|
|
TIKE
|
Times Writer | |
Citizens of Whyville since the beginning, these groups of individuals were the first to step foot into our unique little town, and set the standards for those who followed. Just like the new citizens of today, they were greeted with new challenges and faced with earning their own salary and manufacturing their own animated face. They are rich with experience, pride, and history, and understand what it is like to have lived the true Whyville experience.
The collection of people I am talking about, are, of course, Whyville veterans. As a sort of introduction to my article, I went around asking various citizens if they knew what the term veteran or oldbie meant. Surprisingly, every single person answered simply that it was a citizen who has been on Whyville for a long time. I expected something with more detail. The official definition of a veteran is "A person who is long experienced or practiced in an activity." (www.dictionary.com)
Unfortunately, veterans have become virtually extinct and it is uncommon for you to witness one who still takes part in the old practices. By the term practices, I am referring to the appearance of a veteran. Their fashion goes against the norm on Whyville currently. Most veterans designed many of their own face parts. Long noses, blonde hair, and short crew cuts for guys were popular a few years ago. Madeleine and Charity were among the most popular designers when Akbar???s Face Mall first introduced the idea that citizens themselves could create face parts as a method to increase the size of their piggy banks. Here are just a few examples of the face parts that veterans used to use, and still wear present-day:
Akbar, Madeleine, Lemonmule, Leia, and Joshmk all created these parts years ago. Look at the difference in perspective to the ones that citizens wear today.
The places that veterans were familiar with changes over time, too. For example, examine this photograph of citizens in the Whyville Square in April of 2000:
Now look at this photograph taken in September 2002 in the exact same location:
You could say that technology has sure changed as the years progressed. So why did the veterans leave Whyville? Perhaps they eventually detached themselves from the site, as personal responsibilities (such as school, family, friend, clubs, sports, etc) increased. On the other hand, maybe some felt outlandish from the rest of Whyville as it expanded and adopted new ???ways of living???. What is uncanny is that we will all eventually be labeled as veterans. Our fashions will soon fade into the distance, as new and modern styles enter Whyville. Now that is something to think about.
Inside my heart, there???s a place for you
-TIKE
|
