in paradise

last minute topic idea. my roommate has people over, and his computer just played coolio's "gangsta's paradise".

i might be the only person who is reminded of their mother when they hear that song. my mom only listened to 5 or 6 cds. she had stocked up the cd player in her car, and those were the ones she listened to, only those. about every other year she might buy one new cd, but that was rare. one of the newer ones was this crazy compilation album that was mostly made up of music my mom loves. female folkish singers with a little bit of rock and a lot of heartbreak. but the track that always stood out was near the end of the cd. coolio's "gangsta's paradise". i can't find the cd now. but that cd is burned into my memory. tori amos and coolio. my mom listened to coolio. well only sometimes. one time i pointed out that i couldn't believe that she liked that song. she quickly changed it to the next track and stated that she hadn't noticed it was playing and that she normally skipped over it. now whether or not it's true she did not like the song, still am amused that she owned the track. and listened to it on occasion.

maybe i should describe my mother. she's a 5'9" thin white woman of some years. i think she was in her mid-forties at this point. pretty conservative. with her music interests lying closer to judy collins and carol king than coolio. she was pretty strict, but i think that this track showed an insight into her level of acceptance. she's conservative, definitely, but i think that she's amazing open to other's opinions and ideas. i did live in new york city for a while and dragged her to lucky cheng's. a drag restaurant. and she survived. and kept her opinions to herself. she still finds it fairly amusing.

i'm happy she owned that cd. it made me like her a little more. at a time when none of my friends liked their mothers.