CITY VOICES
FIRST PERSON
HARVEY
The Library of Disposable Art — Candy Necklace Trump rioters playing ‘pin DAVID MACPHERSON
8
WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM
J A N U A R Y 2 1 - 2 7, 2 0 2 1
I
I have to ask, who thought that candy worn around a kid’s ’m sure this happens to you neck was a good idea? A kid who all the time. You are sitting has been running around the around, doing nothing, neighborhood this entire humid making no mischief, when day, and now that he needs a in pops a notion into my head, break, he will eat pieces of his “What is the history of the candy necklace, for energy. There is nothnecklace? And why are people not wearing them around to put a ing more delicious than a candy coated in neck sweat. Yum-yum. little sweetness into their bling?” I suppose it is either a candy Yes. We all of such thoughts, there is nothing to be ashamed to think dirty from sweat or the candy left alone on the kid’s pocket, gathersuch things. Has anyone spent time, I mean ing up all the lint and tissue paper it can around its body. Wow. It just serious time, wearing a candy occurred to me. I am shocked but necklace, or the smaller candy bracelet? Have you sashayed your what our parents let us eat as kids. The problem with candy way home with a few ounces of candy wrapped around your neck? necklaces as disposable art is that it really not that artistic. It’s just a My son tells me of a kid at his string of sucking candies around school who would start the day a child’s neck. It does not cry out, with five candy bracelets on his “This is art that was not meant to wrist. He ate about a bracelet an last!” The only thing it says to me hour. At the end of the day, he would be without candy bracelets when I see one around a 5th gradand he also then spoke in a tongue er is, “Oh man, that kid is gonna be off the wall all afternoon!” that no one could understand. I am disappointed to not find No one knows the real origin of the candy bracelet. Some things of any beautiful diamond rings made greatness are shrouded in mystery. from the finest of hard candies. I guess they are out there, but I One place said there was a rumor that they came from Northern Eu- can’t find it. What I have found is candy rope. I love the word “they” used turning into jewelry, not the as “rumor.” Like people, at candy other way around. There are a conferences, whisper what their few jewelers who take candy and grandparents told them about a encase it in resin. They then put world in the frozen North where not only did people eat candy, but the resigned candy on necklaces or earrings or rings. You want they wore it too. licorice candy earrings or a JorWhat we do know for certain dan almond necklace. That can is that in the late ‘50s the candy happen. With real candy, but you necklace was introduced. They can’t eat it. It will last the years. It tend to use the Smarties candy.
WORCESTER MAGAZINE’S LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY Letters to the editor are a great way to share your thoughts and opinions with thousands of readers and online viewers each week. There is no word limit, but we reserve the right to edit for length, so brevity is your friend. If handwritten, write legibly - if we cannot read it, we are not running it. A full name and town or city of residence are required. Please include an email address or phone number for verification purposes only. That information will not be published. Make sure your letter makes it into Worcester Magazine in a timely fashion — send it in by the Monday of the next issue. Please note that letters will run as space allows. Send them to Worcester Magazine, 100 Front St., 5th Floor, Worcester, MA 01608 or by email to WMeditor@gatehousemedia.com.
can be a heirloom handed down from daughter to daughter. “I am giving you your grandmother’s favorite piece of jewelry, the tennis bracelet made from gummy bears. I know she will be smiling down when you wear it.” This would not fit as disposable art. This is art that uses candy as a starting block. I pity the candy starved fool who tries to bite into the Jordan Almond ring. I guess what I would like to see is someone wearing a candy necklace and not eating it away until it is only naked elastic. They could eat it, they could make it go away, but chose not to. They like the way it looks on them. They like that pop of pastel color around their neck. They are not saving the dessert for later, but making a fashion statement. And when your friends see that you are no longer sporting such a fine piece of jewelry around your neck, you can tell them, “I needed a change of style. And besides, I got hungry.” David Macpherson is a poet, author and humorist living in the Worcester area.
the coup on the donkey’ JANICE HARVEY
must have meant “in spirit” because darned if he wasn’t holed up elsewhere, watching “Insuremember when you rection 2021” on a flat screen were a kid, and somewhile his son Junior and sidebody slapped a “KICK ME” sign on your back? piece Naugahyde Nell danced to You walked the school corridors, “Gloria.” Comparisons to 9/11 have wearing it, until you realized been made ad nauseum since that the entire student body a mass of loud white guys with was laughing at you for being a nothing better to do stormed doofus. Remember how stupid you felt when your creepy cousin the castle two weeks ago. Apples and oranges, folks. We can’t pulled the ol’ “Hey your shoe’s even rally behind our president untied!” trick on you and you against the marauders because, fell for it? It’s the worst feeling, to quote that brilliant possum knowing you’ve been a sap for a bully. A sucker. Played for a fool. Pogo, “We have met the enemy That’s how it should feel to be and he is us.” At least we could pretend to be on the same page a die-hard supporter of Donald J. Trump. Thousands of his most when Osama Bin Laden’s fly boys gullible fans stormed the Capitol slammed into the Twin Towers. Instead, Republicans are playing building wearing “KICK ME” “Pin the Coup on the Donkey,” signs in the form of riot gear, after being convinced that saving and the divide widens with each America from the evil clutches of passing day. While everything about JanDemocrats was their sacred duty. “I’ll be there with you,” Trump uary 6th was astonishing, what I find particularly nutty is the bellowed as he gave his devoted followers marching orders. He C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 9
R
