Things that might be decidedly odd…

Strange Week

This has been a strange week. Mostly, it’s just that the middle of the semester doldrums seem to have arrived. Fortunately, that will probably be soon followed by end of the semester mania as I scramble to get everything done. Anyhow, Halloween is coming up. It’s a big deal in Chapel Hill although it is on Sunday this year. If I had a dollar for everybody who asked me what I was going to be for Halloween this year, I could at least buy myself a beer or two. Frankly, I still it a very odd question to ask anybody over the age of about 12. But this town can be strange like that sometimes.

The following weekend, my officemate Jason are going on an adventure to DC to see the Slovenian band Laibach. I think I need to make sure to pack plenty of black clothing. Some of the stuff I’ve been reading about them places them into the same general category as my perennial favorite Throbbing Gristle, which is always a plus. Also Captured by Robots is coming to Raleigh November 11th, so I may very well go check them out again if for no other reason that to buy a new t-shirt (my old one died).

NC State Fair

So, today Bev, Kinitra, Michael and I went to the North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh. First, let me say I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much fried food in one place. Apparently, the fried twinkie and the fried candy bar are big hits at fairs across the nation these days, but there’s just something more odd about fried dill pickles. Well, open arrival Bev and I got some funnel cake, while Michael got a fried twinkie and Kinitra a wholesome sausage. That combined soon after with a fried Snickers bar comprised Bev’s breakfast.

After that we watched a pig race. But not just any pig race, a pig race where all the pigs’ names were puns on the names of NASCAR drivers and where there were biblical quotes posted on the side of the track. Ah yes, sometimes I forget what North Carolina is like outside the bubble that is the triangle. I think about this time, we started seeing all these people wearing Bush-Chaney stickers, which just hammered this home even more. Then Michael one a big purple dog playing some carnival game. Then we went on that ride where you sit in the swings and the thing goes up in the air and spins around.

Somehow we ended up inside of the building where they show the award winning vegetables. They had some big yams, big pumpkins and some bees. Then we found the place where they were giving out the Bush-Chaney stickers, which seemed to really upset Kinitra and Michael. Bev of course got a sticker from the kid (who couldn’t have been more than 12) who was handing them out, just to piss Michael and Kinitra off. Man, they really do need to get out of Chapel Hill-Carrboro more often into the scary world of the red state that is North Carolina. Eventually, they found their Kerry-Edwards stickers and were pacified. I think that’s the point where the woman running the Libertarian booth (who was holding a baby) trying to talk to us. Unfortunately (for her and us) she had no stickers, so walked away briskly.

Perhaps most disturbing part of this whole sticker ordeal and repeated numerous times in other mediums at the fair, was the prominence of confederate flags. There were a bunch of seemingly ordinary people with stickers of said flag, but we never actually saw who was handing them out. The most amusing confederate flag instance was that there was this stand selling these (for lack of a better word) paintings, where it would say “John & Jane Forever” above various images, one of which was a confederate flag. I mean, what better way to declare the permanance of your love with the symbol of an entity which only really existed for a whopping four years? On the way out, there was some redneck kid wearing a confederate flag t-shirt who was trying to explain to these African-American girls why they shouldn’t be offended. Uh ya.

Who would Jesus vote for?

While reading the Daily Tarheel today, I came across a reference to this article in last Friday’s Durham Herald-Sun about two UNC students getting into a fight (involving slapping!) over who Jesus would vote for in the presidential election. Amusing stuff.