coat culture

a coat conveys much about its wearer. in my people watching of late, i've noticed a lot about people by they way they carry themselves, how they interact with diversity, and how they react to life. more often than not, these distinctions translate to their choice of outerwear as well.

what got me on this thought process? this weekend walking around western pennsylvania. it was cold. there was snow. my two jacket choices. mountain hardwear down jacket. mammut laser softshell. i felt the out-of-line-of-sight stares with them in the mostly carhartt or other chore coat outerwear. i do own a carhartt jacket. i love my carhartt jacket. it's tough. it doesn't show dirt. it will last for many years. i bought it in my pre-climber days, back when i was more likely to have calluses from swinging my hammer than from climbing a boulder. hard-working and loyal, these are your friends that will help you build something or move, no questions asked. their trucks are used well and don't have leather seats.

north face coats are ubiquitous these days. the wearer doesn't convey much information with this choice in outerwear. clean-shaven, designer jeans, low profile kicks translates into the coat being little more than an accessory, with the denali fleece being preferred for its large number of color choices. stubble, beanie, scraggly hair translates into the coat being a good deal. it's probably dark colored because we outdoor types don't like washing our fleeces or other jackets. the anomaly in these characterizations falls with the weekend snowboarders because you never know what they're going to look like in the real world. a quote unquote better outdoor brand tends to translate into someone i might run into at the climbing gym or in the woods or on the slopes. i'd guess that 90% of the outdoor brand wearing people on m street in georgetown are in fact poseurs, and not nearly as laid back and fun as the outlying 10% i want belaying while i'm on the sharp end or helping me out on the mountain.

the last person characterized is the proper overcoat wearer. this person must look nice and act gentlemanly/ladylike. while i tend towards the previous two, when wearing my pea coat, i carry myself differently. does this make me a poseur? in a sense, but mainly because i don't want to screw up my irreplaceable hand-me-down coat. it's hard to figure out the men in this category based purely on their coat though. i need to dig deeper. as most of my observations have been on the metro, i can't take note of their zip code or set of wheels. the matching scarf or gloves translate into a less-than-patient attitude with those around him. reluctance to standing/sitting because of an idiosyncratic hypochondria. the guy that sticks out most in my mind in this regard had the burberry overcoat with the collar turned up (just to show the plaid) and the matching scarf. even with gloves on he seemed annoyed to have to hold on while the train was in motion and looked with turned nose at anyone who entered his personal space on the full train at rush hour. the characteristic that turns this class on their head is the messenger bag. more indicative of the outdoor coat active young person than the snooty burberry set, the messenger bag links these categories together.

i wonder which shifting categories these familiar strangers travel between. how many of the overcoat set drive beat up pickups or climb rocks like me?

the issues

election season's heating up. less than a year until we'll have elected a new president. far be it from me as someone who doesn't really pay attention to the primaries to criticize any candidates. perhaps this is why.

there was an article in the washington post today with excerpts from the recent democratic debate in las vegas. (in case you're curious.) i know this wasn't the only issue brought up, but why is money and class such a huge issue for the campaign? they were debating who was rich and who was merely middle class. excuse me? i can see how that factors in to debates on taxes, but is that really a pressing issue right now?!

i seem to recall there's a war on, and i haven't read a single article or heard a single candidate mention anything whatsoever about education, except perhaps where they went to college in their online bios.

why can't there just be a candidate i want to vote for instead of choosing the lesser of two (or 10) evils?

classless

it's not enough that florida lost. i'm strangely okay with our losses this season. they were banged up, kestahn moore had a case of butterfingers, tebow was tentative when running.

mark richt showed an absolute lack of class today. in case you missed it, knowshon moreno scores the first touchdown of the game. georgia's ENTIRE BENCH runs onto the field like they've just won the super bowl and starts dancing around. wait wait, it gets worse.

mark richt was asked at halftime what he said to his team. ""i told them if they didn't get a penalty for celebrating after the first score i would be mad at them." so there it is. pissed off as i was at that lack of control over his team, and his apparent lack of class, it only took me a moment to realize why. he's a bowden disciple. he coached under bobby bowden at fsu during the spurrier years when neither bowden nor spurrier had any sense of class when dealing with the other. twisted knees in the pile, late hits on quarterbacks, sniping at one another in the media. it carried over today when richt improved his record against florida to a not-so-commanding 2-5. 0-1 against spurrier. 1-2 against ron zook, who went 8-5 for three straight seasons. 1-2 against urban's gator squads. impressive, eh?

gary danielson and verne lunquist actually PRAISE this lack of sportsmanship. something along the lines of, "way to be fired up!" what are you teaching our youth, cbs? that taunting is ok? sportsmanship is no longer the cool thing to do? it's no wonder when terrell owens and chad johnson are lauded as the greats in the game, and kids look up to them as they make an "art" of celebration and being assholes. i'm glad that i don't have any kids right now. i have a hard enough time teaching my class right from wrong, class, and manners. try teaching sportsmanship these days with the utter lack of nolan ryans, walter paytons, cal ripkens, and michael jordans in pro sports these days. guys that were great, and knew it, but were never cocky about it. they did their job and let their play speak for itself. i lost a lot of respect for georgia today, and i will root against them from now on, SEC pride be damned. i hope they lose the rest of their games this year, and dwell in the bottom of the east from here on out.