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Rainbow Rowell: Beauty of 'O!' is in ear of beholder
BY RAINBOW ROWELL
WORLD-HERALD COLUMNIST
Omaha image man Sonny Mares says the city's new slogan - "O!" - isn't
really a slogan.
"It's a mark," he said. An icon. A logo.
I wouldn't even go that far, Sonny.
So far, all we've got is a letter.
We haven't seen "O!" in all its iconic glory. We don't know where or
how the city is going to use it.
Which, regrettably, makes it almost impossible to make fun of.
Almost.
I've heard people having a lot of fun with pronunciation and tone.
Sure, you can say, "O! What a great city!"
Or you can say, "O! We're having our convention in Omaha this year.
Guess I can catch up on my reading."
A colleague recalled his wife's reaction 13 years ago when he told her
he had a job interview in Omaha:
"Oh."
(Of course, he was unemployed at the time, so maybe she should have
said, "O!")
Whether "O!" succeeds or not depends on how the city, the Chamber of
Commerce and the Visitors Bureau put it to work.
Here's hoping they make the most of it.
Or that their follow-through is so embarrassingly bad we can all get a
good laugh out of it.
Oy!
* * *
"We don't have a bad image. We don't have any image."
Sounds familiar, huh?
But this time, it's not Omaha suffering an identity crisis. It's
Denver.
The city's new director of marketing told the Denver Post: "When you
mention Denver, it's a blank page."
What Denver needs, says Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, is brand
identity. An image makeover.
Two thoughts:
One. Have they considered, "D!"?
Two. Who needs identity when you have a mayor named Hickenlooper?
Denver is so lucky.
Hickenlooper told the Post last month, "We have over 310 days of
sunshine a year, and yet three-quarters of this country believes we
spend half the year buried in snow."
Furthermore, Denver is sick of being treated like a cow town.
Just like us. I thought we were the city where people stopped to go the
bathroom on their way to Denver. Who knew we were soul mates?
We should get together on this - group therapy for boring Midwestern
towns that don't get no respect. We'll send an invitation to Des Moines
and make it a pot luck.
Of course, Denver might not want to admit we have so much in common. A
Post editorial this month took a shot at Omaha.
"The city won't care about your new slogan, except maybe to make jokes
over lattes. ('Geez, even 'Omaha with Mountains' would have been
better!')"
* * *
A fund-raiser for Kamie Preston - a former Omaha police officer with
cancer - exceeded the wildest hopes of Preston's friends and family.
More than 1,000 people went to Sunday's spaghetti feed at the Police
Union Hall, raising more than $30,000.
The money will help the family pay for travel expenses and bills not
covered by Preston's health insurance.
She was in the hospital last week with pneumonia but went home Saturday
to Fort Calhoun. She spent an hour at the fund-raiser, sharing a
thank-you letter with all who attended.
Her letter urged others never to take their lives and families for
granted.
"Cancer," she wrote, "has been a gift, perhaps not wrapped very
beautifully. It has, however, caused me to appreciate every day. . . ."
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