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PEOPLE & ARTS Tuesday 24 July 2018

From ‘stalker’ to ‘walker’: Woman gets dream job as zombie

By BRINLEY HINEMAN tos with fans.
Associated Press Less than 5 feet (150 centi-
ATLANTA (AP) — When meters) tall — she officially
she’s not spending time measures 4 feet, 10-and-a-
with her grandchildren, Ter- half inches (147 centime-
rie Hamrick is likely dressed ters), she said, stressing the
as a zombie. importance of that extra
Hamrick’s dream of being half-inch — she’s doesn’t
a “walker” for “The Walk- seem at all threatening. But
ing Dead” came true two once artist Michelle Mola-
seasons ago when she was nari transforms her into a
cast as an extra by AMC, gory monster, fans on the
the company that produc- streets of Senoia certainly
es the critically acclaimed are cautious as they ap-
television series. The show, proach, many uttering un-
based on graphic novels, der their breath, “It looks so
features a group of people real.”
fighting to survive a zombie “Miss Terrie is a tiny, gentle,
apocalypse. soft-spoken grandmother
“Since the show started, I who’s always ready with
told my children, ‘I want to a kind word about every-
be a walker,’” said Ham- one,” Molanari said.
rick, 68, who added that Between the series and
she never really believed In this June 12, 2018 photo, zombie Terrie Hamrick poses for a photo near the silos made famous daily Haralson tours, she’s
the dream that has been by “The Walking Dead” in Haralson, Ga. hooked on the buzz of the
at the top of her bucket list Associated Press entertainment industry.
since 2012 would become Hamrick proudly acknowl- fame, Hamrick hasn’t quit man playing the part of Da- “It’s exciting for me to see
reality. edges that she was one of her other day job: work- ryl Dixon, one of the show’s myself on there,” Hamrick
She’s one of the 15 regular the original “walker stalk- ing as a walker for a tour most popular characters, said. “The show is great, the
walkers and even has her ers” — extreme fans who company in Haralson that and get to relive moments actors are great, this place
own outfit on the set la- hang out by the show’s brings “The Walking Dead” from the series. is great.”
beled with her name that set. She became so well to life for fans. The owner That’s where Hamrick Hamrick even has her own
she wears while filming, she known around the set that of The Walkin Dead Haral- comes in. fans now. She recently
said. Michael Rooker, who plays son Tours and Events, Jamie She makes her entrance in created a Facebook fan
The days are grueling: 14 Merle Dixon, warmly called Thompson, scouts locations bloody zombie makeup, page, where she posts
hours — sometimes longer her his “little walker stalker,” in Senoia and Haralson for both terrorizing and de- photos of the cast and
— in the Georgia heat. and Andrew Lincoln, who the show. lighting those on the tour. behind-the-scenes shots of
The show has filmed in plays lead character Sheriff While in Senoia, produc- One minute she’s snarling, the tours. Within a week, it
Senoia, about 35 miles (55 Rick Grimes, would point to tion is filmed on sets, but in ready to devour them. Mo- had nearly 1,000 likes.
kilometers) south of Atlan- her whenever he saw her in Haralson, they film on lots, ments later, she transforms “People mob you wanting
ta, and nearby Haralson the distance, Hamrick said. Thompson said. On the into her grandmotherly self, pictures,” she said. “It’s so
since 2012. Despite her newfound tour, fans are guided by a laughing and taking pho- exciting.”q

Paper suggests Kenyan monkey inspired Dr. Seuss’ Lorax

By HOLLY RAMER ging industry. Some have his rhetoric is problematic perhaps a “forest spirit” more vulnerable, he said.
Associated Press speculated that Seuss was and that it’s not the way serving as an outside arbi- “If it was Seuss’s intention to
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The inspired by cypress trees environmentalists should be ter. do that, it’s very cool that
furry orange protagonist of near his California home. engaging with policy mak- The new interpretation he left it subtle and not ex-
“The Lorax” and the Truffula But anthropology professor ers or polluting industries,” makes the character much plicit,” he said.q
trees for which he spoke Nathaniel Dominy suggests Dominy said in an interview
may have been inspired by the whistling thorn acacia last week. “Our argument
specific monkeys and trees commonly found in Kenya is, no, if the Lorax is based
in Kenya, according to re- makes more sense, given on a living animal that has
searchers at Dr. Seuss’ alma that Seuss wrote much of this tight, co-evolved rela-
mater, Dartmouth College. the book while visiting a sa- tionship with a tree, then it’s
The 1971 book pits a short, fari club there. better to think of the Lorax
mustachioed “sort of man” The Lorax has been de- not some indignant stew-
who “speaks for the trees” scribed as an “eco-police- ard of the environment but
against the Once-ler, a man asserting his author- as a participating member
greedy industrialist harvest- ity,” they write. But viewing of the environment. And
ing the trees into near ex- him as a patas monkey then this anger is so much
tinction. Published just after might change that percep- more understandable.”
the birth of the modern en- tion given that the species Joe Fassler, a journalist
vironmental movement in relies on the whistling thorn who once called the Lorax
the United States, the story acacia trees for more than a “bossy, pedantic guilt-
has won praise for promot- 80 percent of its diet. tripper” in an article for
ing the conservation of “A lot of people criticize The Atlantic, said Thursday In this March. 2, 2012, file photo, Danny DeVito and Zac Efron
natural resources and con- the Lorax and say he’s too he imagined the Lorax as read “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss to school children during the Read
demnation from the log- angry, he’s too upset, that neither human nor animal, Across America Day at New York Public Library in New York.
Associated Press