Some time ago (a long time ago) a dear friend gave me this pad of pachyderm poop paper. The four-inch squares were fun to write on, especially with pencil or the fat-point pens I favor. The paper was thick, a bit stiff, and had visible pulp-chunks within the coarse fibers, a lot like dollar bill and its threads. The color - ecru? taupe? beige? tan? - was less stark than a bleached white, more understated and friendly. I have used the sheets for lists, love notes, even for art, and the very last page became the coaster for my morning coffee cup.
It seems only fitting to include here the January 20, 1996 TV Guide record of the first meeting of all four (then) Star Trek captains at a special event in Texas:
Shatner - a Star Trek legend for nearly 30 years - was expected to bring the evening to its emotional climax. Instead, he discussed his trip to Africa and how he was defecated on by a very large elephant.
Some were shocked by the anecdote. Others were baffled. But most of the fans were in hysterics.
"Elephant dung!" said Shatner, with the same commanding elocution used by Charlton Heston at the Red Sea, "It's enormous! Elephant dung - seed of the jungle! Do you understand what I am saying to you? They eat things off a tree and it goes through their enormous stomachs and comes out already fertilized! It was all over me!"
"I... had... learned... something."