4 October 2003The new alphabetical orderAs an actual registered Democrat with a current subscription to Mother Jones yes, really I get regular mailings from the activist Left. One operation with which I was unfamiliar is Syracuse Cultural Workers, which bills itself as a "Peace and Justice Publisher Since 1982", and whose catalog arrived here yesterday. Most of the contents were pretty predictable T-shirts, posters, buttons, books like How Wal-Mart Is Destroying the World but one particular poster caught my eye. It's called The Alternative Alphabet Poster For Little And Big People, it appears to be an SCW exclusive, and here's the pitch: Features words ranging from basic elements of a child's life to concepts likely to be met with puzzlement. It reflects respect for the Earth and all its creatures; for its variety of cultures, histories and peoples; for principals [sic] of justice and freedom; for wonder in the sky above and the soil below. A is for Africa, B is for Bicycle, and so forth. Twenty-five of the twenty-six entries seem at least defensible, and they did come up with a reasonable X word (Xylem), but I'm puzzled by E: Echinacea? TrackBacks if any: It makes perfect sense to me--they're all causes that the left champions. Africa (humanitarian efforts for developing countries), Bicycle (gas-less transportation), Xylem (plant parts, i.e. the environment), Echinacea (an herbal supplement--health nuts are also known to be liberals). Posted by: sya at 10:07 PM on 4 October 2003I know what it is (you can't go three feet into Walgreen's without hitting a shelf full of the stuff); I'm just surprised that they couldn't come up with something better than a mere herb. |