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March 10, 2007
The Pennsylvania Ho
Now I'll admit that I used to work for a fancy design firm, but it doesn't seem to require a nuanced understanding of marketing to realize that this probably wasn't a good idea:
Rounding the corner:
Perhaps the members of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society are too cultured and genteel to accept the fact that their name might be misunderstood when thus truncated. Perhaps they were not concerned about appealing to base fellows like me who might find humor in the stranded syllable.
Inspired by the bad signage and freed by another slow morning at the show, I went in search of the meaning of the theme. Legends of Ireland. What did it mean?
I set out with an open mind. I encountered:
A spooky Irish graveyard.
Trembling with fear, I found garishly colored fountains.
Eyes smarting from the visual insult, I came upon a huge harp situated on a mountain of small glass stones, down the side of which flowed a gentle Irish spring. Did it bubble pleasantly? You bet!
Assuming I had found the Legend of Ireland, I decided to return to the booth. When I came upon . . . a beautiful rainbow. Look closely.
Which I follwed, of course, heart racing with visions of gold, or leprechauns, or lunch at the end of it all. Instead, I discovered the true meaning of the flower show. I kicked myself for being so naive. For thinking that the big harp was the point. What is Ireland all about? I asked myself. I felt like a fool, a misguided child. At the end of the rainbow, fearsome and toothy was the thing that ties this whole show together, the unifying impulse, the resonant Legend of Ireland I had all but forgotten. That we all must strive to remember.
Dinosaurs.
Posted by bogenamp at March 10, 2007 01:50 AM
Comments
My husband works as a staff writer for a local newspaper ("The Kennett Paper" to be exact) and he somehow convinced the editor to allow him to do "Historical Re-enactments" of certain stories of local interest using action figures. I'm not sure how he convinced her. I think there may be some voodoo majicks involved and fully expect to find a doll that looks remarkably like his editor in the back of the cupboard someday when I'm looking for the 10x sugar. Here is the latest in the series:
Garden Club members expecting an Irish theme at the 2007 Philadelphia Flower Show were shocked to find prehistoric monsters straight out of Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park."
The picture isn't rendering in preview, so I'll send it via email if it doesn't come up on the post.
Posted by: ming at March 12, 2007 12:53 PM