Mascot Update

So this awesome bear came into my life. I was at goodwill. We saw each other and knew instantly...

But what to DO with such an amazing bear? (besides take beautiful self portraits together). This bear was destined for greater things, I knew that much.

Enter: the honors college, who (mistakenly, some might argue) gave me reign over their walls for a year. The bear and I looked at each other, and I just knew it's rightful home was in the arms of Colvin hall... As it's mascot! And the mighty responsibility of naming the bear would be up to the students themselves.

So I got to work. I created a postcard, which is pictured below in my previous post, and spammed it all over the umaine email server. I also ghost-wrote this letter from Charlie slavin, the honors dean, and some voting ballots.

(click Charlie's face to enlarge)



So the two weeks flew by, and before I knew it I was back in orono, hands shaking in anticipation of what my bears name would be! Would people even vote? To my pleasant surprise, every single ballot was filled out.

There was a small degree of what some might call "voter fraud", but unfortunately for those kids, the "majority rules" concept was never a part of this game.

Here are the results:

sketch bear (24)
bearistotle (3)
kirsten johansen (3)
sketchy (2)
professor behr
ollie aka oliver
suck it bitch bear
emily cain
vince, the crazy crack fox
snuggles
elmo on sleeping pills
snuffy the bear
cherry beary
glaucon
dante
luvver
whitman
mr. tricia or candy
agamemnon
big red
smokey the bear
scary bear
fluffy
elroy
neitszche
charlie
horace the honors bear
are you kidding me?
raffi
radish bear
machiavelli
etch-a-sketch
maurice
we know sketch bear is the majority, don't pull anything



I think i've decided to disqualify the sketch bear crew, because come on, let's be more creative. If you're going to fill out 24 ballots, and cross out the names on about a dozen more ballots because you ran out of blank ones, then at least try to come up with something clever.

I have to admit, Bearistotle makes a delicious pun, as does Professor Behr. I'm also half-inclined to go with "Kirsten Johnson" because based on the handwriting she wrote her name in three times, and I'm wondering how she would react if more bear propeganda was spammed around campus with her name all over it. I was expecting more people to pull that stunt (unless Emily Cain wrote herself in, but I'm gonna assume somebody else did that, which is another brilliant vote. I'm sure she would love to add "namesake of terrifying bear" to her resume next time she runs for state senate).

So this bear's journey is far from over, but this chapter of it's life has sort of come to a close for now. I expect that I'll make an announcement over firstclass regarding the name selection, when I come to a consensus (er, I mean, when Charlie and Emily Cain come to a consensus) but for now the bear is riding around in the back seat of Eryk's car, experiencing the joys of Orono.



My vote, for the record, not that I did vote, would have been Cherry Bear-y Muffin...