The Lawrence Sesquicentennial celebration is upon us:


http://www.lawrence150.org/

Now for some literary criticism: "We invite you to participate in as many ways as you can think of while Lawrence celebrates 150 years of excellence."

"Excellence"? Oh for gawd's sake, what's with this "excellence" business? Couldn't they get a non-business person to write their text? Sheesh.

Chris

From: [identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_mac_/


".. while Lawrence celebrates 150 years of mediocracy." ...and its wonderous ability to not burn completely to the ground...

From: [identity profile] mckitterick.livejournal.com


Heh. Silly. I mean something more in line with what the town is all about. You know, fun, interesting, learned, drunken, etc.

Chris

From: [identity profile] intrepid.livejournal.com


They have to use Excellence. They want to sound just like all the other similar celebrations... Don't want to be different or original, 'cause that's weird.... :)

From: [identity profile] mckitterick.livejournal.com


See, that's the odd bit! Lawrence is weird and different -- that's its appeal, especially in Kansas!

Chris

PS: Thanks for the invite!

From: [identity profile] bobhowe.livejournal.com


Lawrence celebrates 150 years of mindless boosterism.
Lawrence celebrates 150 years of chamber of commerce vacuity.
Lawrence celebrates 150 years of sinecures for mediocre admen.
Lawrence celebrates 150 years of tired clichés.

You're right, Noam Chimpsky: it's teeth-grittingly bad writing, by the uninspired for the uninformed.

From: [identity profile] mckitterick.livejournal.com


Ja. See, what's cool about Lawrence is:

. It was founded by abolitionists
. It was attacked multiple times by slavers but kept up the good fight
. It has probably the only sports team named after actual, local, historical heroes (Jayhawks)
. It's a progressive oasis in a desert of backward-looking fanaticism (and always has been)
. It's young, fun, and full of great restaurants and beer-dealers
. etc.

Chris

From: [identity profile] bobhowe.livejournal.com


That's a lot of cool stuff. I ran this by the Squatoline Committee ([livejournal.com profile] bad_bad_zoot and [livejournal.com profile] friendly_flea, chaired by [livejournal.com profile] cow_of_squatola), and it produced the following slogan:

Lawrence, Not Afraid To Be Unpopular

From: [identity profile] mckitterick.livejournal.com


That's it! I'll submit it to the citizen's promotion group.

Chris
.

Most Popular Tags

Powered by Dreamwidth Studios

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags