BAAA...HUMBUG! FLOCK OF SHEEP TAKE OVER SAN FRANCISCO'S BUSIEST SHOPPING DAY

"Baaaa...Humbug!" Herd of sheep take over San Francisco

November 24- It was like a scene out of "Nignt of the Living Dead", well, sort of, except people were really alive and not coming up from the dead, but more from graves with names like Nordstrom's, Starbucks, Old Navy, and Gap. But if you looked a little closer, you could see something else besides stuck up shoppers. Tt was the Consumer Sheep!


The Consumer Sheep are really just like you and me, they need food, water, and shelter to survive, and they have pastures like Niketown and Macy's to graze in. And that's exactly what they did.

Niketown at Union Square was more open to their grazing habits, shoppers even began taking photos and chuckling at the large all-sheep herd, but soon security was in toe and asked the sheep to go "baaack where they came from." "Do you have a policy against customers that look like sheep from making purchases at your store?" I asked the manager. The manager says they don't but this was a special occasion. It sure is hard to be a little sheep in a big city.

Next consumer pasture: Macy's . The security was more uptight. They were called immeditaley when the peaceful heard entered the store. I asked a young woman what she thought of the young lambs. "Interesting," she replied, "but I don't understand their message." Maybe that's because we are all sheep at heart-- we need to be together to feel good and to shop. it's hard to look outside our own wool. The sheep didn't make purchases, but did munch on replica dollar bills which seemed to ease their adrenilon for purchases.

The sheep were mellow thoughout their stroll through Union square. A couple got astray, and Sheep Leader #1 herded them back quickly. "Careful sheep. you don't want to go too far from the herd. There might be wolves out there!" Indeed.

One of our sheep who reports for the SF Weekly got heckled by a protestor from PETA, who were doing their own protesting for Buy Nothing Day. I had to tell her to chill out, that she should learn to "baa" a little and not be so ready to tear up the flesh of a fellow furry friend. After all, we're all sheep too. She was still persistent in yelling at me and showing me her fangs. I just left and went back to my fellow herd and continued our little protest "Bbbuy...bbaargains!" Shoppers caught on, some smiled, some frowned. Oh, well, we flocked on. It was damn fun to celebrate Buy Nothing Day by being something; trying to be like everyone else. Baaa.