disturbing, yet soothing

Choice tidbits from Minneapolis' Star
Tribune article on My Little Pony fanatics:

"Tamara Forsyth, 22, isn't the type of woman you'd expect to dress up like a pink pony. Forsyth has tattoos and piercings and her haircut is post-modern shaved.

"She's very alternative, as you can see," said her mother, Anna Simmons, of Winona.

But on her long train ride from Beaverton, Ore., to Winona, Forsyth cut little pink hearts out of cloth and sewed them onto a pair of pink cotton pants. In Winona, while visiting with her mom, she fashioned a mane and tail out of pink yarn. She became a punk rock version of her favorite pony.

Crossing her tattooed arms, Forsyth announced proudly: "I'm Snuzzle."

A cynic might think a punker like Forsyth attended to poke fun. She did not.

"I love the ponies," she said. In fact, she has more than 300 of them, most collected in childhood. She was partly drawn to them because of her aversion to Barbie dolls.

"I hated Barbie," she said. "Barbie creates an unrealistic role model for young girls. But for a little girl to play with ponies? It's not like they expect to grow up and be ponies."

She still plays with them on occasion. "I set them up in scenes and take pictures of them."
Not all her friends appreciate her hobby. "One friend said, 'They're scaring me, man. They're staring at me.' " "

Uh, yeah. She sets her ponies up in "scenes??" Sisterfriend, don't act like everyone's not into the SM lingo. What a dirty, dirty pony lover.

Also a favorite - a boyfriend of a pony fanatic says:

"I figure, if it makes her happy, I don't have any problem with it," he said. "I mean, it's just a toy. It's not like she's collecting severed fingers or something."

Why do I feel like he's said that many, many times? Maybe repeated that last bit over and over to himself? Sorry dude, your girlfriend is a whack job. Hopefully she's hot, but still, kind of crazy.

I realize those comments come from a girl who knits obsessively and loves Latin - but I just think that further enables me to recognize a fellow freak when I see one!