Last week, I was walking through the Bishop Arts District with my younger sister, who recently graduated from college and is living with me for the summer. She let out a squeal when she saw a Vespa with a sidecar parked in front of Oddfellows just yards from a big, fluffy dog.
My little sister was living in Waco last year, so I chalked it up to her overwhelming boredom when she sent me a dog, "YOU HAVE TO FOLLOW ON INSTAGRAM! :)" I was living downtown at the time and working for Klyde Warren Park, so she was convinced I would eventually meet this social media creature, "@NelsontheGoldenDoodle." But just a few months later, this goggle-wearing, anthropomorphic dog was on Buzzfeed and shortly thereafter was being profiled on D Magazine and various TV stations. Well, his owners were being profiled, but it's the dog that's famous.
Admittedly, he's a sweet dog, his owner seemed very nice, happily assisting my little sister in posing the mongrel for a photo. But I'm filing this one under "strange things the Internet has done to humanity." Try bringing up Israel and Palestine over cocktails, or trying to start a conversation about books you've just read, and watch as your companion's eye glaze over (that is not true about my younger sister who graduated with whichever the highest cumme laude is). But at brunch on a Sunday, in one of the country's biggest cities, I watched numerous people giddy over seeing a dog they follow on Instagram, or saw on TV.
