I’m Herbert. You can call Herb, though. My father was a stuffed giraffe, and my mother was a stuffed hippo. I guess opposites attract! I used to think I got the worst of both: I have my mom’s stubby legs, but I’m pretty gentle, like my dad.

I suffered through quite a few nicknames during my high school days… The stuffed giraffes called me No-Neck, Short Stuff… The hippos called me Hippy… Young SAs can be pretty cruel sometimes.

It was hard growing up as a hipporaffe, but in college I finally made peace with myself- with the help of the campus Hipporaffe Club. It’s a small-but-active community devoted to the celebration of unique SAs like myself.