It Tastes Better When You Say Yee-Ros

Today I was looking for a poster that I used to see in every Greek-owned pizza shop around Massachusetts and was disappointed by what I found on the internet.

I was not expecting to have to finish typing "tastes better when you say yee-ros" because google would suggest it for me and I could just click the suggesting.  I was expecting to find an image of this iconic poster in google images easily.

I was expecting it to be like a church of gyros, with image boards and t-shirts for sale - I was expecting a thriving online community dedicated not just to the pronunciation of gyros but this particular poster and accompanying campaign to get people to say (and buy) gyros.

The one image I found is from someone's picture of the day blog, an angled shot of a well-worn poster hanging next to a food truck.  The blogger is too embarrassed to say "yeero," so she will never order a gyros again.  Her loss.

From Stephanie Palmieri's picture of the day blog.

This is the poster.  In this case it's made of sturdier material than just paper, because it's got metal fastened to it at the top, is hanging from an electric meter, and is bungeed to the post.  Someone has written "GYROS $4.75" on the actual gyro and "$4.75" on the woman's face.  I saw this image for years and years and years until one day I tried one at a local fair and discovered how delicious they are.

Gyros are specifically the Greek version of this food, but there are similar sandwiches in pita that are also delicious.  A shawarma is very similar, but I think with hummus and tahini instead of tzatziki.  They're offered with chicken but I prefer the beef/lamb option, which I think is the traditional one.  There are regional differences to all of these options, but I think tomatoes and onions are pretty universal.  Shredded red cabbage is pretty common but sometimes shredded lettuce is substituted, as well as cucumber, pickles, and hot sauce or spicy peppers.

Part of what makes the whole thing so enchanting are the posters, featuring smiling women posing with the gyros.  The posters I remember all come from a company called Kronos, and posters like this one are easier to find on the google images:

I couldn't guess how many times this woman has watched me eat

I liked this button, which fits more with my original vision of how famous this ad campaign should be.  I would buy this button, or one that said "point me to the gyros."

From Broccoli & Chocolate

In conclusion, not only are gyros delicious but their advertisements have had such a campy hometown feel to them that seeing them is like hanging out with old friends.  The new modern Kronos website may have all the bells and whistles, but like the millions of mom-and-pop pizza shops that carry gyros and display these signs to me they will always be well-worn and usually sun-faded.  Right next to the framed puzzle of the Acropolis.

Slow going with the hammock

Things have slowed down a lot with the hammock since the summer ended.  My wife went back to work leaving me in charge of our son during the day, and work or school at night.  Every week I try to take a couple of hours in the evening to work on the hammock, but lately it's been every two weeks.

I've completely woven in the produce spools to one end.  I took the end pieces and put two narrow holes so the straps could be woven through to anchor the ends.  If I didn't do anything I would imagine that with time and use they would work themselves out of the weave.

I estimate that in three more sessions (setting up, working, then cleaning up) I'll be ready to string the rope through.  So close to done, but the good weather is slipping away.

Spring paper clip

I figured out how to make a clasp for one of the purses I made with the straps, and gave it to a friend who is leaving my work.  She's transferring to another location, but I thought it would be nice to give her one with some chocolates we brought back from Switzerland this summer.  I used a paperclip to do it.  Not a regular paperclip, but a spring type paperclip.  I had to investigate the name of the paperclip on google to know what to call it.  They're like alligator clips, but with a black triangle thing that opens and closes on the paper.  They're incredibly common but I don't think I ever knew the name for them.  My wife has some that are gold in color; I used a gold clip with an all pink purse.


I cut a horizontal slit on one side with the dremel, wide enough for a strap to fit through.  I wove it in near the top of the purse and removed one of the wires used to open the paper clip.  The purse still bulges open to either side of the clip, but it keeps it closed pretty well.

Hammock progress

One of the most useful things I learned from a college sculpture class was to make use of as many free materials as you can.  There were many things I could have learned from that class, but most of them had nothing to do with sculpture.  My mind was closed to such things then; I was quite confident in my own abilities, but had no sense of self.  Even I recognized this; I once said there was a two year turnaround between the things I did and my thinking how stupid they were.  In the moment I always thought I was doing the right thing, but two years later I would recognize what an idiot I was.  I'm not sure if this has changed any, but I do try to be more mindful of myself.  I can't begrudge the route I've taken to get where I am, but I do sometimes wish I had taken better advantage of those bygone days.

One of the materials that I have an abundance of from working at the grocery store are the plastic straps that come wrapped around some of the boxes.  The ones I've been collecting are about a centimeter wide and 3 to 4 feet long (to switch from metric to imperial mid-sentence).  They come in a variety of colors but most common are pink, green, and white.  I've been collecting them for a while and many of my coworkers save them for me.  The first thing I built was a reusable shopping bag by following instructions I found on youtube for basket weaving, but since then I've branched out to beer cozies, purse type things, a lizard man (still in progress), and I'm currently working on a hammock.

I mentioned a few projects I'm working on with the straps, but I've decided to focus my efforts on one project at a time because the materials and half finished sculptures/projects I've been accumulating are starting to pile up.  Every time I mention a new one to my wife she asks me when I'm going to finish the ones I already have going, especially since some of the stuff is blocking access to her closet.  

As of yesterday the hammock is over six feet long, about 6' 4".  The straps running the length of the hammock alternate pink and green, and the ones spanning the width are white.  Because the straps are not as long as the hammock, I've tried to stagger the straps to give the hammock strength.  They all have some overlap, but if all of them end in the same place they might get pulled apart when there's weight on the hammock.  I'm not sure this won't happen anyway, but I have faith in the strength of the weave.  

I'm planning on making it 7 feet long, which to me seems like a reasonable length for the average person.  I'm going to have to attach a rope to it with enough strength to hold a human both in the rope itself and in how the rope is attached.  I have an idea that uses another scavenged material from my work: small plastic spools from produce bags.  The thin plastic bags that people use for bananas and apples and other loose fruit come on little green spools or cylinders that I've been collecting for a long time now.  They're a little smaller than toilet paper rolls and made of plastic.  If I line them up and weave them into the ends I can run a rope through them to string the hammock up.  I'm going to have to learn how to splice and cut rope, but I'm hoping to be completely finished with it in the next week or two.

Repurpose everything

In my work I have access to many industrial castoffs, things that are a regular part of shipping and selling groceries but are not recycled by the recycling industry.  

I've been collecting materials and building whatever comes to mind from what is available to me, and this is my attempt to document some of those projects.  Not all of them get completed, and most only survive for a few days.  Some get crushed in a baling machine, leaving nothing but their memory (and some photos on my phone).

Maybe you can find some inspiration from what I've been doing, but I'll be happy if I can get a smile and an occasional kind word.  In our consumer culture it's important to note how many by-products we cast aside just to fulfill our basic needs, forget about the extravagances available in our society.  There are other ways to live; our culture and we as individuals need to start re-learning them.