Wednesday, December 31, 2003

New Year's Eve festivities.

Well, not my festivities. Those will probably include some combination of watching DVDs, taking antihistamines, and guzzling prosecco. But for folks unwilling or too far south to go to Time's Square to watch the Ball drop and have their wallets stolen, they could always go to Brasstown, NC, to celebrate the arrival of the New Year with the traditional Possum Drop. Precisely at midnight, they'll lower the poor, defenseless possum (in a plexiglass cage) from the top of the local gas station. This, following an evening of merriment, fireworks, a "Miss Possum" cross-dressing beauty contest, and banjo-playing. They'll then let the marsupial loose in the neighboring woods.

Animal cruelty? Well, a Duke University professor who teaches animal law - animal law? I'd have guessed that very few possums could afford the $125 per hour legal fees - said the possum drop was probably not illegal. North Carolina law prohibits unjustifiable physical abuse to animals, but doesn't say anything about psychological pain. Just good clean fun for the good ol' boys.

And for next year's Possum Drop, they want to have an albino possum.

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