There was a fundraiser for work a few weeks back that celebrated the African immigrant community here in the City of Roses. Me and Mrs.5000 attended. It was pretty cool.
There was a silent auction, and I accidentally purchased on the somewhat cheap about a two-year supply of coffee. I was just trying to get the ball rolling, but that item didn't turn out to be a hot ticket.
But also, I put in a last-minute high bid and bought my new cane. It's pretty sweet. It is I believe Congolese and also I believe hand-carved. Although "hand-carved" can of course mean quite a number of things, this item feels more "small workshop" than "factory floor." For what that's worth.
But anyway, as I say, it's pretty sweet.
For one thing, it has a zebra.
For another, it has an elephant.
And then it has the curvy bit where you have a giraffe neck twined with zebra and leopard-skin spirals.
And then it bends a little bit because that's the natural shape of the wood.
It has many uses. I can hold it as a symbol of my power! Also, I can use it for an African-themed defense against the dark arts, or whatever.
And, I am not above affecting a limp in order that I can use it as a cane. I find that it is surprisingly tricky to affect a limp. I try to emulate the villain from Chinatown, although -- let me hasten to clarify -- only in this one specific respect.
As I was doing this at work, a Somali coworker told me I "looked like an African elder," which seems unlikely, but he would know better than I. It was a proud moment, and then it occurred to me that affecting a limp it the workplace could be construed as unprofessional. Also, that it might be regarded as insensitive by people who have to limp all the time. So, I stopped looking like an African elder.
But I still quite like my cane.
2 comments:
It's one of most lovely things I ever saw. And the best is that it isn't made of ivory or something like this.
I suspect that affecting a limp isn't something you should be doing on a regular basis but it is quite an interesting cane. I'd use it for the dark arts myself -- like a giant wand perhaps.
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