While the beaver may be our town’s totem animal, the mailing system identifies us as belonging to the age of the dinosaur. Glance at a piece of mail—like a bank statement, which is what Joshua Martin did—and you’ll notice you reside in the great CorvallisORUS. Martin, who has an ear for wordplay, was so tickled that he handcrafted some stickers to pass out to friends. When Bill McCanless of Interzone got a sticker, he encouraged Martin to put the idea on T-shirts. Which he did.
“I think the concept is funny, and I hope it lends a little cohesion to our town,” said Martin. “I like that it’s such a personal thing to Corvallis; someone from say, Tulsa, wouldn’t ever care about it at all, but for us it’s like an inside joke.”
Martin enlisted artists Shea Pedersen and Rachel Douglas for their takes on the charming dino idea—current designs include a friendly Apatosaurus and a sneaky pterodactyl flying amongst geese. The locally printed shirts cost $20 and are available in XS to XL in both women’s and men’s sizes. Stop by Interzone or the north First Alternative Co-op’s to see what’s available (custom orders can be made by contacting corvallisorus@gmail.com).
Corvallisorus’s plans for the future? “I’d like to get a covered wagon pulled by a triceratops,” said Martin. “I just want to keep making things that make people happy.”
by Mica Habarad
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