The Illuminated Donkey

And now what you've all been waiting for: the possibly (okay, likely) spurious inspiration for the Looking Glass hit Brandy!

I am happy to pass along the touching story of "The Final Parking Space of Mary Ellis," courtesy of Weird NJ Magazine (but more importantly my friend Little C-Za, who first took me to Mary's lonely, oddly elevated, gravesite). Folks, this story has everything!

• A woman pining away for her love, lost at sea, for over 30 years.
• A lone island of stability in a land of rapid change.
• The since-demolished Route 1 Flea Market, immortalized as the "dirt mall" in Mallrats.
• And, of course, Rutgers University graduates and one-hit wonders Looking Glass.

I was a little embarrassed to admit that I had never seen the Mary Ellis grave, especially considering the countless hours I spent at the market buying up discounted copies of Margaret Ann Rose's classic, out-of-print "Rush: A Girl's Guide to Sorority Success," not to mention the fact that my brother is a manager at the movie theater that currently hosts the site. (My brother actually knew a lot about this, but he's kind of hard to link to.)