Sticker Mania

You never know where symbols are going to leap out at us.  Here I was, stopping at the drive-thru at George Burgers on the way home from work, and chunk of wall was completely plastered with stickers.  About fifty little signs begging for attention, none of them saying ANYthing useful..

I remember being in a garage band back in 1988 or so, and we were always told that if you have a gig you need to go plaster the town with flyers or stickers, but that sounded like littering AND a waste of effort, so we never did.  But we saw plenty of stickers for other bands and events.  Now it's 2022.  Do people still do this?  And if so, were they always this vague and unhelpful?  I don't know what half these things are -- are they bands or home brews or raves or gangs or some kind of fizzy lifting drink? 

Let's see ... wood carving, something from Tucson AZ, In Memory of Someone (really? glue these all over town?), a Rest in Peace sign someone else (maybe that is the way it's done), all kinds of beer, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Support Local Iron Worker (singular) (sounds lonely), Rocketers, Baby on Bong, a dog for some reason, "ethika", Trust, "GO 4 IT", a JFK and the "I Voted" stickers from a few people just subversively stuck to a wall.  My favorite was the big black "NAESO" (whatever that is) with one of the Spy vs Spy characters from Mad Magazine holding a bomb, with a local SD logo -- but why? -- for all I know it's some kind of tattoo company I will never need, or a death metal band that just bangs on old shelves and accordions.

I'm sure each of these meant something to someone when they posted them -- even the ones that have long since blurred or peeled off or blew away -- it just fails to make any coherent point now.  Maybe they were always just inside jokes, cries for attention and gags. 


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