Today, after getting a haircut at Rudy’s, I headed down to Bauhaus where I sat and read the new issue of the Stranger.
When I was finished, I looked up at the people lounging around. At least two-thirds of them had a copy of the Stranger open in front of them. I looked over at the newspapers piled up next to the cash register. There were three neat stacks of Strangers – each at least four feet tall.
I was bemused to have validated what I’ve suspected all along: I’m a cliché.
I used to think I was a big cliche for my part in the “Dan Lee” related activities, because Jed Smock pretty much has his crowd-interaction and preach written out in his head, until I realized a few things: (1)This is a different situation -Smock is fly-by-night, Lee entrenched himself onto campus. (2)Lee is unexperienced and has not developed his whole material, and his form of Christianity is more bizarre than standard fundamentalism, which makes other avenues of “mockery”/”Heckling” possible. (3)The Message Board adds another dimension, to get into the act just a bit more than should be healthy. (4)With those previous three parts in place changing the situation, the fact is, as odd as it seems, what has just came in the arena of “Campus Preacher Mock/Heckle” is pretty darned original– How many Jed Smock hecklers have gone around impersonating a religious cult leader, and have shut Smock up by answering the question of whether they’re sinless or not with the answer “Yes. I’m sinless.”?
Anyway, the Portland Mercury has not entrenched itself as much as The Stranger has in Seattle.
Oh yeah, and I was wearing a t-shirt that bore the likeness of a character from a Fantagraphics-published comic.
It looks like you have enough material on Daniel Lee and the backlash for a book.