History Fanatic
I don’t read The Onion on a regular basis; but when real news becomes too overwhelming, I do like to visit their online venue to gain perspective. I visted their site today when I read an email that linked to several articles on their site. And, as I browsed through The Onion’s satire with a wide grin on my face, I came upon an article about a history fanatic named Gary Pavlik who supposedly resides in Vida, the county seat of Lewanaho County, Wisconsin.
The tongue-in-cheek account of a man who counts and measures every board on a covered bridge, who saves county records from incineration, and who knows everything about everyone who lives in Vida is hilarious and insightful. The writer, in my opinion, probably knows a person just like Gary Pavlik, a middle-aged assistant librarian with an obsessive-compulsive penchant for minutiae.
Unfortunately, I felt a small blush of embarrassment along with my amusement, because Pavlik seems quite normal to me.
Leave a Reply