John Waters, celebrated director and writer of bad-taste films, had a couple of confessions for Iowa State Thursday night.

The “pope of trash” and Baltimore native delivered a sermon to a crowd of more than 500 in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union.

Waters spoke of his unusual childhood, which was marked by his love for trashy movies and the “Wizard of Oz”‘s Wicked Witch of the West.

In fact, Waters went to a childhood friend’s birthday dressed as the witch.

“I was the only kid crying when Dorothy clicked her heels and said, ‘There’s no place like home,'” he said. “Why would she want to go back to this dreary farm with this horrible aunt who didn’t treat her very well, [when she] could have been around winged monkeys and gay lions?”

Waters said, despite his unusual childhood, books were a refuge.

“Nobody thinks books are cool anymore,” he said. “We have to make books cool like people think drugs are cool. [Politicians] are always asking, ‘Why do people take drugs?’ Cause they feel good, stupid.”

However, Waters said he does not experiment with drugs anymore, and he teased the mostly younger crowd about the drugs of its generation.

“Like ecstasy — that’s a good idea, a drug that makes you love everybody,” he said. “You take it and wake up and realize you’ve invited everybody you hate to dinner.”

Waters noted that “even if I discover the cure for cancer tomorrow,” he will always be known for his controversial film “Pink Flamingoes.”

Waters proudly noted that the re-release of “Pink Flamingoes” was the second best-selling video of 1997, sandwiched between mainstream blockbusters “Jerry Maguire” and “The Rock.”

“Pink Flamingoes” was the first film, Waters said, “to test limits, really. To show hippies that they could actually be shocked.”

Waters also talked about “Polyester,” a movie that brought about “odorama,” a scratch-and-sniff card patrons used during designated parts of the movie.

“All over the world, people paid me to smell shit,” he laughed.

Waters spoke fondly of “Hairspray,” a movie that he said “accidentally became a family film.” He said “Hairspray,” a parody of the “American Bandstand” genre of programming, depicted an era of rock ‘n’ roll “before The Beatles ruined it.”

He also is still close to the movie’s star, Rikki Lake, who was turned down for a job at the GAP a week before filming started.

Waters also significantly helped the career of Johnny Depp, who he directed in “Cry Baby.”

Waters also spoke fondly of the late Rep. Sonny Bono. Waters said some of his friends criticized his friendship with Bono, a Republican who didn’t support gay rights.

“I guess I’m gayly incorrect,” he said, adding that his generation of gay men thought “not getting married and not going into the Army were the privileges of being gay.”

Waters isn’t amused, however, with the state of American film.

He said his favorite types of movies are underground movies since they “don’t whine like independent films.”

Waters, who is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science, said he’s hoping “The Thin Red Line” will do well at the Oscars.

He said his favorite movie of the year was “Happiness,” a controversial film about the Holocaust.