England must be out there somewhere…
On a brief visit back to the United States a week and a half ago, Otmar and I spent a day in Portland, Maine. Despite having gone to college in New England, this was my very first venture north of Boston. Melanie from the MATD course is back home, and we paid her (and her beautiful city) a visit.
Election campaigning was in full swing. On our way their, we drove through two Obama rallies. In Portland, we saw quite a few signs, all of which were less polished than the great Obama–Biden CI stuff.
This image will appear quite typical for my American readers, as front lawns all over the country are decked with signs like these. German readers may note the small size of the signs, and the lack of any portrait photos. We just don’t do that over here.
I don’t know who Tina Smith is, or what party she campaigns with, but this is one wacky sign! I don’t know how many different stencil fonts are being used here. Maybe her election team cut their own letterforms? I can’t even begin to think where they got their inspiration from… perhaps an old Emigre catalog? I wonder if “beacon for change” is a euphemism for “legalize drugs now,” because that is the vibe that I get from this design.
Anna Trevorrow’s team seems to have restrained themselves to three fonts, one for each sized-section. In and of itself, this might be reason enough for me to want to vote for her over Ms. Smith, would they be running for the same office (although Ms. Smith was kind enough to remind me what she was running for on her sign). However, Melanie informed me that the tagline on these signs originally read “for a better tommorrow” (sic). Afterwards, each was repainted with the correct spelling of tomorrow. Hmm… this would pose a tricky question for me, were I registered in this district. Should I cast a vote in solidarity with politicians who cannot spell correctly all of the time, or should I jump to another candidate?