¡Hooper!

Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times

Ah, the obelisk rises again, aherm.  The dying and resurrected god, perhaps.  Cock and balls.  We've done some extensive writing about obelisks and columns, especially those surmounted by a ball finial.  The most extensive post on this symbolism was Pillars of the Community from back in December '09.

So I was delighted but a bit befuddled to see the following article (A Bypassed Small Town Makes a Visual Statement) in the NYT today, written yesterday but on today's page one.  Befuddled due to its being one page one, btw.

Apparently, the town of Hooper, Nebraska, not wanting to be forgotten, decided to make a monument to distinguish themselves.  Their choice:  a truncated obelisk with the name of the town arranged vertically upon two sides; the obelisk rises above the flat surrounding planes and is illuminated on the sides with the name, recalling perhaps that the obelisks were originally held to be petrified rays of light.  Mighn't the socle recall as well the sacred Benben stone upon which the first rays of light were said to fall in the sacred solar city of Heliopolis and which is said to be the prototype of all obelisks, their capstones and thus the pyramids?

Is there also a hope that like the Phoenix, worshipped at the Benben stone, the town might rise again from the ashes?  Which brings us back full circle to the rising and setting sun, the resurrected god and of course, the resilient penis.

Hey, if you're gonna erect a phallus to distinguish your town, yer gonna have to get use to this kind of commentary.

Rock on, Hooperites!