Saturday, May 07, 2005
The Holy stain
I missed this story when it surfaced a couple of weeks ago. Apparently people are worshiping at a stain of some sort under a Chicago underpass. The faithful believe that it looks like the Virgin Mary.
I dunno. To my tired eyes, it looks a lot less like the Virgin Mary -- at least as I imagine her -- than this grilled cheese sandwich.
[UPDATE: A very astute reader points out that the revelatory grilled cheese in question looks a lot more like Marlene Dietrich than the Virgin Mary. Hmmm...
He's got a point.]
Presumably, God can make a Virgin Mary likeness anyway he wants. Nobody having reported a spontaneous cubist Virgin Mary, it is safe to say that God doesn't think much of that school.
Why am I bringing up this old news now? Because apparently Illinois DOT workers painted over the stain, probably to keep pilgrims from gathering in throngs along the Kennedy Expressway. The stain had turned controversial, somebody having drawn the words "Big Lie" in shoe polish over it. No matter. A couple of car wash workers "used their lunch break" to scrub away the paint and the shoe polish. The stain is back, as are the pilgrims.
I dunno. To my tired eyes, it looks a lot less like the Virgin Mary -- at least as I imagine her -- than this grilled cheese sandwich.
[UPDATE: A very astute reader points out that the revelatory grilled cheese in question looks a lot more like Marlene Dietrich than the Virgin Mary. Hmmm...
He's got a point.]
Presumably, God can make a Virgin Mary likeness anyway he wants. Nobody having reported a spontaneous cubist Virgin Mary, it is safe to say that God doesn't think much of that school.
Why am I bringing up this old news now? Because apparently Illinois DOT workers painted over the stain, probably to keep pilgrims from gathering in throngs along the Kennedy Expressway. The stain had turned controversial, somebody having drawn the words "Big Lie" in shoe polish over it. No matter. A couple of car wash workers "used their lunch break" to scrub away the paint and the shoe polish. The stain is back, as are the pilgrims.
3 Comments:
By 
, at
Sat May 07, 11:21:00 PM:
Anyone can see that this stain resembles Marlene Dietrich much beyond the Blessed Virgin.
By , at
Sat May 07, 11:26:00 PM:
http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000026RGH.03.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
By 
Sluggo, at
Sun May 08, 01:36:00 PM:
Criminy, you're right. That's going to draw a different crowd.
