David Lynch Moments

Here's one of those weird peripherally personal stories about Lynch.

When I was between 8-10 in the early 90s, my mother used to visit this elderly Romanian professor in Garden Grove. He was fluent in at least 4 or 5 languages but not too strong in English. Occasionally he and I were able to communicate in French.

I was often bored in his house and I don't even think he had a working TV, or if there was my mom wouldn't let me watch it. He did however, seem to, like many immigrants I knew at the time, collect stacks of TV Guides--both for the English practice and the pop culture understanding.

And that was the first place I learned about Twin Peaks. It seemed so sophisticated and grown-up, and I often got it mixed up with Knots Landing (also quite frequently on the cover of TV Guide at the time). I remember once reading an article about the show but I don't remember what it said.

The visits to the Professor eventually ended. He had a home caregiver, and eventually he wasn't around anymore. In that way that you only start to assimilate the idea of death when you're an older kid.

Then there was a huge gap in me paying much attention to Lynch, until Lost Highway came out. And then, I was all over his work. But I was still way behind on watching "Twin Peaks." Most of my friends in my 20s weren't subculture like me, and didn't like weird stuff. So it took until Netflix in 2016 to go watch the original. And I'm honestly glad that I didn't try to digest this as a much younger person anyway.

Here's to you, David Lynch. Thank you for representing all the weirdos. You weaved together pieces of pop culture and the bizarre nature of American exceptionalism so masterfully.

And thanks for the TV Guides, Professor.

Inasmuch as many will probably get "Fix Your Hearts or Die" tattooed, that gum I like is going to come back in style.