(iowa city) this year's fall fashion statement

So, one might think that my decision to leave my foam Hawkeyes head and talons in Cambridge would imply that my wearing of University of Iowa regalia to the homecoming game was going to be more subdued than usual this year. One would be wrong:


(me, on the right; the guy on the left is a college friend who is the founder/CEO of the apparel company Asymmetric Shorts)

Indeed, near the end of the Hawkeyes victory over Illinois, the Hawkeyes beloved mascot, Herky The Hawk came bounded up the stands to where I was sitting and stopped so I could get a picture with him:


(notice that the black half of the face-painted 'I' shows up much better than the gold part, leading some people to be confused about exactly what I was meaning to have done to my face)

Turns out that Herky was so struck by my boa that he asked for it. When I handed it over, I wasn't sure if the idea was that I was giving it to him or if he was just borrowing it, but Herky was certainly excited to wield the boa in several other photos with people in our section, including the man next to me who turned out to be surprisingly enthusiastic about getting a picture considering that his cap and mirror sunglasses made him seem like he was trying to attend the game as incognito as possible:


(prior to this moment, I was convinced the guy on the left was on the run from the law or a star in disguise or something)

Anyway, I concluded that giving my boa to Herky The Hawk was exactly the right ending for it--given that my yellow-boa-needs are presumably much less back at Harvard--but then he brought it back over to me before heading further up the stands.