Find the Fit Let’s say you’re a conservative activist whose idée fixe it is to fight “transgenderism” in public schools, and you want to do something truly gonzo to make your point and get people fired up. Naturally, your first instinct would be to construct a sixteen-foot 
penis sign with President Biden’s face on the head and the words “biden sucks” in giant letters above the image. And that is exactly what Virginia GOP Central Committee Representative Ron Hedlund did over the summer. In truth, the rest of us are still scratching our heads to “find the fit” between Mr. Hedlund’s stated desire to protect the children from transgenderism and the penis sign, which also included the words “SHIT IS FUCKED UP AND STUFF.” Another fun touch is that the penis appears to be ejaculating, and the droplets are labeled “My Kids” with a helpful arrow pointing upward. No doubt Freud would have a field day with a man who sees his kids as drops of semen (his own?); but the trans connection is still unclear. Another sign read “Stop grooming our children,” which is a big part of Hedlund’s spiel. So… the penis represents Biden, who’s the Groomer in Chief, and… then what? Anyway, it’s worth noting that the demonstration occurred at the RF&P Park in Henrico County, VA, where kids were playing a baseball game just meters from the sign. Well at least they weren’t exposed to anything trans-related.
An Eye for an Anus Some citizens of Palm Springs, CA, are fighting a proposed sculpture that’s part of an AIDS memorial and that may or may not look like a human anus. The claim that it does has a group of residents up-in-arms and demanding a redesign, and the artist, Phillip K. Smith III, has agreed to take another swipe at it. The artist explained that it’s supposed to look more like an eye “that allows … a view beyond what is directly in front of you.” What’s important, of course, is not the artist’s intent but the fact that people saw an asshole (was it the ridges around the rim?), which could just be a function of the demographics of Palm Springs (would straight people have seen a sphincter?). But whether real or imagined, it’s the kind of thing that, once the anal association is out there, the concept is pretty well doomed. It is an AIDS memorial, after all.
