What follows is a brief explanation of the presence of the flamingo on Orsquotes. Those of you who used the old version of the site may remember its more prominent place there.
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The flamingo enthusiasm started on a summer bike trip at Camp Woodbrooke. I and some friends from school planned to cover the lawn of our favorite teacher, Steve Moe, with plastic flamingos. However, once we started looking into it, we realized that a pre-made supply of plastic flamingos was out of out 13-year-old price ranges. |
Instead, we purchased cardboard, spray paint, and wooden dowels and spent an afternoon watching Zorro and making our own flamingos. They were all identical except for one each that the conspirators decorated.
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Once we had finished, we (accidentally) left a cryptic message on the school janitor’s answering machine about our plot, got a ride to Steve’s house, and planted the flamingos all over the front and back yards. On the first day of school in the fall, I opened my
locker to
find my flamingo, with top hat and bow tie, staring
out at me. |
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When I started Orsquotes in 2004, I came across the clip art image of a flamingo featured on this page while looking for a picture for the main page. For a website designed to help my middle school friends and I stay in touch, and considering the running joke that flamingos had become, it seemed an appropriate mascot. Its awkward, hand-like wings and its confused eyes remain featured on the website to this day.