Channeling Steinbeck

One of my colleagues and a couple of my students told me recently that there is a picture of author John Steinbeck in their literature textbook that looks a lot like me [or I look a lot like him] but without the beard. I haven’t seen the photo yet, but I did a search and he has a beard in most of what I found. But here are two:

I’m not sure I look all that much like him although there is some resemblance in the latter. [I never expect to write as well either, but that's another story.] But in reading the entry on Wikipedia I came across this bit of trivia: “To symbolize himself, Steinbeck used the stamp of a Pigasus, a flying pig, and the phrase Ad Astra Per Alia Porci (To the stars on wings of pigs.)”

I was born in the Year of the Pig on the Chinese calendar. The Chinese New Year is this weekend and we will be entering a Year of the Pig. And suddenly I have people telling me I look like a famous writer that used a (flying) pig as a personal symbol. Just last week was the 70th anniversary of the publishing of his novel Of Mice and Men (which takes place on a farm where I’m sure they had pigs). These are really freaky coinkydinks! No?