met my mom

My mom is a semi-professional card shark now, and she wants to kick Bill Gates' butt at bridge (she heard he plays online like she does). Mom always takes sides with the S.O. when my dad's being a butthead about economics and poitics.

They're both pretty groovy for parents. :)

[ProfessorGAC]

26. My Dad Too

Played jazz organ in the Jimmy Smith style. Mostly a duo with a drummer.

He had LOTS of cool jazz records from the late 40's and early 50's. My listening to his stuff, and really digging the stuff he didn't listen too (bop and hard bop) made me the jazz lover i became.
The Professor

[Solly Mack]

27. My mom watched TV with us. Not cool enough? You'd be wrong

She scoured TV listings for programs that reflected a value/message she wanted to impart and then as a family we would all sit and watch.

Afterwards, we would discuss the show.

She did the same with books, movies, etc.

She demanded meal times together and we got to voice our opinions. Big deal in my extended family as children were not allowed to speak on "adult issues." We got a reputation for being "rude" children because it was hard to go from speaking your mind at home to shutting up around the rest of the family.

Children under 10 were not allowed at my father's table. We had to sit at a separate table. We also had to be "quiet."

She loved to sing and dance...often dragging one of us up to dance with her. The woman could "cut a rug" like nobody's business.

She met Castro before Castro was a household name.

She usta make a point of hitting the Varsity just to be served by Nipsey Russell. She loved to laugh!

She hated Lester Maddox and always snubbed him whenever she saw him(which was a lot as his business was next to ours). Majorally cool if you know about Maddox...

the woman was overall cool...in so many ways.

[BigMcLargehuge]

28. there's nothing small about my parents cool nuggets

My mom took on a career as a high-school teacher and worked her ass off to become lead teacher in the Fashion Design and Textile department at Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School. She was a Motown fan when the Beatles broke big in 1963, and REMAINED a Motown fan through the entire Beatles frenzy. Now that's cool!

My dad volunteered for the Army right after graduation high school, volunteered for Special Forces, volunteered to go to Vietnam as a military advisor, Stayed on for a year after his tour ended until they could find a suitable replacement. All of this between 1961 and 1964. FYI my dad is 5'3" tall. His nickname was Peewee.

My dad is fearless, loves music, especially really loud music (from Polka to Kiss to Ricky Martin to Willie Nelson). My dad sued the State of Massachusetts over a fake charity called Horizons for Youth and their use of paid spokespeople. He actually walked on stage at a Governor King appearance with a folder under his arm and told the crowd he wanted the governor to meet his accuser in person.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

29. My absolutely Republican Father...

used to love Michael Moore's "TV Nation." You know, back when Moore was considered a "harmless" subversive. Don't know that he'd care for him today. But who know? Maybe Mike would have converted him!

[Left Is Write]

30. My parents feel the same way about Junior Bushie that I do.

Isn't that cool enough?

They've travelled several places across the country to meet my mother's internet friends, so they wouldn't think anything was odd about my communicating with "strangers" on a message board.

They find really cool toys to give me kids for birthdays and Christmas.

[bloodyjack]

31. My dad threw up in the gubernatorial toilet of Alabama

George Wallace (yes, Mr Segregation 4EVAR) was throwing a little bash in his mansion and my dad didn't know his ass from his elbow when it came to hard liquor. So, uh, he vomited (discreetly, he claims) in one of the guest bathrooms.

And, uh, he used to smoke tobacco out of a pipe (not a corncob)

One time he was bailed out of jail by Kuwaiti prince Abdul-Aziz

He's led an interesting life

[Samurai_Writer]

32. My dad was awesome... mom still is...

Dad had the following cool things going for him:

Conscientious objector in WWII. He was drafted, but put in a non-combat position. He drove ambulances and was an orderly in the section 8 ward at the army hospital in the Phillippines. he was in from 1944 - 1946.

He raised his brother after both his parents died (about a year apart from each other) when my dad was just out of the Army and only 20 years old. My uncle had a congenital bone defect and needed several operations, which my dad helped pay for.

My dad took 10 years to get a B.S. in Civil Engineering. He had to work for 2 years, then go to school for a year, work for 2 years... you get the point. He played college football when he was 30 years old, his last year of college. He did this while helping his brother go through school as well.

In the 50s, my dad was the president of the union that his father had founded in the early 1900s. He ended up going into construction management after college and working on labor relations.

He loved jazz and big band music. I grew up listening to his records (which my mom still has).

He insisted my mom finish her nursing degree before they got married. This was in 1959. He met my mom when she was 19 and he was 30. They got married when she was 23 and he was 34. I came along a year later.

He was the absolutely best dad anyone could ever have. He always put family before career. He died 13 years ago at the age of 66, and is still very much missed.

My mom had the following cool things going for her:

She was and is very intelligent and a beautiful and graceful woman. She had 5 kids in less than 6 years, and has the patience of a saint. She was a surgical and recovery room nurse for about 40 years.

My mom listens to all types of music, even new stuff. She's not stuck in her generation. Same with movies. I'm the same way, too.

She's an avid reader and the kindest, most compassionate person anyone could ever meet!

My mom is the 'matriarch' of the family, since my grandmother died 13 years ago. She is the one who holds the extended family together, making sure she keeps in contact with everyone, and nudging us to do the same, even though we are all scattered all over the U.S.

My mom is the best mom anyone could ever have. Intelligent, caring, beautiful, graceful, down-to-earth and I will be lucky if I get to be more like her as I get older. She's 68 and I'm 44.

[Richardo]

35. What a story - two stories

You've a good set of genes, RadFem :thumbsup:

[Samurai_Writer]

37. Thanks Richardo...

I also get my baby-face genes from my Dad's side of the family too, as an added bonus! But also the premature gray...but that's what Loriel hair color is for!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

44. My father was a C.O. in World War Ii as well

His alternative service was being a "guinea pig" for medical experiments in starvation, sleep deprivation, and tropical diseases. The supervisor of the experiments was Dr. Ancel Keyes, who died just recently.

His one vice was books, and because of that, I grew up in an intellectually rich environment.

A few years after my father died, my mother got back with an old gentleman friend and married him within a couple of months. He had been a habitual Republican, but watching CSPAN with my mother converted him.

My mother is great with small children. She can take the worst brats, calm them down, and have them behaving and doing what they need to do without yelling or spanking. She used to be a kindergarten teacher, and when I visited her classes, I always marveled how she could keep thirty little kids playing quietly and congenially.

My stepfather is a professional musician who still substitutes as a church organist at the age of 83.

[Debbi801]

33. Let's see....

They were both hippies, My mom has a tattoo (so does my dad), They owned a head shop for a period of time when I was a teen ager, And they used to go to nudist camps.

Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, after 9-11 my father became a freeper and bought into the whole Iraq connection. I love him anyway.

Debbi

[XNASA]

34. My Dad was the most senior Township Trustee in Cook County...

He retired from that position a few years ago, but held it for 8 years or so.

He was also quite a good hockey player in his 20's. He played semi-pro roller hockey, which was a popular sport here during the 60's. He regularly played for a team of all-stars that would travel around. His hockey position - defenseman/enforcer. I kid you not. I couldn't believe the first time I went to see him play and he got into a rumble. Scared the crap outta me.

[Arkana]

36. My mother's brother sold boat furnishings to Senator John Kerry

I've always thought that was really cool.

[Taxloss]

38. My father was in Saigon when it fell to the Vietcong.

Which I consider to be pretty cool.

Mum and Dad have marched about pretty much every liberal cause celebre from Vietnam onwards - CND, anti-apartheid, anti-Iraq war.

[fluffernutter]

39. my father has saved thousands of baby's lives

he is a neonatal heart surgeon who invented a procedure to help babies born with HLHS who always die if they don't get this surgery or a transplant. i am immensely proud of his work, but he's also a really great guy and does well at anything he does.

my mom is just cool - she was a great mom while working to put my father through med school.

[Lex]

40. My Dad is a regular poster at DU

.
--pretty cool for a 62 year old dad, eh?

Especially since he lives in a red state!

[NewJeffCT]

41. Hmm, a few small things I think

Nothing too cool for my family.

For my Dad, he used to own some of the original rock 'n' roll records - I think they were 78rpm, as opposed to the 45s that came out later.

Before he passed away in 1995, my grandfather was the oldest active member of the YMCA in the country. They even did a story on him in the local paper. He went there several times a week to work out.

I had a cousin that passed away at an early age in the 1980s and the governor (Democrat Bill O'Neill) ordered the state flags flown at half staff.

[dr.strangelove]

42. I am VERY PROUD of my COOL parents.

When I was in the high school/college part of my life, I slowly realized that my parents did some cool things. Now, years later, I realize they were both very cool. But very different. Mom was a hippie and went to woodstock pregnant(right before my bother was born). she listened to great music. She was a groupie and lived life before settling down. My dad was a little older. He met Elvis several times. After serving in Vietnam, he set up a local civic association that eventually became an incorporated town. He worked early in the managed care business to reform healthcare.
Dad has passed on, but Mom is very much still a Cool person.

[cally]

43. My parents insisted on treating others with respect

We HAD to befriend the new kid in school, stand up for anyone shunned, and treat everyone fairly. They are also incredibly honest. Many times we we're driving home and my mother figured out someone had given her $.25 more in change. We turned back and returned the money. But you really didn't want to shortchange either. They were ferocious if they thought you had cheated them.

My Mother majored in Chemistry at UC Berkeley. She attended most of her classes of over 100 students where she was the only woman. Sometimes there was one other woman present. She taught Chemistry in HS.

My Dad invented the electronic calculator and has about 100 patents. He went and visited the garage when they were inventing the computer. He had heard about it and drove down to see.

[JVS]

45. My Grandmother played football in 1922 at Gustavus Adolphus college

They had a women's team. Her best friend, who married the brother of my Grandfather was also on the team.

Other than that she had no nuggets of cool, unless you count being a 4'8'' bitter old Swede as something cool

[progressoid]

46. My parents let my sister grow some pot in the house

Pretty cool since they could have both lost their jobs as school teacher back then.

Recently, my Dad pissed off most of his VFW with his 'Veterans for Kerry' bumper sticker.

[Richardo]

47. These are all great stories, people!

Your folks brought up some good liberals (even if they're Republicans like mine!)

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

48. My dad went to Woodstock

and several other concerts back in the day. He was a real hippie. He still loves all the old 60's/70's rock tunes. He was really into hiking when he was my age. He spent a lot of time hiking and camping in the mountains in New Hampshire. He went a ways down the Appalachian Trail too.

Both of my parents are liberals too.

[Carson]

49. My mother cleaned the house on Saturdays to Janis Joplin tunes...

when I was a kid in the 1970s-early '80's, inspiring my fondness for Joplin and other 60's musicians.

[KittyWampus]

50. Dad Was Head Lifeguard For YEARS. He Surfed Up Til 10 Yrs Ago

he coached high school football and Vinnie Testaverde was one of his kids.He likes outdoor stuff and taught many years.

And yet he votes GOP.

[maveric]

51. Ma & Dad were Kennedy democrats. They campaigned door to door

for JFK in 1960 and met the man many times. They tell me that I actually shook his hand when I was 4. I have no recolection of that but would they lie to me?

When I was a rebellious teen my parents actually encouraged me to protest the Viet Nam war. Dad, an esteemed news journalist from the Boston area, brought me to demonstrations in Boston Common, Brandeis Univ and Bradford College.

Police brutalty was on the rise in Lawrence and Haverhill MA and my Dad had bumper stickers made up saying "report your local police".

Dad was the first on our block to buy a new VW bug in 1960, refusing to waste gasoline. Freeper neighbors labled him a commie and he found that amusing.

One saturday night as I was leaving to go out with my pals, Ma & Dad stopped me and asked me to leave them a joint because they wanted to try it and see what evryone is getting upset about.

Ma is stil around and living in Salem NH. Dad died in 2000 and I can only imagine what he'd be saying about the bu$h's and the degradation of the MSM nowadays.

My parents were/are cool!