The Green Man, Kitsch and Mystery

Then there are those times when you’re simply enjoying the kitschier side of your culture.  And maybe, in spite of everything, you still encounter a kind of metaphorical economy inherent in things, in which even apparent kitsch can reveal a mystery, or prompt a discovery.

My wife and I were on a return leg of our car-trip yesterday afternoon when we saw a Minnesota highway sign at the town of Blue Earth that caught our attention.  A short turn off interstate 90 led us to a parking lot and a small patch of, well, green.

To celebrate the 1978 completion of interstate I-90 as a highway linking Boston to Seattle, Green Giant Foods erected this statue of their Jolly Green Giant mascot in Blue Earth, Minnesota.  (Green Man always manages to sneak his way into consciousness, one way or the other.)

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Like some of you older readers, my wife and I grew up hearing the bass voice-over of “Ho, ho, ho … Green Giant!” as the animated cartoon version of the big green guy hawked frozen vegetables on TV.  Now here he was “in person,” or as close as we could get.  And may this post be a small tribute to His Greenness.

Edited: 30-July-2014

 

 

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