My Contribution to the Star Wars Craze

Star Wars 

I saw the original (Star Wars IV) when I was five and fell in love. With Luke Skywalker, that is. My adoration went so far as requesting (and receiving) a lightsaber for Christmas. It was a disappointment, being a plastic handled flashlight with a plastic tube. It wasn't, that is, a real lightsaber, which of course, was what I'd wanted (now there's a child safe toy for ya!). I was enough of a tomboy to dress up as Luke for Halloween, and the next year, I was Princess Leia (I also requested and received a Princess Leia doll for Christmas, one of the few dolls of my childhood).

In any case, I was a Star Wars fan for most of my childhood--I wanted to be a Jedi--although I don't remember ever being enthralled by the minutiae of the Star Wars universe, so I wasn't a true fan. I loved Empire Strikes Back. I didn't get the whole large-killing-machines-on-stilts thing (what moronic company won that government contract?). Still, I loved Luke's stint with Yoda, and the sarcasm of Han Solo (I was eight or nine by then; just the age when kids begin to "get" sarcasm) and the whole "Luke, I am your father" scenario and the bionic arm. I really liked the bionic arm for some reason.

And then Return of the Jedi came along and those hideous Winne-the-Pooh gone rabid Ewoks and the stupid instant forgiveness scene and my lingering interest in Star Wars was annihilated.

Which means, that although I saw Star Wars I--I was dating a Star Wars aficiando at the time (he owned collectors' figures, including, I believe, the coveted Boba Fett), and one should always support popular culture obsessions; I tend to run more towards Tolkien and Star Trek myself--I haven't (I confess, I confess) seen Star Wars II or III.

However, tis the season and all that. In the pictures, I am walking with my buddy, Jen. This would have been first grade: the annual Halloween parade. The white costume was made by my mother but the two little buns were created with the help of plastic donuts which were part of the official Princess Leia outfit.


Halloween