Mary, Mary, quite contrary

Marcellus residents were amazed Friday morning to open their local fishwraps and find their little town in large letters. The Syracuse Post-Standard reported the whining of a local church (not affiliated with the Syracuse diocese) that a bit of Mexican folk art by Trumansburg artist Geri Keil was not to be tolerated and should be removed. Though the artist is purportedly merely commenting on the current nexus of religious and commercial interests in our southerly neighbor, the church, a St. Pias X community (or perhaps just Pepsi fanciers?) objects to the use of an icon in such a discussion. In an interesting turn of events, a statement by the board of trustees of the Marcellus Free Library said that most of the 78 people who signed the petition did not live in Marcellus and had not seen the piece.
As Oscar Wilde said, "There is only one thing worse than being talked about and that is NOT being talked about", so perhaps, this is an answer to a prayer by the struggling young artist.