Mysterious Mascot
This here is Boxer, the mascot of Pacific University in Forest Grove (40 miles from Portland, Ore.) How strange for an American University to choose a strange Chinese Idol - dragon/dog with hooves - as the official mascot.
This weekend I was in Forest Grove for the first time with Matt, who planned a getaway weekend at the Mcmenamins' Grand Lodge. The hallways of this old Masonic lodge-turned-hotel are covered with art depicting the history of the building and surrounding town. Over and over we came across this 'boxer' character immortalized in paintings and photographs and we wanted to learn more. So on our return home (by bike & train) we pedaled over the Pacific University to see what we could find out. The real statue is not on display as we found out by the VP of Student Life, but in fact is won in athletic tournaments and often stolen by pranksters. I found this
Pacific U student blog entry (scroll down a few entries) about Boxer that relays an event in the 1960s - one group went so far to ensure they were the last to ever ‘own’ Boxer that they drove down to San Francisco and dumped the original mascot into the bay. This means the current one is actually a replica!
Meanwhile we found our own mascot for our little 24-hour trip, a weightlifting mini alien - 25 cents from Goodwill.
posted by Ms. Bathtub | 11:50 AM
1 Comments:
I like your alien mascot! I'm a big fan of the 25 cent vending machine toys (one of my most recent favorites is a "Strawberry Shortcake mini collectible plate" from the SE PDX Goodwill), but I've had to curb my spending ever since Clarence pointed out how silly those things can be when indulged at frequent whim.
The best vending machine by far is at NW 21st and Hoyt, just near the Gypsy in Portland. It's for the hater and the lover of vending machine toys, and the (hopefully) intentional consumer in all of us. You never know if you're gonna get a fancy, excellent piece of jewelery or a cigarette butt.
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