Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Fashion Crimes

This week, I returned to work after a wonderful 17 days off. Now that I am back in action, I am already noticing funny things about the young students I teach. I am always shaking my head at the fashions I see at my school. Here are some trends I have noticed so far.

First, the cold weather has brought out the coats. What I find amusing are the arctic-like parkas that the black female students tend to wear. You will recognize these coats by their fur-lined hoods. Sacramento may get cold on occasion, but never cold enough to justify a fur-lined hood for goodness' sake. And yes, with few exceptions, the wearers of these jackets tend to be black females.

Then on the flip side, I see kids of both sexes and all races coming to school on these 30 and 40 degree mornings wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Uh, news flash genius: summer is over. Sacramento might get hot, but not in November. I remember this phenomenon from my childhood as well. Some kids think they will be considered wimps and will be presumably made fun of if they wear warm clothes in cold weather or use an umbrella when it is raining. Meanwhile, their worst fear is realized as I look at them thinking to myself how ridiculous they are to be wearing beachwear as they leave footprints in the frost.

Next, 1976 is back folks, and it is my white male students who are committing this travesty. They are growing their hair long again. God help me, I detest the fashions of the 1970s in every way I can think of; look at the cover of Lynyrd Skynrd's 1977 album Street Survivors and you will see what I mean. It kills me to see these 8th grade boys - almost all of them white - with their unkempt, limp, greasy-looking hair falling all over their face and ears, especially since I taught many of them as 6th graders when they had these cute boy cuts that actually looked decent. Like the old quote goes, the only thing worse than having no taste is having no shame.

Then there are the annual favorites, such as the saggy jeans, hooded sweatshirt with hood on... all the time, and the $200 pair of Jordans surrounding the feet of the chronically unprepared student yet tells me he can't afford to buy pencils and eats a taxpayer-subsidized lunch at the cafeteria every day... Sigh.

One final note about that: seeing as how my students seem to scoff at anything more than two years old as being outdated and therefore lame, I am amused that they are still so hot to trot about anything Jordan - don't they realize he retired from basketball almost a decade ago?

Good Day to You, Sir

4 comments:

Teri said...

black folks here in the Philly area do the same thing with the heavy parka coats. Now it's November but we've been having mild temperatures, like 50s and 60s in the daytime. And you see the folks walking around like it's the North Pole with their heavy coats.

I will never get it.

Anonymous said...

Thankfully, our school requires a school uniform.....bland blue slacks and white top. Most students go with it.

Oversized jackets.....we were once told that this is how one hides ones weapons or other stuff they are not supposed to have at school.

You're in Sac.? My wife's brother lives in Natomas area.

Anonymous said...

I'm like an obnoxious relative that just shows up when I want something, aren't I?

Anyway, I thought I'd let you know what the moonbats are up to, if you are free this weekend. They are not above anything when it comes to their cause. Just count the lies in their announcement. Notice they don't mention Hizbollah's use of cluster bombs, as documented by Human rights watch. Notice they don't mention Hizbollah's use of civilians as human shields.

The United States and Israel are partners in the fight against terror. AIPAC is considered a threat simply because it is effective.

Please spread the word- it would be great to have a pro-Israel presence there.

Their announcement follows:


Sunday: Protest AIPAC at the Radisson in Sacramento
by Stephen Pearcy Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2006 at 9:59 AM
stephen.pearcy@sbcglobal.net

This Sunday, December 3rd, from 10am - 1pm, members of several local and national peace groups will hold a "Dismantle AIPAC!" demonstration outside of the Radisson Hotel, 500 Leisure Ln, Sacramento. That's where AIPAC will host an annual fundraising lunch, and many state political leaders are expected to attend. As they enter the parking lots, we'll be there to greet them with our signs and displays.

AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee) promotes terrorism, militarism, occupation, and disregard for human rights. During the terrible violence that Israel inflicted upon Lebanon last summer, AIPAC worked frantically to prevent a ceasefire. Israel's murderous rampage left over a thousand Lebanese civilians dead. Most were children. While the entire international community begged Israel to stop, AIPAC urged the U.S. to rush more bombs to Israel--bombs that destroyed entire Lebanese cities. Over a million unexploded cluster bombs still litter the residential areas throughout Lebanon. Even now, on a daily basis, Lebanese children are killed or lose limbs because cluster bombs explode from the vibrations of footsteps.

AIPAC is the key lobby group that promotes the sale of weapons to Israel that are routinely used against Palestinian civilians. It also heavily lobbied Congress to support the Annexation Wall that surrounded (and stole) Palestinian territory.

For all of these reasons, and more, please join us at Radisson this Sunday to help DISMANTLE AIPAC!

W.R. Chandler said...

Tia, you are welcome to alert us to these freak-show left-wing terrorist appeasing protests any time you like. I am grateful for the updates so that I may bring my digital camera if I can.

Keep it up!