A University of New Mexico student wants to help hurricane relief efforts — the way she did it: screaming, “I’m Pickle Rick!”
On Thursday, Oct. 5, people from the Albuquerque community gathered in front of the Student Union Building at the University of New Mexico to yell, “I’m Pickle Rick,” a phrase made popular by the animated comedy series Rick and Morty.
Leilani Stallings, a junior at UNM, organized the event through Facebook. She said she got her idea from friends at the University of California, Berkeley, who were hosting events like “run like Naruto in front of the library or scream ‘my leg’ in front of the park,” Stallings said.
“I thought it was a cool way to bring people together, but since all these hurricanes have been going on, we could try to raise some money,” she said.
Stallings sifted through a crowd of about 20 people, collecting donations which totaled about $50.
Stallings has been donating money to hurricane relief projects on her own and wanted to see if she could influence others to do the same.
Laverye Kenny, a senior at UNM, attended the event. Kenny said she was interested in the event simply because she loves Pickle Rick.
Stallings said she chose to shout “I’m Pickle Rick” because she likes Rick and Morty.
“Rick and Morty is a television show on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, so it is geared towards adults more, it’s not really like a kid’s cartoon,” Kenny said. “It can be condescending at times, but it’s pretty funny, and it shows a lot of real-life situations.”
Nicole Thieme, a freshman at UNM, said, “I don’t really know a lot about Rick and Morty. I just really enjoy screaming.”
Though she felt the event was disorganized, Thieme said she would definitely come to another event like this in the future.
Stallings said she would be interested in hosting another event like this in the future.
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Kelly Urvanejo is a news reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Kelly_Urvanejo.
