Got swarmed by three great furballs in my office this morning when Vanoc's mascots, Quatchi, Sumi and Miga showed up with an announcement that their cyber pal Mukmuk had been freed from jail . . . sort of.
For the last year I've been advocating that the Vancouver Organizing Committee should turn Mukmuk into a full-fledged mascot. Readers may remember that at the mascot launch last year it turned out Mukmuk was only contemplated as a "cyber sidekick" and that Vanoc's roster of walking, breathing (but not talking) mascots would remain at three.
I've always felt this was wrong, and so did the many, many children who wrote to me, clamouring that Mukmuk should take his place as a mascot as well. Many pointed out that of the three figures, only Mukmuk, a Vancouver Island marmot, was based on a true British Columbia mammal.
(Quatchi is a Sasquatch, Miga a "sea-bear" and Sumi an "animal guardian spirit". All are based on First Nations mythical creatures.)
Last year, children at Stride Ave. Community School in Burnaby wrote to me with a series of essays and pictures about Mukmuk's life. We didn't use the essays at the time but will now get them up on the web shortly. But universally, they argued eloquently that Mukmuk is a favored character and that he should be something more than a sidekick confined to cyberspace.
As I said before, "Free Mukmuk. He's a marmot, not a Go-fer."
Vanoc has always been reluctant to do that, in part because they don't know how to deal with the fact that Mukmuk is a quarter the size of the others.
I've suggested that Vanoc take advantage of the child actor industry in Vancouver and hire pint-sized people. I mean, there is no real reason why Vanoc can't make Mukmuk more than what he has been or is today.
So while I appreciate that Vanoc has put Mukmuk into plushie form just in time for Christmas, he's still aching to be out trompin' with his buddies.
We're not giving up.
Mukmuk needs to be freed entirely, allowed to freely roam with Quatchi, Miga and Sumi. What's happened today is sort of like Mukmuk being tagged with a great, big radio collar. He may not know he's being followed, but the rest of the herd knows there's something weird about him.
So, dear readers, continue to write and campaign for a Free Mukmuk! It's one thing to turn him into a Christmas toy. It's another to actually get him released entirely.
Add Your Comments
Keep it clean, and stay on the subject or we might delete your comment.You must
have a javascript enabled browser to submit a comment.