you can't buy street theater like this...
10.27.03 @ 6:36 p.m.
The Giant Sign people were back today in a new incarnation. This time it was two men, one young and one older, and they stood in the ampitheatre in the center of campus whilst students stood along the edges and heckled them. It was tremendously entertaining. I sat on the flat, concrete rail outside the EMU's Fishbowl and watched from a distance.
The older man had a sign that said that quoted some thing about nonbelievers being damned already and the other sign said "You make me sick!" with a list underneath. It was amazing, really, the wide range of hate. Roman Catholics were up on that list, and then to the left and underneath, "Baby Killers" was written in a comical blood-drip font. Also: Mormons, witches, druggies, internet porn addicts, racists, people who talk to their pets more than they talk to GOD, lazy christians, spineless men, power hungry women, couch potato christians, and my personal favorite, "Misc. Heathens". Among others. These were fucking big signs, people.
They aren't new, of course. There have been Giant Sign People before (I like to think of them anthropologically as a tribe), though they usually just stand on the street corners shouting amusing threats and handing out flyers that no one takes.
(Aside: Did I write about last week when I walked past a guy who drawled "Have you been saved by the Lord, Jesus Christ?" I pretended not to notice him, eyes forward, etc, and once I passed, I heard a snarky "No, I guess not." I was amused.)
I've never seen the kind of reaction they got today. People lined the sides of the auditorium either to debate the frothing preachers or, like myself, enjoy the grand entertainment value of this fine fall day. (Fine? Freakish. It's dark out and it's nearly seventy degrees. Where is my cold? Where is my rain? We are so not getting any snow this year.) One large, older man jumped up on the bench-like rail I was sitting on (twice!) to shout "Hey, don't listen to them! God doesn't hate sinners! I'm a sinner and God makes the clouds! Look at that sky!" He would then jump down and walk away.
Most of us on the far edge of things commented that argument was pretty useless because no one was going to be convinced of anything except the stupidity of the other party. Choice quote: "Those people are wasting their time. Engaging them is useless, they're just nutjobs... like marxists..."
Also, I enjoy the inappropriate use of the adjective "hardcore". As in: "My grandparents were total hardcore christians..."
In other news, we watched a documentary on Brill Building and Aldon pop, which was exciting/infuriating because Don Kirshner is the arch nemesis of any Monkees fan, not that I'm much of a Monkees fan anymore. Everyone guilts me about this, from my dad to Slavik. What the hell? You'd LIKE me to go back to the jokes that only I find funny and the heaps of obscure trivia? ('Cause, er, I totally don't do that with the Who, a ha ha...)
After Rock Hist, I spent two and a half hours or so working on the cover of "Rock and Roll Legends" magazine which didn't print properly so I'll probably have to go do the bastard again. Printing, anyway. Stupid lack of red. Even the pantone stuff didn't come out properly. I wonder if the printer is fucked up or it's the computer I was using. God knows most computers in any given computer lab are fucked. It's in their nature. Even with the Macs *gasp, shock*.
Which meant that when I got home tonight, E* gave me this big thing about how she got home from school today to discover she forgot her keys and, horror of horrors, I wasn't home. After a long and convoluted story of her day, I started getting blamed for her not being able to get in the house, which, though I acted the good sport, really pissed me off. She blames ME because SHE forgot her keys. Guh.
Simpsons now, even if I've seen this episode far too often.
Previously
fuck it @ 08.01.05
fanciful imaginary sea voyages to come @ 07.20.05
*dies* @ 07.19.05
more ootp @ 07.17.05
harry potter: driving our children into devil worship @ 07.17.05
