As the great Sam Cooke once said, "It's been a long, long time coming, but I know a change gonna come."
Yes, we're going to equate song lyrics about equality and racial harmony to illustrate how excited we are about the city of Auburn's latest move to finally change their street signs.
We wish we could try to write some sort of mock ode or praise for the old cement street signs, but, quite frankly, we aren't going to miss them much at all.
Their only real benefit seemed to be that they were far less likely to be stolen, but we think that's only because there are so few people who have the desire or time to try to undertake such a Herculanean task.
Of course, even if some misguided soul were to try and steal one of them, they would likely have a doozy of a time trying to find the one they wanted, especially at night.
We all have a fairly intimate knowledge of Auburn's main roads, but at night, the city's smaller backroads and neighborhoods become a labyrinth that makes us begin to wonder when the Minotaur was going to make an appearance.
Even in the daylight, it was hard to read the squat cement posts, especially for those of us with corrective lenses.
A few of us have had to pull over a few times to get our bearings. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark had an easier time in the Pacific Northwest.
Of course, when we say new signs, we mean the standard street signs that adorn corners in the rest of the civilized world.
It isn't so much that Auburn is getting ahead of the times so much as it is returning to a level of parity with the rest of the country.
The new signs aren't without their problems, however.
Our editor isn't a fan of the font, and suggests a sans serif font rather than a serif, even if our news editor doesn't know what "serif" means. (Of course, Elli's taste is circumspect, as she thinks Georgia is an appropriate font for almost any occasion.)
The signs are also placed higher than standard street signs, but we have a feeling this is to deter theft and vandalism.
We'd even go so far as to recommend putting Gay Street's signs as far up as possible.
As for what to do with the cement signs after their retirement, we humbly suggest chucking them into the ocean.
A) It gets rid of the ghastly things.
B) They could form a man-made coral reef, supporting a new, delicate ecosystem.
Either way, we all win.
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