Read "AIN SOPH Part 2" and more short fiction, scripts, and very little poetry at Laugh at Yourself First.
pauljuser.blogspot.com
Friday afternoon, I was at the ART Mission helping my ladyfriend prepare for First Friday. A woman approached me with her two children, asking if I knew where the dinosaurs went. If you're here with me in Binghamton, you surely know that meant the hundred or so cartoon dinosaur statues displayed around town. Decorated by local artists the "Gronks" are a tribute to cartoonist and local-boy-done-good, Johnny Hart. As a knee-high creative, it was inspiring to have a big literary-type star like Hart in my back yard, and as an elementary and middle school student, I read "BC" and "The Wizard of Id" every day. I never got to meet Hart, but I did attend his wake to thank his wife for all the wonderful work he gave us.
At first, only one of the "Gronks" decorated the ART. It was some kind of Dinobot, covered in hundreds of rusty, jagged metal plates. In my opinion, easily the most badass of the statues, but not the safest option for your kids to climb on. I noticed the day before that Sludge had been moved from the doorstep to the street corner and replaced with a statue decorated in small mosaic tiles. This statue had been unfortunately placed too close to the downtown bars and in less than a month had its ribs kicked in and its mosaic scattered to the gutters and the Susquehanna river.
The woman took her daughters on a scavenger hunt, but so far only found these two statues at the locations marked on her pamphlet and a poster on the wall. I feared the work of a copycat inspired by the Carmen Sandiego copycat that was popular in theaters last week. The Press & Sun reported Sunday that the "Gronks" had in fact been moved to a secure location to relieve them of the merciless vandalism against them. It was the kind of thing that would be funny if it happened in a movie. I myself saw dinos tagged, teeth blacked out, and several of the caveman riders stolen off the backs. The damage was so extensive the reporter could not tell how many broken bodies still lay in the secret workshop awaiting repair. Mayor Ryan could not be reached for comment, which makes me suspect him guilty of living out his well-known childhood fantasy of getting drunk and ripping the head off a brontosaurus. I've been trying to write about the destruction for weeks, but the story made me too furious to finish. I'm glad someone at the Press finally overcame their own rage. Thanks for reading.
-Paul
printisbetter.blogspot.com
pauljuser.blogspot.com
Friday afternoon, I was at the ART Mission helping my ladyfriend prepare for First Friday. A woman approached me with her two children, asking if I knew where the dinosaurs went. If you're here with me in Binghamton, you surely know that meant the hundred or so cartoon dinosaur statues displayed around town. Decorated by local artists the "Gronks" are a tribute to cartoonist and local-boy-done-good, Johnny Hart. As a knee-high creative, it was inspiring to have a big literary-type star like Hart in my back yard, and as an elementary and middle school student, I read "BC" and "The Wizard of Id" every day. I never got to meet Hart, but I did attend his wake to thank his wife for all the wonderful work he gave us.
At first, only one of the "Gronks" decorated the ART. It was some kind of Dinobot, covered in hundreds of rusty, jagged metal plates. In my opinion, easily the most badass of the statues, but not the safest option for your kids to climb on. I noticed the day before that Sludge had been moved from the doorstep to the street corner and replaced with a statue decorated in small mosaic tiles. This statue had been unfortunately placed too close to the downtown bars and in less than a month had its ribs kicked in and its mosaic scattered to the gutters and the Susquehanna river.
The woman took her daughters on a scavenger hunt, but so far only found these two statues at the locations marked on her pamphlet and a poster on the wall. I feared the work of a copycat inspired by the Carmen Sandiego copycat that was popular in theaters last week. The Press & Sun reported Sunday that the "Gronks" had in fact been moved to a secure location to relieve them of the merciless vandalism against them. It was the kind of thing that would be funny if it happened in a movie. I myself saw dinos tagged, teeth blacked out, and several of the caveman riders stolen off the backs. The damage was so extensive the reporter could not tell how many broken bodies still lay in the secret workshop awaiting repair. Mayor Ryan could not be reached for comment, which makes me suspect him guilty of living out his well-known childhood fantasy of getting drunk and ripping the head off a brontosaurus. I've been trying to write about the destruction for weeks, but the story made me too furious to finish. I'm glad someone at the Press finally overcame their own rage. Thanks for reading.
-Paul
printisbetter.blogspot.com
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