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November 29, 2004
If within 2 minutes of arriving at work you bend down and rip your pants...
...as I so unceremoniously did this morning. And if you you not only have to slink off to take care of the problem but also feel obliged to explain to your boss and co-workers just why it is you are leaving so soon. Then I think you are entitled to come back with some snazzy threads. Actually, it was 8:10 so the thrift store wasn't open, so I felt completely justified in taking my custom high-end and hitting the Target clearance rack, to which I am not entirely a stranger. At any rate, there in that netherworld between Walmart and department stores, there at the store that brings shi shi designers to the masses, I hit the clearance rack and sort of got chic. Not really, OK, just barely.
Instead of some work-suitable khakis I decided upon a pair of hip (at least they were two years ago) jeans in a style which I used to think were rather manky looking.* You know the type, the type with the slick-faded looking legs that seem like you have been temporarily homeless for several weeks and haven't had a chance to shower or change your clothes. At any rate, in that bizarre alchemy that is fashion and vanity and sheer craziness, they do now seem kind of cool, and so I acquired my first pair. And, to boot, I also decided I might as well go all the way and buy one of the nice Mossimo shirts on clearance, which is truly nice, not being manky by any standards. Even Joseph Abboud would be proud of it.
Gasp. Did I buy an outfit? No, as I am wont to explain, somewhat unconvincingly to even to myself at times, it must be noted, its just a shirt and pair of pants that happen to go together which will be worn with other shirts and pants respectively. Guys don't buy outfits. Or shouldn't. Dave would be proud. And so it was off to Quik Trip to hit the the restroom/changing room (and get a cup of tea) and then head back to work, sheepish, yes, but in such sartorial splendor.
All of this talk of manky fashions brings to mind a poem I wrote few years ago on the topic of tattoos and body piercing. As noted in a previous post, it is more strident than I would be now, but I think it does have a point and raises some interesting discussion topics. Also, as a point of full disclosure and as an innoculation against charges of hypocrisy, it should be noted that I do have an earring (the why and what for of which I may explain in a subsequent post) and, on occassion, have considered a tattoo, which likely won't happen though.
I am still very interested in the issue of why people adorn, decorate, desecrate? themselves, whether it be tattoos or mullets, BMW's or piercings. I am particularly interested in the psychology and the spritual aspects of such questions. Finally, blanked out though it is, this poem does contain a swear word.
Slavery Chic
It's odd that all these signs of freedom
Should smack so of slavery from the past,
Of less than willing bondage to another.
The awl-pierced ear made one a slave for life
In ancient Israel.
These rings that link each nostril to the other
Protrude a shiny loop that almost begs for a hook
To pull the wearer along,
Like an unwilling bull of old.
And thick, studded collars once only choked strong dogs
Into submission.
And tatoos and brandings also marked a slave.
How odd, today, that almost every sign to say,
"I'm free,"
Should echo slavery.
But, slavery? Today?
Who holds the chains?
That is where the horror comes.
Before when one was ruled,
However deep the chains might cut,
At least the heart could stay free,
And hope for full feedom at least be a whispered dream.
But now the chains bind unseen
And loop back only to the Omnipotent Self
That marks its prey in time-honored ways
With signs that now do double time
To say, like prickly visual curse words,
"F___ you and what you think;
I am the jailor and the jailed."
*I picked up the word manky from reading a sequel to Adrian Plass' funny and insightful book the Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass Aged 37 3/4, which I would very highly recommend to you. Manky: Adj. Scruffy, dirty, distasteful, disgusting.
| By jackdas | 2:20 PM
Comments
neil,
did you happen to catch margie haack's lecture on tattooing this year at border's?
jeremy (twice-tattooed)
Posted by: Anonymous at November 30, 2004 4:21 AM
Yes, Jeremy, I did. I do not remember the specifics of it, but I did like it. In essence I think I have come to almost the same place she has of general acceptance of the practice of tattoing, with special care to understand, if they are offered, the reasons why a person received a specific tattoo. I must add two things, though. I view excessive tattooing on a spectrum with some of the less socially common forms of body piercing. I hesitate to call them wrong, but I am very curious, and if I am honest, cautious of the motivations of the people undergoing such alterations. I am still prone to view it as a psychological or spiritual crying out, as a symptom of something out of wonk. It used to be that I would dismiss all such modifications out of notion of keeping sound the body that God loaned me, and there is something in that view that I cannot completely abandon. Extreme body modification does seem to me like bondage, if only to the self. Of course, then discussions ensue about what is extreme, etc. etc. Second, I am hesitant about tattoing on aesthetic grounds, a discussion of which should include such topics as my manky jeans, as emblematic of other fashion statements that seem ugly. I find excessive tattoing generally not to be attractive, especially on a woman. I went to a wedding in which a bridesmaid had on a nice wedding dress and a dark armband tattoo, which did nothing for her appearance. Now again, some may simply point out that ideals of beauty are simply subjective and constructed out of my own cultural context, out of my own interpretive commununity. And that may indeed be true.I would have to do a tremendous amount of work to even begin to formulate and articulate a defense of absolutes or norms in aesthetics. And yet, some times tattoos just seem ugly. I hope that position presents some nuance.
Posted by: Neil E. Das at November 30, 2004 9:50 AM
