{"id":5290,"date":"2010-05-31T08:00:05","date_gmt":"2010-05-31T13:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/?p=5290"},"modified":"2010-05-28T12:57:08","modified_gmt":"2010-05-28T17:57:08","slug":"top-hat-guy-getting-used-to-the-attention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/tartan-news\/2010\/05\/31\/top-hat-guy-getting-used-to-the-attention\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Top Hat Guy’ getting used to the attention"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Walking down the halls of Sinclair Community College and being asked about your choice of clothing isn\u2019t something a typical student has to deal with. Brendon Deal does, and he said he enjoys it.<\/p>\n

Deal is a second year English major at Sinclair that some students may recognize as \u201cThe Top Hat Guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deal said that some people ask him about his hat but said it doesn\u2019t happen as often as you would think. He said most people come up to him nervously, worried they will offend him by asking about his hat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey always seem to think that I\u2019m going to think they are some type of crazy person,\u201d Deal said. \u201cBut I enjoy the little conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deal said he is a mostly introverted person, but has gotten good at faking the ability to interact with others well.<\/p>\n

After being homeschooled through high school, Deal took some courses at different high schools and colleges so the transition to community college hasn\u2019t been difficult for him. He said that he has a close relationship with his family and it is through them he got his first top hat.<\/p>\n

Deal\u2019s family gave him an old, beaver-skinned top hat with a crack that was too small for his head. He wore the top hat for at least three quarters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was ridiculous to wear this hat around and I already had no pride,\u201d he laughed. \u201cIt started as an (inside) joke.\u201d<\/p>\n

When his first hat fell apart, Deal said his parents bought him a new one because they had gotten used to his unique look. People have a lot of strong views about being different, according to Deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always had people tell me that I was trying desperately not to fit in but I don\u2019t really think about it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Deal is aware of the attention his hat has brought him. He said during one of his geography classes a teacher stopped in the middle of lecture to ask him about the top hat.<\/p>\n

He said that people around campus have made him aware of his fan page on Facebook. He doesn\u2019t have a profile with the website, but said he is flattered that someone took interest and that his father and brother check it regularly. Deal\u2019s fan page has at least 177 followers, as of May 27.<\/p>\n

Deal has also heard that there is another person at Sinclair that wears a top hat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been told there is another top hat guy and I have begun to suspect he is a boogieman who may or may not exist,\u201d Deal said. \u201cI suppose I have to meet him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deal said that if you have something that you feel makes you different then that\u2019s good, but there is nothing wrong with having things similar to others. As for having people come and talk to him, he says that it doesn\u2019t bother him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really am flattered, slightly confused and extremely embarrassed in a good way about all the attention I\u2019ve received,\u201d Deal said. \u201cI hope people don\u2019t think I\u2019m getting too ahead of myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

“The Top Hat Guy at Sinclair Community College” Facebook fan page can be found here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Walking down the halls of Sinclair Community College and being asked about your choice of clothing isn\u2019t something a typical student has to deal with. Brendon Deal does, and he said he enjoys it. Deal is a second year English major at Sinclair that some students may recognize as \u201cThe Top Hat Guy.\u201d Deal said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[1275,1274],"class_list":["post-5290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tartan-news","tag-brendon-deal","tag-top-hat-guy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-1nk","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5290"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5295,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5290\/revisions\/5295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}