I think this is really just a Texas sorta thing, so if you aren’t a local reader, just know during homecoming football games boyfriends or parents buy their girls a mum to wear. The mums aren’t made out of flowers, but usually a bunch of ribbons and glitter and stuff. In my hometown small cowbells were actually attached which made the hallways between classes sound like a cattle calls.
They look something like this:
What’s crazy is that they get even bigger and more elaborate.
Anywho, on to the story . . .
The Southlake Journal may not be a big newspaper, but a recent article has caused some Texas-sized controversy.
It started with a Nov. 4 column from Dr. Cindy Ryan, a pastor and writer, who tackled the issue of oversized mums and the exorbitant amount of money people are paying for them.
Ryan suggested instead of paying massive sums for those massive mums, the school kids and their parents put the money toward programs that feed the hungry.
Ryan went on to point out, “Each outrageous mum represented to me 33 hungry children who could be fed for a month.”
And as if she knew what was coming, Ryan tried to head off those florists and mum business owners by suggesting instead of sending an angry letter or e-mail they “get busy designing the cool ribbon or button everyone could wear instead which says, ‘I banned a mum and fed 33 children.'”
Well that very Christian idea lead to some not very Christian responses from readers printed in a Nov. 18 column.
