Lady Gaga in Lancaster

Meat Dress

Today’s newspaper had this title on a front-page story: “Lady Gaga blends in during visit here.” That is news!  If you asked me, how likely it is that Lady Gaga would blend in here, I’d say not very likely. In fact, I think this is the least likely headline I would ever expect to read in our newspaper, and it cracked me up!  It would be more likely to see a news story about the second coming of Christ or that Lancaster was named fashion capital of the world or that Lancaster’s top farm crop is marijuana. If you have read my poem about the way people dress in Lancaster, “It Doesn’t Take Much,” you would know that Lady Gaga blending in would be pretty much impossible.

The news story goes on to say that Lady Gaga is dating a former local man, a Mennonite grad, now an actor. They were both here to attend his grandmother’s funeral. Lady Gaga, her boyfriend, and family members were spotted by the wait staff at a local restaurant and at a Lititz bar. The remarkable thing is that without her meat dress and other outlandish apparel, Stefani Germanotta did not stand out to casual patrons of the bar and restaurant. She was wearing a simple black dress.

As many of us may suspect, Lady Gaga is a genius at self promotion who markets herself with enormous success, but a nice person underneath the hype. She traveled incognito and without an entourage with her boyfriend from California to attend his relative’s funeral. Had it not been for a server recognizing Lady Gaga’s husky voice and long blonde hair, this story would never have leaked to the local news. For the record, no one at the establishments acknowledged to her that she was recognized.

The thought of Lady Gaga blending in here in good old Lancaster has really made my day! I hope it gives my readers a laugh too.