Me and my dad have always been very close. Growing up, we spent nearly every Saturday together shopping near USC, going to museums or the library, and when money was tight we'd feed squirrels at the State House.
I've learned a lot about art, music, and literature from him. And though I don't make the following of these things the habit I'd like to, I have a strong belief in their value.
I've always thought his approach to raising a girl was particularly interesting. He never called me princess or anything like that. Never got bent out of shape about boy stuff. But it seems he consciously exposed me to Tori Amos, Bjork, Courtney Love, a myriad of women who had interesting things to say about their experiences as women. Strong women who possessed themselves in ways that aren't evident more accessible media. They certainly possessed themselves in a way a princess never could. Maybe this isn't very PC of me, but it was my dad who informed my identity as a feminist like no one else.
