Yesterday would have been Dr. Seuss’s 108th birthday! Think of that – almost eleventy-one years old. Bilbo Baggins would be proud.
Most children remember Dr. Seuss as a big part of their childhood, and I was no exception. I think the first books I ever read were the Dr. Seuss alphabet book and Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? I was even obsessed with the name Bartholomew for a while because of And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street (yeah, that’s kind of weird). However, having gone through four years at SUNY Geneseo, I think I’ve held on to my Seuss-love a little longer than the average twentysomething.
See, we have this tree at Geneseo. Once upon a time, it was just a big ol’ pine tree in the middle of the quad. Nice and picturesque, right? Then, sometime in the early 90s, western New York got hit with a crazy ice storm (crazy even for WNY, and that’s saying something), and the top of the tree sort of flopped over. But it kept growing, and now it’s got this funny spirally sort of thing going on up top.
We call it the Seuss Spruce, because it looks like an illustration from a Dr. Seuss book. And we love it. It’s one of those unofficial Geneseo mascots that has a bigger place in our hearts than the Blue Knight ever will, like the Bear on the fountain or the painted tree (These things are all on Wikipedia, people. It’s legit.).
Today, the SUNY Geneseo Facebook page posted this awesome picture of the Seuss Spruce sporting a new addition:
And despite the fact that Google neglected to make an awesome logo for Dr. Seuss’ birthday (I guess they can’t top it every year), Pinterest was blowin’ up with Seuss-related wisdom, all of which I now want to make into sweet as typography prints and put on my wall.
Smart dude.
