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Thursday, January 27, 2011

Suzie Chapstick Meets Wolfman Jack

Apparently, my daughter's quite a fan of Chapstick.

Amazing what a person can learn creeping on Facebook.

I have no idea what it means to be a fan of Chapstick and I'm more than a little curious about the pivotal moment in her life when she realized she wanted to get behind the stick. Whatever the reason, though, there it is, on her Facebook page, that "thumbs up" that says "I really LIKE this!"

All of us surround ourselves with flags and words and symbols. In this instant-access age, though, I'm guessing we often staple these things onto our chests with nary a forethought as to what they say about us.

Some days, I wish I were a forensic linguist, someone who could pick away at the layers of detritus and get to the real meaning of things.

Take this week's State of the Union address. Between the radical seating chart, the uncomfortably stilted outbursts of clapping--like an SNL skit, only real,--John Boehner's leatherback-turtle face and the heaping helpings of political rhetoric, I had a very difficult time discerning what was real and what was simply posturing.

Few things are more disturbing than a roomful of red-and-blue accented roosters.

Speaking of animals, I found out this week that there's a student at my school who thinks she's a wolf. Seriously. Apparently, in one class she had to be told to quit licking herself, while, in the library, she had to be coerced to sit in a chair while she typed on the computer, her haunches planted on the ground.

I had no idea wolves could type!

I don't begrudge the girl her canine moment anymore than I worry about my daughter's recently professed love of all things Chapstick.

I just wonder if we shouldn't give a little more thought to the flags we wave.

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