Local Memes: Russell’s Mom (Part 1)

Facebook connects people to things they would never encounter otherwise. It can create small-scale memes that still flourish because of ease of access. Russell’s mom Rosemary is a prolific Facebook user and does not privacy protect her wall from being viewed by people who aren’t her friends. Since the first time I saw her post on Russell’s wall, with her frequent, idiosyncratic “LOL”s and exultations of the Huskies and her son, I knew that her Facebook page would be a source of mirth (and memes) for myself and others who know Russell.

Rosemary's oft-recurring lucky husky doll, Maya

The first thing that really got my attention about Rosemary’s page was her choice of profile picture. While it is now the husky doll pictured above, it was a fire truck for a few months. Why a fire truck, you ask? Russell said she used it because she liked the picture. It must have been a family thing, because Russell’s father and brother used pictures of tractors for their profiles at the time.

The truck in question

This of course led to a meme being created, the Kate Monohan fire truck (a.k.a. the Monotruck)

Rosemary "LOL"ed at this

The fire truck was only the tip of the iceberg. A short time later, Maya made her first appearance and those of us who would frequently check her page found she had posted a number of videos. Foremost among these is this gem (I can’t emphasize the word “gem” enough here) featuring Russell’s dad Bob performing a short melody (a combination of an original composition and the Johnny Russell country standard “Rednecks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer”), Rosemary speaking a sort of cat language to her pets and this immortal exchange:

Bob: “Hun, how come you got two, two handkerchiefs in your pocket?”

Rosemary: “I don’t know…”

Bob: “One to wipe and one to blow with!” *Laughter*

Bob and Rosemary chillin' with John Deere

I’ve covered a lot of ground so far, so join me here next Tuesday as I move on from just talking about Russell’s mom to talking about Russell’s mom AND how Facebook makes meme creation among small groups easy.