A publicity stunt that doesn't suck!

I am generally not an admirer of street art projects that feature painted animals. I thought the pandas in DC were OK, but I hate hate hate!!! the recent crop of painted crabs littering the streets of Baltimore.

I was happily surprised earlier this week, however, when I emerged from Union Station in DC (after missing my train)only to find a fierce Terrapin warrior, bedecked with the symbols of my home state a few miles to the east. I felt a slight surge of Terp pride, even as I wondered what it was doing in this strange and bewildering urban wilderness. Clearly someone had thought to post a guardian for traveling Marylanders outside of the station.

It turns out there are fifty of them, and lot of them are pretty cool looking. While I recognize that this is a cheezy marketing ploy by a bunch of development professionals, and remain skeptical of most hackneyed public art projects that are managed by such people, I like this one. At least the Terps look cool, and presumably they are raising money for the University, which is, as far as I'm concerned, a good thing.