Trash tends to stand out. Clowns, too, have a thing for attracting attention. Both tend to elicit a degree of ick that makes observers turn the other way, actively ignore, or entirely avoid. The bow around this particular and peculiar Ven diagram of garbage and clowns is Trash, the Clown. The moniker is just a proper noun, Trash the Clown, who picks up trash all around Port Huron.
Sure, not all heroes wear capes. Some paint their faces. Few wear neon jumpers and have orange hair. The best heroes, however, have causes: trials that are bigger than they are, stronger, stinkier. Trash the Clown, along with her trusty sidekick, Carter the Cart, have been working to clean up their Port Huron home since March. Along the way, Trash the Clown has picked up followers, supporters, and hundreds of Port Huron resident-side-kicks working to ensure that their home always has someone paying attention to the messes.
Even as Trash the Clown has worked to clean up the streets, she has also started to shift perceptions. From how people see clowns to how people see trash. "It's not just the trash on the street. The trash on the streets is the symptom to a bigger issue. The bigger issue is how we treat our world and how we treat each other. We don't care if we make a mess."
Sharing the responsibility of clean up is just the beginning of Trash the Clown's mission. Ultimately, Trash the Clown is an advocate, a "love-thyself" champion in the guise of a jester, a global citizen, a veritable clown-car (forgive me) of perspectives pointing her wit and will toward this one consistent act of "good."
Perhaps Trash the Clown is the start of a community movement. Trash (not the clown), after all, can be blamed on someone (I suppose Trash the Clown is also someone's fault). Its removal, however, is a useful reminder that the cause is rarely the solution. "People think that it is always someone else's issue. We have to do that work. We have to be that good."
Paradoxically, the clown guise is not about drawing attention to the person. Sure, the bright colors and costume scream "Look at me!" but the clown personifies action and the action is clean-up. Ultimately, Trash the Clown, aptly named, simply wants people to care for each other. Those aren't such big shoes to fill (I am so sorry) after all.
GUEST ON THIS EPISODE:
- Trash the Clown
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