Unearthing the guy underneath all those paper hats
A few readers have written about seeing the "paper hat" guy on the train.
And someone else led us to his Web site with lotsa great photos.
This is his explanation of what he's doing:
"Beware Red-Line riders! Your desire to keep a low-profile, mind your own business, and seethe with the repressed rage of the faceless masses may soon be challenged by our very own Half-Jap On A Mission as Scotty Iseri takes to the CTA railways armed only with a stack of newspapers and incomprehensible powers of persuasion!
"Folding paper hats at the speed of... well... a CTA train... Scotty has singlehandedly - and without speaking a single syllable - persuaded entire carloads of passengers to laugh, relax, let their guard down, have eye contact with one another (!!), and generally let their freak flags fly!"
Thanks for putting smiles on our faces, Scotty.
That's so cool I know this guy. He's a really good sound designer who I worked with during my stint with Northlight Theater. And he wears pleather pants for his rock show, what else can I say. Good to see he's keeping himself busy.
Posted by: David Schwartz | April 03, 2006 at 10:18 AM
That's nice.
Posted by: T.Taylor | April 03, 2006 at 11:31 AM
Why is everyone white? Doesn't he keep riding all the way to 95th?
Posted by: Thomas Westgard | April 04, 2006 at 08:05 AM
There are 2 non-white gentlemen on the left. (What difference does it make about their skin color?) The train is now underground and appears to be heading in the opposite direction--toward Roosevelt, Harrison, Jackson, Monroe, etc—not back to 95th.
Also, that train looks suspiciously clean.
Posted by: T.Taylor | April 04, 2006 at 09:54 AM
Tell me how, from that picture alone, you can tell which direction the train is headed??
Posted by: LadyDay | April 04, 2006 at 11:28 AM
I wonder how many of those hats end up on the floor of the train or stations as more trash we have to endure?
Posted by: John | April 04, 2006 at 06:04 PM
I may be wrong. From riding the same line (Red Line) for 14 years, I felt the need to take an educated guess, Lady D.:-)
Posted by: T.Taylor | April 05, 2006 at 09:38 AM
another paper hat story:
http://noyau.com/~rwalsh/wordpress/?p=15
Posted by: erik | April 06, 2006 at 10:04 AM
Note: That's Scotty in the green shirt and glasses.
Posted by: JIM | April 06, 2006 at 03:35 PM
Hi all,
It's me...the paper hat guy.
For the record:
1) There's three rules to the paper hat game: First, you can't talk. Second, you can't force anybody to play. And third, you always win
2) People of all races, colors, creeds etc love and hate the paper hat game. There's pictures on my website, but really you never can tell if a person will play the paper hat game based on their ethnicity.
3)...um...thanks for the shout out! I"m hoping to get more people to play, so next time you're bored on the CTA, bring along a reader and have at it. Email me and let me know how it went.
Posted by: scotty Iseri | April 07, 2006 at 12:52 AM