![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
"Strange We Can Believe In"
Sep. 5th, 2009 03:29 pmIn one of the papers I read for prelims, there was a neat discussion of the value of playful irony in community-building. The authors mentioned London's Notting Hill Carnival and an Australian Mardi Gras as good examples, but it could apply just as well to our three-day Eugene Celebration, which glories in our local eccentricities. One recent year the theme was "Northwest of Normal," and this year we're "Strange We Can Believe In."
Picture the parade: tie-dyed jesters with attitude and wacky floats along with the conventional marching bands and municipal groups; our congressman following along and sweeping up after the horses. Or how about the presiding authority: the Slug Queen, this year (as often before) a guy in drag, Grand Duchess Anislugsia (pictured, right; see video highlights of the competition.) Oh, and by the way, this year one of my faculty advisors won the Mayor's Art Show for her neurologically inspired textile artwork entitled, "Bill's Brain."
It's been raining today, and we had the Beavers' game to watch, so we pretty much skipped the festivities - except that I had to return a library book during the parade, which meant finding a strategic place to walk across the parade route. At least I didn't have to buy a $12 wristband to get to the library.
Picture the parade: tie-dyed jesters with attitude and wacky floats along with the conventional marching bands and municipal groups; our congressman following along and sweeping up after the horses. Or how about the presiding authority: the Slug Queen, this year (as often before) a guy in drag, Grand Duchess Anislugsia (pictured, right; see video highlights of the competition.) Oh, and by the way, this year one of my faculty advisors won the Mayor's Art Show for her neurologically inspired textile artwork entitled, "Bill's Brain."It's been raining today, and we had the Beavers' game to watch, so we pretty much skipped the festivities - except that I had to return a library book during the parade, which meant finding a strategic place to walk across the parade route. At least I didn't have to buy a $12 wristband to get to the library.