Origin
Jamerson grew up an only child on a farm in Martinsville, Virginia. As a boy, he became enthralled with band majorettes at college football games. When he went to high school, he asked to be his school's first male baton twirler. Wearing a cheerleader's sweater and white pants with gold stripes, he often was tempted to outperform the majorettes. Jamerson eventually moved to St. Louis and worked as a flight attendant, but was laid off after the 9/11 attacks (he now works as a floral designer). To counter his depression, a psychologist recommended he do things that brought him joy and so Jamerson began twirling his baton in public again. He expanded his wardrobe of transgressive costumes and marched through city streets several afternoons every week. Although some have gossiped that he is "crazy", there is no serious indication that this is true.
Baton Bob's motive to entertain is often tied to the current state of the world. Though he created his character to raise peoples' spirits after the 9/11 attacks, other events have caused him to continue. When interviewed by CNN, he made reference to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004.
Read more about this topic: Baton Bob
Famous quotes containing the word origin:
“Each structure and institution here was so primitive that you could at once refer it to its source; but our buildings commonly suggest neither their origin nor their purpose.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“For, though the origin of most of our words is forgotten, each word was at first a stroke of genius, and obtained currency, because for the moment it symbolized the world to the first speaker and to the hearer. The etymologist finds the deadest word to have been once a brilliant picture.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed,—a, to me, equally mysterious origin for it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)