European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 1, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                April 1985 the stars and stripes Page 17 the academic Pursuit of the armadillo q daily Magazine the new York times the scholar is about to he is Angus a purveyor of folklore and iconography who was seduced by bumper stickers and swizzle his subject is the which might not seem like a fit inquiry for a Yale Man who holds a doctorate from the University of the animal is without the natural response of an armadillo startled by an oncoming Auto Mobile or truck is to leap straight up victims position ing themselves perfectly for the firing armadillos make malodorous pets and have no re deeming social in to study As Gilles pie is to give support to the critics of higher Educa Tion he believe that the aim of academics is to learn More and More about less and a zoos 75pound Erma Bombeck i was always intrigued by the Story about the 71yearold who a few years had her son and his family legally removed from her in the suit she stated that her 34yearold his Girlfriend and her four children said the stay would be temporary until they could find a suitable but it had been Over five months and they were still in her she Felt a prisoner in my own then there was the Story of the 71yearold Man who had lived with his Mother All of his life and she still cooked him three meals a his Mother was there Are a lot of stories like giving new meaning to Latchkey Many Latchkey children Are full grown adults who cannot Bear to turn in a key that brought them so much so much an open refrigerator door and a Washer and dryer without a Slot for but something strange happens to older Latchkey Chil an inquiry has been and he is ready to deliver his whose base is the american studies depart ment of Rutgers University in new traces his interest in armadillos to the summer of when he was on a Fellowship to study folklore at the University of Texas in he had intended to examine the architecture of ice but that presented a Small problem during a hot summer in the so i sort of had to shift i just happened to notice there were an awful lot of armadillo collectibles at the University sweat bumper swizzle Sticks and cocktail napkins so much so it appeared somehow to be an icon connected with Texas Here was this unexplained so i just started to pose the question Why is it so pervasive the armadillo is difficult to its warm sort it s body temperature can Range from 88 degrees to about 95 the reason it works so Well As an icon of Texas is that it cannot survive North of it also has another unusual its a cliche that most wildlife has suffered under the Advance of not the its natural the has been practically exterminated by Farmers and so you see it All Over especially dead along the there Are a lot of jokes associated with dead for the archrival of the University of Texas is Texas longhorn students How Many aggie would it take to eat an armadillo the answer is one to eat it and two to watch out for the present Day Texas fascination with the Anthrop logically is not new at there Are South american legends and myths concerning the Arma then came the conquistadors and were fascinated with the it seemed to them the armadillo was uniquely it took on All kinds of iconographic in the courts of it was represented As a Motif on silverware the fascination continued into the 19th Charles Darwin was struck by the similarity of the living armadillo its ancient prehistoric the Glyph which was an armadillo like creature the size of a Volkswagen it surfaced again As an item of interest during the great of in As else people were poor and they turned to the armadillo As a source of it became known As the Hoover hog or the Texas but where the Story really heats up is during the Vietnam War and that Story goes something like it is necessary to pause Here to note certain new York times photo Angus Gillespie and stuffed Gillespie appears to be a Man with a Well devel oped social he says there Are serious eco nomic and cultural problems in the unlike the that might be better served by his his problem began in his father was a Navy and he led a peripatetic whenever the family would complain about a his Mother would dont look at All the interesting things going on about he has looked so hard at so Many he cannot break the Back to the sympathy for Antiwar protesters was minimal in Here was a culture of Bellicose the protesters have a sense of being picked belittled from time to remember now that armadillos were so prolific in Texas it was not unheard of for people to use them for target so the protesters made the they said the rednecks arc picking on us just like they Are picking on the and they adopted the Little Critter As a now that he is through with Gillespie intends to devote his time to a study of the new Jersey his thesis is that the Turnpike is not an but a great cosmic he is convinced there is value in this just As he was convinced that a study of the armadillo Demon Strates the worthwhile Ness of academic his convictions Are reinforced by some of his col the chairman of his a Man who has studied rodeos and can give an extemporaneous five minute talk on the iconography of demonstrated his support of the armadillo study by passing on to Gillespie some lines from Shel Silverstein if you should Ever choose to Bathe an armadillo use one bar of and a whole lot of Hope and 72 puds Dren from the moment their keys turn in the they become half child they Are old enough to receive they Are too Young to toss it in the wastebasket when they dont want they Are tall enough to reach the milk on the top shelf of the they Are too Short to put it Back so they leave it by the they Are old enough to turn off your Var tape and tape and turn on but they Are too Young to turn it Back on they Are old enough to they Are too Young to write a the child in them eats and walks away from the the adult in them comes in after three in the the child in them still leaves wet towels on the the adult in them says they had to grab a flight to Louis and were parents too get confused Over their when they Wash your drop off your loan you their shampoo and take your Telephone they figure it gives them it gives them the right to Tell you How to Lead your pick your How to dress and what kind of a car to like most weve made the Mommy and   but it never got to the Point of Legal we just started buying Blue milk and seven Grain natural bread and they left of their own free other parents still fight the Battle of the adult Latch key this letter is from a 65yearold widowed Mother in i have one Heck of a time finding a companion be cause if i set up a romantic soft House waiting anxiously and with in pops one of the boys what smells Good can 1 take a Shower hell c news croup