Beyond Words

I recently saw the above car in a parking lot as I was moving Kristen out of her OU apartment.  I thought to myself, “what the heck?”  Granted, it more than likely belongs to a college student (and please, no Okie jokes) who didn’t even pay for the car, but why would you want all that on your vehicle?  Besides, is it even safe?  Can the driver adequately see out the back window?

After seeing this similar yet throw-back van in Florida, I felt a blog coming on.

Bumper stickers have been around for as long as, well, bumpers.  People either love them or hate them.  I’m somewhere in between.  I enjoy a clever (“my Jack Russell is smarter than your honors student” or “honk if you’re Amish) one and I support anyone who supports their team(s) with one, but some literally drive me nuts.

The “Big 3” of bumper stickers seems to be, in no particular order:  teams, politics, and kids.  I have two of the three on my car:

“OU Mom.”  Really Carla?  Corny?  Yes.  Do I care?  No!

Kids and their activities probably take up more space on the backs of our cars than anything else, save maybe teams.  Everywhere you drive, you are behind someone whose daughter is on a dance team or whose son plays football or one or both who is in the band.  Parental pride reigns.

The ones that get me are the family of stick figures.

I guess that says it all, but I did kinda like this one I saw up in Norman.  It’s totally my fam!

On the much more crass side is this one I saw one time in Santa Fe:

You gotta admit though, it’s pretty funny!

Politics Aside

Love him or hate him, probably one of the most celebrated political candidate stickers was the infamous black “W” in a white oval for George W. Bush.  I had one and I loved them!  Classic and clever.  Simple yet suffice.  Equally widespread is the trademarked “O” on the Obama and “Hope” stickers.  I didn’t have either but I’m giving credit where credit is due.

A popular sticker in Austin right now is a pink sneaker with “Wendy” on it in support of gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis.  Something tells me you probably aren’t seeing as many of them in Southlake and Waco as you are in Austin.

Supportin the Team

A classic white Longhorn is also the norm in Austin, as is many a “Texas Exes” alum sticker.  Still, emblems supporting teams from all 50 states, whether pro or college, are everywhere.  Never a drive goes by when I don’t see an Aggie, Boston Red Sox, or Dallas Cowboy sticker on a car.  Somewhat surprising though is the absence of NBA stickers.

The owner of this car, however, must be really confused!

Back in the Day

Growing up in Santa Fe, I remember “Onward Through the Fog” stickers everywhere.  I’m pretty sure at one point I had one on my car even though to this day I have no idea what it means.  All I knew then was that it was cool.  I also remember “Texan Go Home” stickers in protest to the growing influx of “goat roper” skiers on our mountain.  I never had one and thank goodness.  Little did I know I would come to love Texas and have my very own Texas native!

When I did move to Texas, Austin in particular, bumper stickers were in full force.  Who remembers those “SOS” ones and the “Pray for me I drive 183” stickers?  Now “SOS” could mean “pray for me I drive anywhere in Austin!”

When Kristen comes home to Austin she always comments “oh, there’s a Range Rover (or BMW or Tahoe or any nice car) without letters.  Imagine that.”  Letters, being those white fraternity or sorority letters.  Not so common with UT students, they are everywhere in Norman and many a college campus.  Even they have evolved though.  When I was at OU, house crests were the norm.

I’ll end with what’s one of my biggest pet peeves:  runner’s stickers that state how long the marathon was or half-marathon or triathlon was or whatever they ran.  Okay, we get it.  You run.  Yay for you.  But what about baseball players?  Should they have stickers stating their RBIs on their car?  Do golfers post “hole in one” stickers or have you ever seen a “black diamonds only” on a skier’s vehicle?  Enough already.  Put them on your bulletin boards or refrigerators please.  No one cares that you run or how far you run.   Think about it, every time we’re behind you this is what we’re really thinking: