Pink Flamingos

John Waters made a video address to Obama. In it, he gives the President Elect advice about how to deal with the 'mos, keep his marriage healthy and quit smoking. He suggests that we kick all the gay guys out of the military and replace them with lesbians, as they will have an easier time finding Bin Laden. He also proposes that we give free hair cuts and make-overs to the homeless.

Oddly, my rigidly right-winged, farm-bred, Ann Coulter-loving father had the same idea. In the late nineties he had some sort of philanthropic seizure and went through Baltimore doing good deeds. He outfitted a homeless man he dubbed "Bo-Peep" in warm Carhart clothing and he gave homeless men and women gift certificates to go to a barber to get hair cuts and shaves for job interviews.

Though we were all surprised and supportive, I should mention that the Carhart clothes were covered in my dad's company's logo. Opurtunist that my father is, he would never let a kind gesture go unrewarded- thus Bo Peep became one of the first examples of a "walking advertisement" that I have ever seen.

My Dad and John Waters: Baltimore's most revolutionary minds.