Normal people

[SalParadise]

I agree with an above poster..It sounds like your tv broke in 1960..I think what tv now-a-days shows as "normal" would have shocked most folks back in the 1950`s..The world is a different place now..It used to be you wouldn`t think twice about cursing in front of a lady and espcially not in front of a young girl..Now it is the young girls who are using the profanity...When I was young you could spot a "bad person" by the way they looked..Now a "normal" person looks like those "bad" people back then did...It`s a shame too because as Hank Hill explained; I approve of people with tattoos and body piercing because it gives you the chance to spot those who`s minds ain`t right and avoid them...Now we have bank tellers and business women who look like that so how can we avoid the bad people?......(Obviously I`m partly kidding..But which part?...LOL)

i know you're saying it in jest, but maybe not being able to immediately spot the odd or not-so-odd or whatever group a person belongs to is a cultural evolution for the better. it's nice that we can't so easily spot the weirdos. i'm fortunate to have made friends of potheads and drug dealers and Goths or atheists (i'm not lumping them all in, now) or whomever that in earlier times i might have just avoided to my own disadvantage.

[bfitz]

"All are mad save me and thee, and sometimes I fear for thee...."

Normal people scare me.

[K0OPG]

"If we wern't crazy, we'd all go insane" Jimmy Buffett

[Jester2000]

. . . and the last time I had drink was to celebrate the first time Pittsburg won the super bowl in 1974.

Well, see, that's just sad.

I am, by my own standards, completely normal.

[Hana_Hanger]

My question was why don't you see people like June Cleaver on the trail?

Maybe you are just hiking the wrong trails!!!

[StarLyte]

Mainstream is boring, ugly, predictable.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

My question was why don't you see people like June Cleaver on the trail?

Because June Cleaver's goals and ideals do not mesh well with an endeavor that would involve being away from the family - not to mention not being able to bathe regularly, do one's hair, properly care for nails, skin and teeth. Also, June's wardrobe would be kind of difficult to use on the trail - the pumps especially. June Cleavers are still around, but you're not going to seee them on the trail.

[weary]

I agree with an above poster..It sounds like your tv broke in 1960..I think what tv now-a-days shows as "normal" would have shocked most folks back in the 1950`s..The world is a different place now..It used to be you wouldn`t think twice about cursing in front of a lady and espcially not in front of a young girl..Now it is the young girls who are using the profanity...When I was young you could spot a "bad person" by the way they looked..Now a "normal" person looks like those "bad" people back then did...It`s a shame too because as Hank Hill explained; I approve of people with tattoos and body piercing because it gives you the chance to spot those who`s minds ain`t right and avoid them...Now we have bank tellers and business women who look like that so how can we avoid the bad people?......(Obviously I`m partly kidding..But which part?...LOL)

Among the normal things I've discovered after cataract surgery is that the world suddenly has a bluish tinge, which means that I can hardly read posts by folks like Programbo, who like to post in blue type. Blue on blue reading difficulties aside, the world has taken on a whole new look -- a look that only those who have had cataract surgery, and new born babies ever see.

Eye people tell me that the human eyes gradually shifts from emphasizing blue to seeing the world with a yellow tinge, which is why, Moxie, so many adults fail to see that yellow snow you warn us against.

Weary

[superman]

You don't have to be crazy to hike the AT... but it helps. Yet another reason to tent.

I didn't like "Leave it to Beaver" because it was eerie how they made episodes about stuff I did. Remember the broken lamp episode?

Normal....I don't need no sticken normal.

[Skyline]

I've met guys who reminded me of Wally and the Beav on the AT. It was somewhere between Springer and Neels Gap. Not too many of 'em got much further. Gee, wow, I wonder why...

[Skyline]

Come to think of it, I ran into June and Ward one night at a shelter. It was Partnership Shelter, and they'd hiked all the way in from...the Mt. Rogers Visitor Center.

[GlazeDog]

why don't we ever see these people on the AT

They're just wearing disguises. I call it trail-camo.

GlazeDog

[bfitz]

I also have a wife, two kids, don't smoke and the last time I had drink was to celebrate the first time Pittsburg won the super bowl in 1974. However, I don't even pretend to be what anyone would consider normal, It is just too much fun being different and I sure as hell consider different people to be more intresting. One thing I love about the trail is that by the time you hit the NC State line most normal people have left and the colorful ones are still out there.

SMS will advise you how to deal with anxiety and pain, and you can mix with alcohol, no problem!

[bfitz]

Ah now you're ruining all the fun. I was sitting here fantasising about enjoying some nice pain pills or anxiety pills with a few drinks and you ruined it. I guess I'll just get back to the drinks.

SMS will advise you how to deal with anxiety and pain, and you can mix with alcohol, no problem!

[bfitz]

Among the normal things I've discovered after cataract surgery is that the world suddenly has a bluish tinge, which means that I can hardly read posts by folks like Programbo, who like to post in blue type. Blue on blue reading difficulties aside, the world has taken on a whole new look -- a look that only those who have had cataract surgery, and new born babies ever see.

Eye people tell me that the human eyes gradually shifts from emphasizing blue to seeing the world with a yellow tinge, which is why, Moxie, so many adults fail to see that yellow snow you warn us against.

Weary

You need some rose colored glasses, my friend. I will loan you a pair of mine!

[Fiddleback]

Like the cliche, 'the only constant is change', perhaps the only normality is change. As for the media's portrayal of the 'American family' and lifestyle vs. the real world, check this out, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17445891/ , "Numbers drop for the married with children -- institution becoming the choice of the educated, affluent"

Quote: Punctuating a fundamental change in American family life, married couples with children now occupy fewer than one in every four households -- a share that has been slashed in half since 1960 and is the lowest ever recorded by the census...
Marriage has declined across all income groups, but it has declined far less among couples who make the most money and have the best education. These couples are also less likely to divorce. Many demographers peg the rise of a class-based marriage gap to the erosion since 1970 of the broad-based economic prosperity that followed World War II.
"We seem to be reverting to a much older pattern, when elites marry and a great many others live together and have kids," said Peter Francese, demographic trends analyst for Ogilvy & Mather, an advertising firm...EndQuote

[mweinstone]

in a world of sin, this all is normal.

[doggiebag]

Over the years the media has painted a picture of what "normal americans" are. Father Knows Best, Leave it to Beaver, Happy Days are a few examples. Dad works, mom cooks and washes dishes, the kids all say gee and wow and never drink or smoke pot. Everyone has clean clothes, is shaven, and have bright little faces and straight teeth. Everyone is white and goes to church on Sunday. No on ever drinks or smokes. My question is, why don't we ever see these people on the AT if they are the normal Americans? No all we see are people like Baltimore jack, Blister, LW and Jester and I don't have to describe the likes of them. Oh, some of Warren Doyle's people look a little normal but they get hot meals every night and frequent showers. We need more normal people on the trail. I would suggest Whiteblaze and ALDA get together and have a two week seminar for thru hikers. It would consist of classes where they woule learn to say "gee and wow". They would learn hygene and have seminers on proper dress. They would learn to dress for dinner each evening and never eat until they say grace. Every evening of the seminar they would be required to watch re-runs of Father Knows Best and Leave it to Beaver. When they finish the course they would be take a bus to Springer and start their hike. For those that fall of the wagon and take up the evel of drink and smoke or even say s*it there would be refresher courses at say Hot Springs, Damascus, The Water Gap. and Monson. Only then can we expect to find what America thinks is "normal on the AT.

IMHO if you have honor, respect for others and keep your word you can hike with me and share my camp regardless if you are: normal, abnormal, rich, poor, clean, unclean, christian, muslim, buddist, pothead, fat, thin, white, black, green, straight, gay, bi, tri, two headed ....whatever. Be who you are - as I am always who I am (WYSIWYG). There are too many reasons to dislike people on a individual basis than to simplify the presence or absence of what normal should be anywhere.
Ps. Who gives a rat's ass what the media portrays as what normal should be.

[Schulo]

I have a great distain for mainstream. My wife comes from Beaver world and likes to see everything sugar coated. I on the other hand like to look at the world for what it really is. So that being said I am going for a two week hike on the AT in april while she takes the kids to Disney World. Who is normal her, or me? I think how this question is answered has alot to do with an individuals background.

[Obsidian]

My question was why don't you see people like June Cleaver on the trail?

Perhaps after the invention of the ultralight petticoat?