Is Nothing Sacred?
A lot of art comes out of ritualized things: religion, holidays, repeating national events, etc. Last weekend, we had the religious holiday of Easter, but not wholly a religious holiday because for most children and some adults, the big stars are The Easter Bunny, colored eggs, baby chicks, green cellophane grass, jelly beans and chocolate shaped confections like eggs, bunnies and chicks. But in the realm of chicks, PEEPS, yes our beloved PEEPS, made in Queens, NY, reign supreme.
These Are Not Peeps!
Copyright J. Leone 2016
There was a documentary done on The Peeps People (the people who actually make the Peeps) about four years ago showing how the peeps were made, how they got to the stores and what the workers thought of them. Viewers were lulled along into the happy world of the Peeps People. But, it was not paradise. Some of the workers were troubled. The workers that had been at Peeps the longest, and some of these people worked there for decades, from the beginning, were fretful. What troubled the older workers was the bastardization of their beloved peeps. The little yellow chicks made out of fluffy stuff, shaped like chicks, rolled in yellow sugar with chocolate eyes and, which any peep person knows, you eat by ripping the head off first. The workers were stressed because about 10 years ago people started demanding they make more variety of peeps. Carrots, bunnies and the most sacrilegious of all, different colored chicks! They felt this was a betrayal to their peeps. They loved their yellow peeps! And, mind you all they do all year long is make peeps. Such is the demand.
I was victimized by this degradation of the Peeps. By the time I got to store to buy my annual quota of peeps, they had NO yellow chicks! I was stuck with the above losers. Which just goes to show you that other people don’t like them either. It was a totally unsatisfactory situation which robbed me of the joy I get doing my annual ritual of ripping the head off and then stuffing the rest of the little fluffy yellow body into my mouth.
The question remains, should they, artists, be forced to make products that infringe on their integrity? I don’t think so. The above photo clearly shows two of the interlopers into the Peeps Space. Rise up Peep lovers and keep the Peeps Pure.
J. Leone 