I was being completely serious.
My TV piece last night dealt with the nickname change for Marquette Senior High School. In case you're not from the area, there has been a contentious issue flaring the past few years about the old “Redmen” nickname, and it was finally decided to change it, causing a vocal minority of area residents to try & recall the board members that voted for the change.
You can just imagine what it's like.
Anyway, my piece came about because the board is soliciting suggestions for a new nickname. After spending the first 90 seconds of my piece filling in people on the guidelines or telling them what NOT to suggest (Marquette Roundabouts, anyone?) I shared my choice--
The Marquette Fire.
I wasn't joking on that one. The Great Fire of 1868 is one of the defining moments in the history of Marquette, and it was also a time when people who lived in the city set aside their personal differences and came together to help rebuild everything that was lost. That was one of my points for making it—maybe a new nickname (mine, or someone else's) can start to help heal the divide between people on both sides of the issue.
And yes, I'm an idealist. What's your point?
I'm pretty sure the school board will NOT be choosing my nickname, and I'm okay with that. I realize that my thoughts reflect a very small subset of people who live in the city; in fact, if I had to guess, I'd guess that I'm the only person in that subset. But I wanted to throw it out there, not only to remind people that they can suggest a name, but to also throw out a hint that maybe—just maybe—it's time to move on from the issue.
I don't know if that will ever happen, but like I just said—I'm an idealist.
Click HERE if you wanna suggest a nickname; the deadline is Friday. And if, you know, you want to suggest “The Marquette Fire”, I sure wouldn't complain. Maybe together we can even move it up from the 300th most popular suggestion to, I dunno, the 298th.
8-)
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