Publishing “Picard’s Pick’s”: The Untold Story

In March of 2021 a small community in Penrose was rocked by an unprecedented scandal. The publishing of the “Picard’s Pick’s” (sic) Facebook page was more than just an apostrophe faux pas: it was a mystery that would shake the very foundations of the small college’s identity. Who was it that would satirise a senior lecturer at the prime of his achievement? How did they manage to keep their identity secret, even despite the vast and interconnected network of the Christian grapevine? Why did they know so much about children’s books but so little about appropriate grammar? Rebecca Hooper had a chat with the page’s founder in the hope that maybe, finally, we could get some answers to the bigger questions behind this debacle. 

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Firstly, could you take us on the journey a little bit? What was the thought process behind the page? An April Fool’s gag started a little early? 

See, the funny thing is that there was very little thought that went into any of it. It just sort of snowballed. What was fascinating was the life that it developed in itself—that was pretty surprising. I don't want to make it into a bigger thing than it was; just a bit of fun where about 80 people had a laugh along with us. 

Its origin story, as such, was a joke that snowballed. In my year group from studying we continue to catch up every year. We go for a retreat; we're away for a couple of nights and we chat and just hear about how everything's going. This get together there was a particular author we were discussing: one that generates a lot of heat and debate. And so when I saw the picture that we went on to use as the basis of this page, I could see that it would be so easy to change the book he's holding—just to stir the pot a bit. I made a post in our closed Facebook page with a picture of him holding a book by this individual. And I said, “Hey, did you guys see this? Alongside releasing his new book, he also endorsed another one.” The thing is, people didn't realise it was a joke! They were like, “Are you serious?!” because it was a bit of a controversial, theologically dicey individual. And so I played along. And then I quickly went and created the Facebook page and did the design for the branding. That's when I did the first post—the Thomas the Tank Engine one—to make it really clear that I was joking. From there, it gained a life of its own. I just found it so funny, that I just decided to carry it on a little bit. Eventually, the goal developed that it would keep going until it organically made its way to the subject himself. But he found it a lot quicker than we anticipated! So we just decided to roll with it. 

There was a post about Dr. Seuss and its underlying themes, which we had been talking about in one of our classes. So, did you have someone in that class? 

No! That's so funny. That's really interesting. 

Yeah, the students were really intrigued, so everyone was trying to work out who it was. Some thought, “oh, maybe they’re in that class,” and then there was another post that was relevant to a different class. We were just trying to connect the dots.  

That is so funny. Yes. It's a total coincidence.

At the peak of your fame you suddenly, perhaps shockingly, disappeared. What led to this surprising disappearance? Was the burden of responsibility that was placed on your celebrity too high?

Really, we just went until we started feeling it start to peter out, and so we just called it when it was still on a bit of a high. I included some others early in the piece, in the hope that we could get a broader base of ideas and involvement and all that sort of stuff, but it ended up being mostly me scheduling posts. And there is a certain amount of workload that comes with trying to come up with another silly, ridiculous, theological discovery to make in Hairy Maclary. Then we tried to bring in some other little narratives. Like the running joke around grammar—was it a rogue apostrophe, a comma? I always get the two confused. I'm terrible with all of that.

First launching in March, the page reached peak popularity around Easter weekend when many within the Carey community marvelled together at the mystery memes together at youth camps. It last posted on April 12th, 2021.

I know you’re not alone in grammatical woes! Now we know a bit of the backstory, how would you describe the response that the page got?

Well, all around pretty good. I'll admit to this; there was one night that I was terrified, because our subject finally found it and he made a comment, “Public announcement coming tomorrow” and I thought, “oh man, is there some kind of legal action? Is there some statement that's going to come out where I'm going to get in heaps of trouble?” So I freaked out and I called my mate. I'm like, “I am in heaps of trouble for this.” And his comment was like, “If you get in trouble for anything, this is the thing.”

The scandal that you don't mind having on your rap sheet.

Yeah, that's right. But then he went through and was liking the photos, so I thought, phew, I’m ok. The thing is, we always kind of knew that it would be fellow graduates and pastors who would most likely be in the orbit of this. And I think they just really liked having a bit of a laugh. Ministry becomes so serious. Not only the issues that you have to work with directly, but also, you always are asking, “is my theology right?” Everything can get really intense. So to have a post that goes up at midday, so that when they sit down for lunch, they can have a giggle—I think a lot of people appreciated that.

What about the fans? A lot of people in the Picard's Pick’s community felt like they'd been left high and dry when the page stopped posting. Is there anything they can hope for in the future?

It all just sort of happened on a whim. So I don't know. It's still sitting there; we haven't closed it off. See, the thing is, we actually expected it to end in a particular way. None of this worked out as we had planned. Absolutely none of it. We thought that we had left a number of hints throughout the page, so that people would work out who we are, particularly Picard. So I had been in contact with him around the same time that it ended and in that contact, I had dropped certain phrases intentionally to prepare him for the post that was coming, so that he could make the connection! And then the plan was that when he made the connection, we would give him the page as his reward! But none of that happened, so I have no idea what to do with it. 

In lieu of your page, where would you recommend we look for quality book recommendations now?

In terms of book recommendations, but also just life in general, I do think that there's an aspect here of embracing what it means to be the body of Christ. It’s important to recognise that different people have specialties and honour that by approaching them for wisdom and guidance.  I think that we so often go it alone and try to be the entire body ourselves. Then we miss out on the treasure that God has placed in the church, and the wisdom that we could've learned by simply listening to others.

Any advice you'd like to share with your fans?

Look after yourself. Life is good, it’s a gift, allow yourself to enjoy it and have fun.

Where do you think the Bible teaches us about having fun?

You clearly see that prioritisation of fun in the Old Testament, what with the feasts and especially the setting aside of some of the tithes for a feast; including strong drink. So yeah. So I think that alongside fasting is feasting in celebration. I believe that's quite right and appropriate for the church to do. For example, see Deut. 14:26 wherein the good, God-given rhythms of the people of God included rejoicing in his presence, which is expressed in the enjoyment of good food, with good people.

On behalf of all the fans, we would love to thank you for your meaningful contribution to the church of Aotearoa, and look forward to any of your future endeavours!

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So there we have it- an exclusive insight to the mysterious mastermind behind Picard’s Pick’s. Do you have any further questions? Leave them below and we will see what we can do. As always, we are committed to providing the highest calibre of input here at Metanoia. Let us know if you have any need for our superior sleuthing skills and exclusive sources in the future! 

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Rebecca Hooper is an editor at Metanoia.