Everyone has heard them. Maybe the quirky sounds of an accordion or the blaring beats from a boom box tipped you off. Maybe it’s the loud echoes of voices you can hear from the Student Center. No matter the sounds, they all define the Mizzou experience.
Then you walk to Speakers Circle and match these familiar sounds to faces or, um, gorilla suits. These are the personalities of Speakers Circle. They are perhaps as well known on campus as Truman the Tiger, but if you aren’t familiar with all of them, take some time to get know them!
Just Kickin’ It
You will see this familiar visitor bouncing along in Speakers Sircle on nice Thursdays in the fall or the spring. Derrick Fogle, who is infamously known as “The Hacky Sack Guy,” has been practicing this hobby for several years. When the weather is nice, he will bring along his boom box and kick along to the music.
Is that a Gorilla? With an … Accordion?
You know you’re accustomed to life at Mizzou when the gorilla with the accordion doesn’t faze you. This gorilla, affectionately known as Gonga the Gorilla, plays the accordion to attract business for The Textbook Game, a local textbook resale store. You can see Gonga with his unique instrument any time of year, from the extreme cold in January to the heat in the early fall semester.
Ok, Ok, We Hear You!
It wouldn’t be Speakers Circle without Brother Jed and Sister Cindy preaching the words of the Bible. Often, students will sit on the steps of the circle and converse with the pair. Sometimes these conversations get rather heated. Speakers Circle seems to cast a spell on its passersby; all of the sudden, no one seems too shy to speak up!
No, I don’t want… Fine, I’ll take One
It’s a cold Wednesday at the end of the semester and you are hurrying off to your 8 a.m. class, just barely going to make it there in time. You are approaching Speakers Circle when, out of the corner of your eye, you see it. A little yellow booklet waving in the wind. “Ad sheet?” asks a friendly voice. You don’t even have to think about it. No, of course you do not want an ad sheet. You’re cold and you’re almost late to class. Then again, it’s cold. These people have to stand in the same spot until every one of those little booklets is gone. After all, it’s surely not the biggest inconvenience in your day to say, “Okay, sure,” while managing a smile. Maybe you’ll thumb through one of these one day and find a great deal. Maybe.
As you walk away, the gorilla’s accordion plays on in the distance. Oh, to be a Mizzou student.