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let the weeping begin

There was a time in my life when I grieved for all the stupid things I did in my youth. This is not to say that stupid things have left my life, or that I consider myself above or beyond their reach. But there is a particular kind of stupid thing -- a kind of stupid thing that can only be possible (I hope) in one's teens or twenties -- that still makes me wince from its memory. Like walking to school with wet hair in the dead of winter. Or making a joke about mamma's boys to the guy whose mother just died. Or shouting expletives at my friends when a gaggle of teachers was standing right behind me. And these are the examples that are fit for public consumption.

This morning -- this brisk November morning in Canada -- I walked by a teenage girl waiting at the edge of her front lawn for her ride to school, and quite suddenly this girl appeared to me like some kind of mixed-up medieval beast, the half-man-half-wolf kind of thing, because while I could make sense of her top half -- parka, earmuffs, gloves -- the bottom half made no sense at all, because she was wearing cut-off jean shorts with panty hose and high heels. Who *are* you kid, Daisy Duke? I'm sure you are cool and even super cool considering how tilted you are against the season but do you have no concept of ridiculousness or parody? I thought all these kids feasted on the ironic these days, that they were so irony-rich that they would never again be slaves to the ludicrous. Good for you, you crazy kids, wearing those toques, I thought. Sensible! But then they started they started wearing them in summer, and my grieving began again.
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Comments

  1. Jeannetto1:55 pm

    That's the female uniform in Japan. But also, none of it can match.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UpStart Press2:03 pm

    When I lived in West Berlin, the cut-offs/pantyhose/heels look was very in. I succumbed to it a few times myself. Not only was it ridiculous, it was 21 years ago. I see stuff like that and think to myself that it doesn't matter how many years pass, it will never look fresh again. At least not to this old woman.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lora2:58 pm

    I really miss not ever being all that cold in the winter. Now I freeze when it dips below 60.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kim Hambric4:25 pm

    I'll start a new trend for over 40 women in cold climates -- long johns, daisy dukes, and black orthopedic shoes. I'll be so cool.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Unknown6:02 pm

    no, this is something i just can't understand. i just reached a point where i couldn't stand the cold and "cool" had to just go. i would have had on long johns, jeans, layers of socks, furry boots, a down coat, hats, hoods and more and i would have worn most of it in school with little fingerless gloves and i would have been warm and so uncool! yee! we have women here stepping out for holidays parties in spray tans, strap heels and teeny cocktail dresses while i have one 20 layers-come one! it's winter! ok, i have to get off the computer i am way too cold thinking about all of this.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Maggie May9:40 pm

    irony is sucking the life out of kids.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Unknown10:04 am

    I saw the very same thing just a week ago. Baffling.

    ReplyDelete

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