Mary Drier, For the Tribune

Drier: Laughter really is the best medicine

Michigans claim to fame has been upstaged.

The image of our state is one of the most recognizable ones in the continental United States.

Besides Michigan, the states of Maine and Florida are also recognized by their shape when borders on a map are not outlined.

I remember reading somewhere Native Americans believed the left handed mitten was made by the Great Spirit when he started creating the world, and the Great Lakes were made from his sweat from doing that.

Anyway, our iconic image was upstaged during the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration when U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders became an internet sensation after being photographed sitting huddled in a chair wearing a pair of brown and white mittens.

Memes of Bernie and his distinctive mittens started popping up all over Facebook being inserted in a variety of familiar settings. One was of Bernie stilling on a park bench with Forrest Gump, in the movies The Shining, in Star Trek, and sitting in the iconic Game of Thrones chair. Those are just a few of the many Bernie memes that have him inserted in a variety of settings.

For weeks after the inauguration, Bernie memes were everywhere. Bernie and his mittens went viral.

His mittens were unique not only in their pattern but in how they were made. His mittens were a gift from a Vermont elementary school teacher who has a side business of making mittens out of old sweaters.

That sparked the creation of Chairman Sanders merchandise with his huddled inauguration image on them. Some of the merchandise included T-shirts, sweatshirts and stickers on his website. They all quickly sold out.

Sales of that merchandize raised nearly $2 million, which went to charitable organizations in Sanders home state of Vermont.

There was even a crocheted image of Sanders, his mittens, and his brown jacket that was auctioned off.

It amazed me how that simple image of a well-known little old man hugging himself to keep warm morphed into a media craze, and how much good it raised for charities.

The memes at least for me brought a smile, a welcome break from the images of Jan. 6, and dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Drier: Laughter really is the best medicine - Huron Daily Tribune