Admit It.
You’re an expert on something. It could be counted cross-stitch or mud skippers.
We all have our sacred cows, push buttons, and don’t-get-me-starteds.
Even a generalist like myself gets his knickers in a twist whenever he overhears erroneous comments about his sacred subjects.
Here are a few of mine:
Human rarities, particularly John Merrick (The Elephant Man) or Chang & Eng Bunker (the originally famous Siamese twins).1
Texts and theological contours of the Bible.
Human density in towns and cities.
The Chevrolet Corvair.
In my last post I mentioned how it takes all my Dr. Jekyll to restrain my Mr. Hyde when I hear this one:
Corvairs? Ha! The worst car ever made.
Oh, Really?
If you’re not familiar with the Corvair or, worse yet, you’ve been trapped in the bunker of prejudice against this little trooper, then this is your day of liberation.
No need to read much further because I’ve got a video for you.
So sit back and tune in for six minutes. I’ll be glad you did.
A few things about this video you should know first:
It’s based on a talk I delivered at a pub in Lancaster city, part of an international series called PechaKucha in which speakers show 20 slides for 20 seconds each. This format forces clarity and keeps each talk to six minutes.
At 5:52 in the video, I mention another scapegoat car, the Ford Pinto, but I mistakenly say, “Corvair.” Forgive me!
Click the button below to see all twenty slides and to liberate yourself from automotive prejudice forever!
News from Town
Welcome to four new readers! Robin, Ross, Carol, and Rolando
Current Readers: 263
Paid Subscribers: 22
I’ve been cruising along with Town Character since July 29th of last year, when I wrote about bashing my head on the floor of Lancaster Regional Hospital.
These emails replaced my Row House Roadshow dispatches and have slowly gained an audience.
Thanks for riding along. I’ve managed to publish two a month on the regular, which was my first goal.
My other goal of developing incentives, deeper cuts, and thank-yous for my paid subscribers continues to lurch along at a parade’s pace.
I intend to look under the hood starting this July to see what I can do to grow Town Character.
You can help.
Tell me what you think I write best.
Tell me what’s touched you.
Tell me to what you think T. C. can be, and I’ll listen.
And if you’re enjoying these ditties on towns, characters, and curiosities, I encourage you to share them with your friends!
Thanks & Cheers,
Tom Becker
I follow the instinct of Frederick Drummer in his book Very Special People (New York: Amjon Publishers, Inc., 1974). Youthful fascination led me to his book, but it left me with something else: a deep respect for people whose bodies were out of the ordinary. His book pushed Pause on the labels “human oddities” and “freaks.”