Palindromes

I love palindromes! Forward or backward, they read the same!

Initially, I chalked up my love of palindromes to my mild dyslexia, but I can actually trace it back to the moment I was first enamored. In first grade, my teacher taught us what palindromes are. As an example, she pointed out that the then current year, 1991, is a palindrome. Then she challenged us to figure out when the next palindrome year would be, which we determined to be 2002. According to my teacher, we were very lucky because that meant we would be alive during two palindromic years, because many people don't get a chance to see a single one, let alone two. Prior to 1991, the previous palindrome year was 1881, and the next one after 2002 would be 2112. They only happen about every 100 years, except at the turn of the millennium. How lucky I was, indeed! Suddenly, I loved palindromes!

In 2002, I was a college freshmen. During that year, I would periodically remember that although it was early in my life, this was my last palindrome year alive. As 2002 neared an end, I panicked that I hadn't properly celebrated the occasion, so I enlisted my new friends to throw a party on 11/11 2002, seven years ago today. Not just any party, but a Party Trap. (It's a palindrome, see?) We made flyers for the event, which began at 10:01 pm (also a palindrome!) and we promised snacks, music, and, most importantly, words that could be read both forward and backward!

One friend, Ginny, had two people in town at the time that we agreed to make the Party Trap's special guests: her MOM and her boyfriend, MIKE KIM. To my recollection, neither of them actually showed up to the Party Trap, but we honored them for their palindromic names anyway. We also listened to palindrome-themed songs (like the They Might Be Giants tune available at the end of this post) and made a giant poster to illustrate our favorite palindromes. Here are some of the drawings from the poster:

And to think, that last palindrome came before Arrested Development and the genius Banana Grabber characters were ever conceived!

If you didn't celebrate 2002 appropriately, you better look at these pictures, choose some favorites, and repent, as you probably won't live to see 2112, barring any advances in modern medicine. Then again maybe LONELY TYLENOL will stretch our mortality to see a third palindromic year!

"I Palindrome I" - They Might Be Giants