Civilizations in many parts of the world have built pyramids. This week, Chapel Hill joined them, erecting a large #queeramid in Downtown Chapel Hill. It’s very gay and very tall. We like it and would like it to anchor Franklin Street beyond Pride.

However, it did raise one big question for us: Is it actually a pyramid?

The following nerdy conversation ensued in our writer’s chat:

John: The gayamid is NOT a pyramid. It’s a tetrahedron. I just rode around it.

Mel: I just googled this. A pyramid is defined as a massive structure built especially in ancient Egypt that usually has a square base and four triangular sides meeting at a point.

pyramid facts
A right pyramid with a regular base has isosceles triangle sides, with symmetry is Cnv or [1,n], with order 2n.
John: That’s not what’s on Franklin Street. Its base has three sides. It’s a tetrahedron. Oh wait. I’m reading. “The tetrahedron is one kind of pyramid, which is a polyhedron with a flat polygon base and triangular faces connecting the base to a common point. In the case of a tetrahedron the base is a triangle (any of the four faces can be considered the base).”

Mel: So it’s a tetrahedron and a pyramid.

John: Apparently so. I have rooted feelings about tetrahedron on account of my background in optics, the retro reflectors array on the moon, used to definitively measure the distance we’re corner cubes which were in fact tetrahedrons!

Thank you to Julia Gartrell, the artist, for making the 13-foot-tall pyramid, which will anchor the Chapel Hill Pride Promenade on Saturday June 3 from 2-4 pm. Join the parade, which kicks off at 1:15 at Peace and Justice Plaza and then marches to 140 West Plaza.

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Melody Kramer is a Peabody-award winning journalist whose work has appeared on NPR and member stations around the country, as well as in publications ranging from National Geographic to Esquire Magazine....