DANIEL BLUE: MEET BEN PARIS >>>

Ben Paris no longer lives in Tacoma, and he did not grow up in Tacoma.  Despite these things, the mark he has left on our funny bones and our metronomes will not be lost even if he stays away for a time and a half.   

This is truly the strangest man. Once in my kitchen he placed a colander on his head and said, "I am the queen of France."  He then began to wave his arms like tentacles to the rhythm of a Latin-type beat boxing blurting forth from his beard-bordered lips.   

I spent quite a bit of time with him heckling customers from behind the counter at urbanXchange, where we worked together for more than a year. "Um, you don't want to buy that?" he would ask with disgust to teenage girls simply trying to get on with their day. 

I was the good cop,

"Hey man, let the girls buy what they want." 

Usually our argument would escalate into a slapping frenzy, to the giggling pleasure of the bewildered and now ignored store patron. 

Ben's weirdo factor is only surpassed by his genuine love for the well being of those who have adopted him as their beloved comic relief.  He will be missed, until he returns, when he will no longer be missed.

LINK: The Tacoma Files archive