America’s Next Top Woodland Creature

by Bonnie

“Ugh, owls,” said a young woman behind the counter at a boutique in Williamsburg, Brooklyn last week.

“Yeah. We do already have owl earrings,” said her coworker. They looked at a laptop screen, choosing items to sell.

“Everything people send us has owls. Those statues, the socks. It’s like hello, enough owls.”

You can choose from over 54,000 owl-related goods (and services?) on Etsy today. That’s more than deer, fawn, and antler-themed items combined. Look at any design blog or magazine from the last few years and it’s a petting zoo, a menagerie, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Bunnies, foxes, birds-upon-branches, and my personal favorite (really) horses, have come to adorn so much of what we make and buy to decorate our ears and apartments, carry our laptops, and write our to-do lists. But where do we go from here?

Certainly I don’t suggest a complete overhaul. I love cute animals. But I’m vaguely ashamed that it’s gone so far. We seem to be moving into a more exotic phase: more giraffes and elephants. Bigger, powerful creatures! Maybe there should be a registry and we all reserve one signature beast. I call dachshunds. No wait, owls. Ponies.