The Turtles

Phew! I successfully managed to navigate a dangerously close class mascot near-disaster. The process of voting for a class mascot always takes some very careful vote manipulation. It begins with the brainstorming, where any and all suggestions are taken. Well, except for that one year when Bryce suggested, "Illegal Aliens," and I just blatantly shot that one down.

Once an extensive list is in place, there's an initial vote to see what the top vote-getters are. At this point, if the winner is a winner, you can go ahead and end it there. However, if the top vote-getter is not something you'd particularly like to have the class be known as forevermore, just declare that it's time for round 2 of voting now that some choices have been eliminated. This often works to change who's in the lead, but didn't this year.

I began to get very worried in class the other day when the kids narrowed down our list of possible mascots to the top four choices: the turtles, the lions, the cheetahs, and the chipmunks. Chipmunks? I could NOT holler that out on the playground. "Chipmunks, line up!" Chipmunks are not only unferocious, but they lend themselves way to easily to commercialization (Alvin, Simon, The-o-dore).

So...we voted once again to get it down to a top two mascot-off. I was cringing inside when it came down to just turtles vs. chipmunks. No love for the lions or cheetahs? Either of those would have been the right level of animal kingdom superiority but with the big cat family out of the running, things were looking dire. I categorized the situation as a mascot emergency and put the whole thing on hold until I could figure out how to rig the outcome while still maintaining the appearance of democracy.

Hmmm....how to convince everyone to opt for turtles? I decided that propaganda was the way to go, and found a bunch of fantastic turtle clip-art that we could use for our class newsletter. I showed this off, full color, the next day, and told them how slim the pickins were for chipmunk-related graphics. Plus I had cool facts on my side. Did you know that turtles can live to be over 100 years old, live on 6 continents and that their shells are made of over 60 different bones connected together? Chipmunks are related to RATS. I had even talked over this dilemma with the principal who pointed out a very helpful tip--mascots are often associated with the local geography of the region. The fact that our school is named after the rivers of Washington, DC sealed the deal.

Yes, there were a few grumbles, but there always are, even if the winner is chosen by actual votes. So--we're officially the Turtles. Still not particularly ferocious, but it's growing on me. I wish turtles had a sound that I could close this post with....