

His interests in politics and technology ran deep, and when you got him talking on a topic he was interested in, it was hard to get him to stop.

My father was a man who spent much time in his mind. There is love here, but love isn't always enough. Papo & Yo tells a different kind of story about family, a story that I suspect that I'm not alone, as the child of an alcoholic parent, in relating to. So dominant is this message in American life that it has been hard for me, as someone whose life followed another path, to not feel guilty at times about the choices I've made. Family can be difficult and painful at times, and conflicts may erupt periodically, but in the end, family should stick together. Narratives about family in America, whether they rise out of film or television or the speeches of politicians, tend to stress the notion that family comes first. Waking up provided little comfort, though in the waking world, another fear drove me to withdraw deep into my own imagination, trying to escape from my unstable and often terrifying reality. It was a massive creature, its skin orange, buzzing, and crackling like electrified fire, its voice rumbling like the end of the world. When I was very young, I would sometimes lie awake in bed, afraid to fall asleep because of the monster that might be waiting for me in my dreams. PLEASE NOTE: This story contains major spoilers for Papo & Yo.
