Winnie the Pooh- Lovable Bear or Dangerous Outlaw?

When I was in first grade, my brother was invited to a birthday party. The party was to take place at a Western-themed amusement park called "Rawhide." Because my mom was asked to help chaperone twenty kindergartners riddled with ADHD, she got a little something in return: I got to go with her.

And I loved Rawhide. I was also in a phase where I was infatuated with all things Disney; most notably, Winnie the Pooh.

So we went. The party went surprisingly well, for a kindergarten party. We panned for gold, watched an old western style shoot out and ate Pizza Hut. I was making new friends and really enjoying myself. I really could not ask for anything more. The day was going so well.

Toward the end, my mom spotted a little booth. This little booth's sole purpose was to embarass people.

This was their concept: We will fake arrest someone with a fake charge. For a recovering alocholic, it might be, "You're arrested for loving booze too much," (I hope no kindergartner ever gets that title), or maybe a Star Wars nerd would be arrested for his passion toward George Lucas' cinematic tour de force.

Well, as I mentioned before, I loved Winnie the Pooh at this time. My mom connected the dots. Being a mother she did not see the embarassment potential in this situation; she just wanted to make a little homage to my secret love.

This is how it went:

We were all eating cake, when a sheriff approached the group. "Now, which one of you young cowboys is Matt Levy?" he growled. I raised my hand, unsure of what was to unfold. "Matt Levy, get up here!" he exclaimed in that raspy voice sheriffs are known for. I walked up.

The shrriff then proceeded to pull a certificate out of his holster and announced, "Matt Levy, you are under arrest for loving Winnie the Pooh too much."

Due to my naivete, I had no idea that this wasn't real. "How does the sheriff know I love Winnie the Pooh?" I thought. Then I remembered that cool kids did not love Winnie the Pooh, cool kids loved Power Rangers and Spiderman.

Before I could deny the allegations that this was untrue and they must have the wrong Matt Levy, all of the other kids started laughing. Even the sheriff was snickering. It was truly an awful moment in my childhood.

Moms snapped pictures of me on disposable cameras (an age before digital cameras, mind you) and my mom yelled, "Pose with the sheriff!"

So we posed. On the car ride back, I told her how humiliated I was. "Oh," she said. "It looked like you were having fun."