I heart Woodstook

For those of you who grew up in the 70s, perhaps you had a stuffed Snoopy doll, like I did. With a trunk full of clothing that you could dress him in, like a surgeon's outfit, or a cap and gown, an aviator's uniform, or even tennis clothes. I spent hours dressing up and playing with my Snoopy and my beanbag stuffed Woodstock. And while I had a special fondness for Snoopy, it was truly Woodstock whom I loved. Woodstock was always so full of frustration at Snoopy despite him being his best friend, and would spend countless tv specials getting all annoyed at Snoopy for not paying enough attention to him, so then he would go off and do his own thing in the most huffy of manners. And for some reason, I could really relate to many of Woodstock's bizarre characteristics, at even the tender age of four.

Woodstock is the smallest of the Peanuts characters but has a big presence for a little bird. He's a little inept, his flying and logic are erratic, but he can type and take shorthand and usually is game for anything Snoopy wants to do. Woodstock talks birdspeak only, and finds an alphabet made up entirely of exclamation points quite adequate to express such emotions as distress, frustration and a real temper. He also hates being mistaken for the wrong species of bird (though we are never told what species he actually is), and he is reluctant to eat thrown bread crumbs because he doesn't want anyone to think he's on welfare. He's a whiz at playing "trivia" too, and almost always manages to stump Snoopy. For all of Woodstock's mental acumen, however, he is physically a very poor flyer, which has been a character trait since he first appeared. He flitters around in erratic fashion, often upside down, and frequently crashes into things. He usually manages to get where he wants to go, though, as long as he doesn't have to fly too high.