Wabasawki Defined

Since it’s in the address of this blog and my consistent username from IM to Xbox Live, I’ve been asked numerous times: What the hell is Wabasawki? To put all rumors and speculation to rest, I shall explain. The second job my father got, after my parents divorced and we moved to South Carolina, was writing text books for Bob Jones University Press. One of the writing exercises he came up with was to take a common day item and use its features to describe something fantastic and give it a new name. His example was a Humpback Wabasawki. In reality it was a school bus. He though described it as a giant yellow humpback creature that would swallow up children if you weren’t careful. Thrilled my little brother and I, who never had to ride the Humpback Wabasawki, would constantly yell “Humpback Wabasawki!” every time we passed a school bus. As years have gone by Wabasawki has stuck with me. It’s a tribute to my Dad and to childhood imagination. That imagination is something I am constantly scared of losing.

A side note in my constant rant against the BJU. My Dad wrote books for them for 4 years. He was underpaid and never had his name listed as an author simply because my Mom left him. He was supporting two kids on a shitty budget because of this scarlet “D” they placed on him. And they then had the gall to hand me a button saying “BJ Cares.” Bullshit!