Headless in Woodburn

(Photo found on Google Images and borrowed without permission from Obama for America, 2008)

Ben and I went to Woodburn last week, something I hadn't done in a long time. When you say "going to Woodburn" around here it is often the same as saying you are going to the gigantic discount mall that lies just west of I-5 at the Woodburn exit. Yeah, we both "needed" a cheap J.Crew shirt, but the real lure was a few miles east of I-5, in crumbling downtown Woodburn itself. There you have a choice of a half dozen little ma-and-pa taquerias thanks to the burgeoning Hispanic population. We chose one on a back street; it was so authentic even the Coke was Mexican (in a bottle and only a dollar). How much better was this than a dumb food court in a shopping mall? Waaaaay better. I wish I had taken a picture at Luis's Taqueria, where Obama visited last year, because seated at the very table he is approaching was a mariachi band having lunch. Those sombreros they wear! But although I had my camera with me it seemed rude to use it. Now I kind of wish I could have gotten over being sensitive, and just taken the damn picture.

Then we went to the mall. We were walking past the Adidas store, apparently thinking the same thought, but I (being polite) left it to Ben to say: "That manikin has nipples but no head!"

Did they think we wouldn't notice? With a body like that is the head superfluous? There is a lot you could say about this.

I did miss the head. Maybe I don't go shopping often enough...is this the norm? Well, anyway, Ben stood in just the right spot allowing his reflection to give this poor manikin a head in addition to her nipples. If only for a moment.