Comments on: Amazing stuff this week

By: M0therAdm1n

M0therAdm1n — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 12:06:32 +0000

Point taken on Spongebob, Linda. With the ability to airbrush anything on gravestones these days, I have no doubt that his image will soon be coming to American cemeteries in a more of less permanent display.

By: lindacopy

lindacopy — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:38:55 +0000

Hi Jennifer! Those pillowcases were an awesome find. It must be difficult for you to sell some of this stuff — but of course, you can’t keep everything! I love seeing your eagle-eye finds.

Just a small comment re: Spongebob. Of course it’s inappropriate in every way regarding taste and garish yellow-ness, but you have the Spongebob character sized up wrong. He’s not mocking or smart-ass in any way. Alas, I have watched many dozens of episodes in my earlier Mom days; S. is the most optimistic, innocent and friendly of cartoon characters. That’s why he’s so popular with young kids.

By: jennifer

jennifer — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 23:39:45 +0000

Editorializing memorializing. It could happen!

By: kevinlar61

kevinlar61 — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:01:35 +0000

This is a tragic thought, but maybe we’ll next see a Pillsbury Dough Boy doll at the gravestone of a kid who died from complications of diabetes. Or maybe a Ronald McDonald?

By: jennifer

jennifer — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:35:40 +0000

Ed, your explanation did occur to me. Actually I think the person killed was a young adult, not a minor, and maybe the person contributing Spongebob was a little kid. In which case I would hope a responsible adult would step in and say “That’s a nice thought, sweetie, but let’s choose something a little more appropriate.” (and you could argue that there may well be no nurturing adults at hand, or no other stuffed characters in the house, or money to buy new ones, who knows?). I would have fit in well in Victorian times, when there was a well-known symbology of death. Cemetery statuary went beyond angels and weeping willows, and there were all kinds of metaphors and meanings carved in stone. Call me old fashioned, but in whose wildest dreams is a goofy smart ass cartoon character appropriate at the scene of a violent death? Regardless of the age of the deceased or the culture of the mourners or the favorite cartoon of the dead person, I’m just asking: is nothing sacred?

By: Ed

Ed — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:42:53 +0000

Humbly offered:

I agree on your ability to observe and comment. (And to make a fortune trading antiquities.)

But I offer this re the sidewalk display. I’m unfamiliar with the incident/tragic loss, but i assume it was a child. I’m not sure if he/she was Hispanic, and what I’m going to point out may go beyond that culture…but on a recent visit to a cemetery in Providence RI that had a large Hispanic section, it seemed to be the exception rather than the rule that the tombstone (of children often, adults occasionally)was accompanied by a collection of what were obviously life objects — photos, letters, awards — and with kids, toys. I distinctly remember, and photographed, Spongebob being included in more than one display. (For some reason, I can’t locate that photo file.)

COULD have been that that character played a role in the Philadelphia child’s life. I’d like to believe that, and that in some way maybe it was a comfort to him/her and the person making the offering.

By: M0therAdm1n

M0therAdm1n — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 13:16:56 +0000

Your ability to observe things that the rest of us would gloss over is uncanny. Good grief — Sponge Bob? Wonders never cease.