I think confessionals don’t get more real than Jarvis Cocker intoning “I did what was wrong though I knew what was right” right before a fab guitar riff. Possibly the most beautiful song ever written about a deadbeat dad.
If Madewell Thinks Crocs Are Cool
I am still fascinated by the rise of Birkenstocks as a “fashion shoe” — and their staying power. We were debating five years ago whether they were ugly cute or just plain ugly, and in the year of our Lord 2020, you can still buy $420 Proenza Schouler x Birkenstock Arizona sandals on Net-a-Porter.
It has to be because in an industry that tries to convince grown women to walk around wearing a prairie dress, we’re just going to take the Ws when we can get them. These sandals so comfortable (in theory, I have yet to buy them). Once Birkenstocks are deemed in style, we can’t go back, won’t go back.
I see your Birks, and raise you a pair of Crocs. It could be quarantine talking, but maybe they’re going to have a fashion moment. There have been some fits and starts in years past, but maybe now it’s catching on. I submit to you two pieces of evidence: Madewell stocked a pair of spiffy white Crocs on its site under the “Labels We Love” section and they’re pretty much sold out. I feel like Madewell doesn’t partner with just anyone.
Exhibit B: look how cute quintessential cool French girl Clare Vivier looks in purple Crocs!
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It’s all happening.
A corduroy blazer with a snappy button-down is not how I wore my pair of Crocs. Think more gym shorts, stained tee, general air of giving up.
I remember the day I bought them at DSW. I wanted something to wear when we went camping. Joe was like, are you sure you want to buy those? What about a nice pair of slides?
Nope. I want these grey dish water-colored Crocs.
They came to a sad end. I left them outside on our deck in the August heat and when I went to slide them on, they didn’t fit. Did I have them on the wrong feet? What the heck?
I swear, the sun shrunk them a size! I had no idea. Apparently this is a common problem Croc owners wears run into, since there are Pinterest guides on how to unshrink them. I didn’t google at the time, instead I put them out on the street and someone took them. God speed, Crocs, wherever you are.
"She Treated the Animals Like Equals."
I try to read (or at least skim) the print edition of the Washington Post every day (minus the sports section). I’ve been reading ever since I was in elementary school and maybe the way I can tell the passage of time is which sections I gravitate to first. It used to be the comics, of course. Now, it’s the Weekend section!! But maybe you can tell I’m getting to be middle-aged by the way I grab the real estate section on Saturdays….and try to read every piece in the obituary section. They pick the most interesting people, from Frieda Caplan, who convinced Americans to eat kiwis, to Allen Y. Lew, D.C.'s city planner extraordinaire.
I learn so much, not just about history, art, science, and pop culture. But also how to live a meaningful life, and Lord knows there isn’t just one way. How amazing, for instance, is zookeeper Mary Wilson?
First of all, this might be the coolest photo ever, from the beautiful cheetah to Wilson’s mod dress. Paging R/OldSchoolCool.
To get her start in zookeeping, Wilson called the Maryland Zoo twice a week for a year to check on her application. She rose to become the first female African American senior zookeeper. Call me tender-hearted, but I was so moved by how Wilson took care of her furry charges. She even took a baby gorilla named Sylvia home with her for a few days, and their bond was lifelong. When Sylvia the gorilla got sick, Wilson flew to Texas to see her. Her (human) daughter and fellow zookeeper Shannon Wilson Jackson told the Post:
“You could tell Sylvia was weak, but she stumbled over to my mom and just laid her head on the bars so my mom could touch her,” Jackson said. “I cried and cried like a baby. That, right there, was my mom.”
Do Not Panic
My mother is the kind of person who is supremely capable and pretty much unflappable. She’s the one in our family who fixes leaky toilets when they break, even though my dad’s an engineer. She’s a solver of problems big and small: she even woke us up in the middle of the night when our house was on fire because she smelled smoke before any alarms went off.
Her most valuable piece of advice to her most worried child? “Do not panic,” she’d always say to me, then repeat it for emphasis, drawing out each word slowly. “Do not panic.”
I even taped the words “Do not panic” scribbled on a Post-It note to the steering wheel of my car as a new driver. I don’t think it reassured any of my passengers.
But I’ve been thinking about it a lot these past few months during the pandemic. Things can get bad — really bad — but it’s true, I can’t think of one situation that’s been improved by panicking.
Tunes Tuesday: "Chevrolet Van," The Nude Party
This song really speaks to me. I’ve always joked we should retire when we’re young and work when we’re old, and sounds like these guys are doing just that.
Tunes Tuesday: "Rickety," Yo La Tengo
This song is so delicate, it feels like it could drift away on a stiff breeze. Maybe that’s what makes it so pretty. I love the whispered duet…and lyrics like this:
Nothing's gone and nothing lasts
The doors ajar and closing fast
Through it all, we're on our feet
But rickety
