St. Monica’s and art. Yep. They had a burlap banner inside that read “God is other people.” A priest who was filling in one Sunday correctly noted that the banner was missing a comma.
The Seagull mascot story goes something like this (I’m guessing at least one of Ralph Mohr, Deb Larsen, or Eleanor Dinkins could give a more accurate version). A group of students at MHS thought that it would be fun to propose to the school board that the mascot be changed to Seagulls—it was a lark, not serious, and while the student rep to the school board did his job with a straight face, it almost wasn’t a successful gag because nearly all of the school board members had children who were aware of the gag. However, one member, a Messerle, who was on the board in virtue of being a pillar of the community rather than having children immediately involved, was not in on the gag, treated it seriously, and was trying to figure out what was wrong with these people.
And burlap. When I was a kid, burlap meant gunny sacks. Grain came in them, and they were hanging in the rails in my grandfather’s barn in Arkansas. Touch one, and mice went flying out of it. Come the ‘70s on the hip west coast, and burlap is wallpaper. Sand candles, toll painting....A couple of days ago. I found a roadkill marijuana plant across from St. Monica’s, on 7th. I guess hard drugs are decriminalized, as of the 1st of February. I’ll be curious to how that plays out. And we have lots of crows, now.