Have you seen your 23 today?

No I don't mean the new movie with Jim Carrey although I am looking forward to seeing that. I'm talking about the number 23, the real star of that movie. Tom Robbins believes as William Burroughs believed that 23 is a special number that shows up in syncronistic ways in our day to day activities. Tom has said that he doesn't get out of bed in the morning until he hears the number 23 on the radio.

The latest example of 23 that I've seen is the story of the sorority that kicked out all it's overweight, ethnic or socially awkward girls. They had 23 girls before they started their jihad against the unseemly. They ended up with 12 skinny white girls, 6 of whom quit in protest at the culling. They plan to use these "attractive" girls to rebuild the sorority into the image of their warped sense of what a sorority should be.

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Stuffed full of Robbins

A new toystore builds bears and quotes Woodpecker.

A new location of the stuffed-animal toystore Build-a-Bear recently opened in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Large lettering on the wall greets customers as they enter, and it reads: "It's never too late to have a happy childhood." My daughter "got" the quote and liked it. I'm pleased she's only 9 but has already gotten a little dose of Robbins. (Forgive me if I keep Switters away from her a little bit longer...)

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Daffy Yum - Day 40

I love this quote, "Maybe sound travels further in time than in space."

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Daffy Yum - Day 40

Things are taking a bizarre turn for Sissy as she is invited to a dance for Goodwill Industries and finds herself among "the handicapped."

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Daffy Yum - Day 39

According to my calculations Sissy Hankshaw was born in 1943. That means next year is retirement age for Sissy. Amanda from A Roadside Attraction is only about 55. Do you ever imagine what they would be like at this age? They'd both probably have grand children. The Chink would probably have passed. So the two might be widows living together somewhere in Washington state.

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Daffy Yum - Jellybean

Aurora Jellybean, nee Virginia Shaw, is mentioned in the Author's Notes in Cowgirls. My first thought was that Tom had named Bonanza Jellybean after her, but it seems to have been the other way around, although Aurora came first.

Born in Seattle in 1944, Shaw studied art at the University of Washington and Cornish College of the Arts, then found her way up to Skagit Valley to become a kind of legend around La Conner. Her paintings were included in many regional exhibits of the period. "She really said no to nothing," Rust said. "I think Tom Robbins named her. She officially changed her name to Aurora in about 1970, and then had this amazing kind of life. She was quite beautiful and smart."

Quote from Celebrating a life through light-filled art
By Sheila Farr
Seattle Times art critic

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