Sunday, July 10, 2011

Was Flannery O'Connor 'bananas'?

Often, the first words that students in my Writing II class at Kent State at Ashtabula use to describe Flannery O'Connor's writings are 'weird, out there in left field, and strange'. As Enoch Emery dons the gorilla suit in Wise Blood or in “Enoch and the Gorilla”, those readers guffaw at his quest to be accepted. Read the passages!

However, this news article about a Wireless Center’s gorilla mascot (the guy who holds the sign announcing the day’s bargains) may just out-Herod Herod when it comes to being stranger than fiction:

Ohio shop’s gorilla mascot attacked by banana
By Yahoo! Local | Local Cleveland – Fri, Jul 8, 2011

Jeff Stacklin, Yahoo! Cleveland Editor

It's not your everyday assault.
Fox8 Cleveland reports that the gorilla mascot at the Wireless Center, a cellular phone retailer in Strongsville, was attacked last week by a kid in a banana costume.
According to Fox8, the store has the gorilla as a marketing tool a couple of days a week. Brandon Parham, the store manager, told the TV station that he had seen the kid inside the store prior to the attack.
"Then he just emerged, dressed up as a banana, and sprinted as fast as he could at our gorilla," Parham said. "The kid just speared our gorilla."
Check out this video from Fox8, complete with audio from a police dispatcher when the attack was reported to police:
Fox8 reports that after the attack, the person dressed up as a banana split and headed south on Pearl Road.
Meantime, the store manager feels his guy got a bad deal: "The gorilla should have won," Parham said.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cleveland/ohio-shop-gorilla-mascot-attacked-banana-142000406.html

1 comment:

  1. Possibly. I remember when I first read some works of Flannery O'Connor, which was a month or so ago, and I was armed with what people have told me: I was told back in high school that O'Connor was a feminist writer. This, at first impression, was rather disheartening to me (as I didn't really understand what feminist meant, but I was not thinking "interesting"). However, having read a few of her works, I could only say this much: whereas Capote was said to write like a woman, O'Connor could have been said to write like a man. Bit of a strong generalization, but it made sense to me.

    As for being speared by a banana, I have friends who would have happily done that on a bet. I have friends who would have done that for a dollar.

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