Flyby Investigates: Witch Hat Girl
If youâre like at least a thousand other Harvard students, you may have seen a Sidechat post yesterday morning of an unknown girl enjoying breakfast in Leverett wearing an extremely tall witchâs hat. And if youâre anything like me, you were delighted by the Halloween whimsy! So imagine my surprise when, as I was eating dinner in Dunster on All Hallowâs Eve, the very same girl in the very same hat entered the dhall! Like Sidechat commenter #1, I had to know: âWho is this diva?â
The diva in question turned out to be Bimba I. Carpenter â26, a Leverett resident, who made the hat herself. I asked her if she would âwalk [us] through the thought processâ behind the hat.
She answered: âAs long as the thought process that Iâm walking through is taller than 12 feet, then I can walk you through it.â
It turns out that the hat is made entirely of copies of The Crimson, proving that the print issue of our newspaper is worth something despite the fact that Flyby Blog is almost entirely online. (Just kidding! We love print media.) Carpenter âbuilt an armature out of Crimsons,â wrapped it in more painted copies of The Crimson, and âattached it to the top of a bike helmet for security reasons and general safety.â
I asked her the question on all our minds: why? Her response: âI thought, âWouldnât it be funny if the entire costume is just a really big hat?ââ And she was right! It is funny!
Carpenter knows about the Sidechat post, and is very pleased. She says, âIâve brought so many smiles to peopleâs faces today, itâs been amazing.â
Before letting her go eat her dinner, I had to ask Carpenter about the biggest witchâs hat in the zeitgeist right now: the one in the Wicked movie coming out soon. Her statement was, âAny hat that is shorter than this hat, I disregard entirely. Honestly I have no thoughts regarding the hat. It could be fine, but itâs out of my wheelhouse.â
Carpenterâs final comment? âThe word haberdashery is great, and it means a hat store.â