OCR Text |
Show , OPINION Fighting fashion and the return of the '70s Is it just me, or is high fashion's only requisite characteristic that it has to be something that no one in their right mind would wear? What is it with fashion magazines anymore? The editors always write things like, "We love this little hot pink vinyl angora trimmed micro mini hot pants set from Versace." 0.K., well, you are either blind or PSYCHO with bad taste... They also always seem to think that say, $65 jillion is a reasonable price for a pair of pantihose ... "A must for every woman." I really don't believe that anyone would find the clothes in fashion magazines attractive. Designers probably laugh at the people stupid and rich enough to wear their hideous creations. "Hah! Suckers went for it! Let's bring back bell bottoms again!" Speaking of bell bottoms, I am, like the biblical shepherds, sore afraid. Not just because real clothes are becoming more difficult to £ind...(which is why I offer monthly sacrifices to The Gap, J Crew, Geoffrey Beene, and Abercrombie.) but because there are people who do not live in the re-runs of Good Times who are wearing these nightmarish creations. This has stopped being a joke when you watch the Brady Bunch movie and laugh at their clothes, only to have the other people in the room say, "What wrong with them? I think they're groovy." As much as I have longed to own a lavender "grandma's couch" vinyl dress with matching faux fur hat ensemble ... The styles that I grew up mocking, or later being mocked because of, are now the most popular things around. Look around, you'll notice an alarming, yet amusing trend. The '70s, the music, the clothes, the · Atari, and cable TV. I watched Starsky and Hutch, shows, and yes, even the color schemes are back. All The Dukes of Hazzard, and the premiere season of of the jokes about how I grew up with orange carpet the Brady Bunch. and avocado green furniture aren't funny because I am the seventies personified! The first official people are doing it again! However, I have a theory as human product to come out of that polyester and to the perpetrators of this newest retro nightmare: lava lamp feelin' . To quote Taylor Negron, "I am Who wears this stuff? Check it out, you will find that the bus on the Partridge Family, I am Styx, Kansas, very few people born before the year 1977 will be and the Marshall Tucker Band." Sargeant Pepper caught dead in it. Why? Because we wore it the first was my Lonely Hearts Club Band, and I drank a lot time and spent the '80s justifying it to people who of Tang. I am not ashamed of these things. But when the '80's hit, we children of the '70s were forced to hide our true heritage; put away our bell bottoms and feather our hair, wear Op and Nike. Now we can admit it. But because of being ashamed for so long, we hold our '70s very close to our hearts; naturally when late '70s and early '80s children wear OUR polyester, it is something akin COMMENTARY to sacrilege. What right have they to wear our battle scars? They desecrate our memories with their flippance. So I stick to my Gap jeans, Birks, flannels, and mocked us. I have hideous pictures in polyester and bell bottoms, the long collared shirts courderoy white T-shirts. These are the trademarks of the '90s. knicker overalls with pink knee socks and clogs! I I feel comfortably non-descript in these clothes. was ashamed of these things once the '80s hit, but However, in 30 years when it becomes "retro" to dress like a grunge kitten, I will be likewise deep down inside, I am a child of the '70s. Even though I was only seven then the '80s and offended. Until then, I will turn up the Pearl Jam, their bland non-style scary tube tops came around, I fling my braids over my shoulder, and buckle my had the 45 of Funky Town, I played Donnie and Birks, waiting out this fashion siege. Marie on my Shawn Cassidy sing along radio. I remember the advent of the microwave, the VCR, Laquetta Carpenter is an SUUSA senator. LAQUETTA CARPENTER You must prepare to cope with the future today Last week I ran into a former student of mine at generation is the first in American history whose Kent's market. He is an employee of the store and was standard of living will be lower than their parents'. working his shift, stacking grocery shelves. When I We're familiar with the statistics of the staggering inquired as to his well-being, he told me that he was amounts of money it will take for this generation to having a hard time trying to do justice to his 16 hour purchase a home and to raise, let alone educate, their class load this quarter while working 30 hours a week. children. All of this information in the face of a steadily Naturally, I commiserated with him and encouraged declining real income for the middle class, continued him to persevere telling him that his short range corporate downsizing, rampant age discrimination, and the prospect, due to unceasing technological change, of sacrifices are bound to pay off. I've been thinking about this encounter ever since. It constant obsolescence in one's chosen profession. All of this points to additional hardship factors students brought to mind my own tribulations as an undergraduate at the U of U in the '60s. However, I have must cope with today, which was not a part of my come to believe that today's students have to confront undergraduate experience-the much harder economic some realities which differen-tiate their experiences and situation and the psychological pressure dimension. Scholarship money is decreasing as I write this article. hardships from mine. As an undergraduate, I was totally self-supporting. I The Republican proposals with respect to the funding of carried a full load of classes, worked the swing shift as higher education will severely cut the remaining funds. an operating room technician at the old Salt Lake Th_e impact of this legislation is, to my view, extremely General Hospital, and lived at Neil O'Donnell's Mortuary, where I answered the phone all nigbt long, in return for a free room upstairs (one side benefit was that my dates always thought me extremely chivalrous inasmuch as I always brought them flowers!). Reflecting upon this time, it may be of solace to today's hardworking students that I don't recall the t>: :...,,- r a,., hardships all that vividly. The numerous all-nighters I pulled trying to stay up with my studies in order to COMMENTARY preserve my scholarship. The struggle to stay alert, let alone awake, during surgery. The lack of time for self- shortsighted. After all, today's students represent the indulgence, entertainment, etc. Sometimes, the future of our country. It will prevent many from resentment when I watched the frivolities indulged in pursuing higher education. Others will be forced to· by the denizens of the fraternities and sororities, whose . mortgage their financial futures. Psychologically, in contrast to the pervasive optimism total existence, at least so it·appeared to me, consisted of one endless party, while I slaved away j~t to insure about America and one's personal profes-sional prospects in the society of the early '60s (I'm not mere survival. Needless to say, there were moments of self-pity and ignoring Vietnam and the social upheaval of that even despair. However, I never once doubted that my decade), there is a sense of insecurity, even perpetual eff9rts would be rewarded in the long run and that my anxiety in today's employment picture. My oldest son, Gregory, is preparing to go to law school in the face of life would improve as a result. That's where my experience and· that of today's my words of caution to him concerning the oversupply students begin to differ. It appears to me that they live of attorneys and the consequent competitive in a world of diminishing expectations, fewer employment situation. Law firms also are downsizing and many lawyers are lucky to havle "temp" positions. possibilities for dramatic improvement. We've all heard the statement that the current He knows that in order to even be considered for a job K. MICHAEL SEIBT I he will have to be a member of his law school's Law Review and rank in the top 10 percent of his class. Given the extremely selective admissions process and the competitive atmosphere of law school, these facts produce psychological pressures and anxieties. Thus, the economic realities combined with the psychological pressures constitute a formidable obstacle that students must deal with and overcome. What advice can an educator impart that will assist students to cope with these dilemmas? Think ahead. Do research and inform yourself about the growth fields in the economy and the professions. For instance, I advised my son to focus on environmental, intellectual property, and health law. These are growth areas in the future of litigation. In contrast, the prospects for a flat tax or at least a very simplified tax structure are on the horizon. Therefore, it is probably not a good idea to specialize in that area of the law. The same type of thinking applies to all professions. Think about the problems the world will have to confront over the next two decades or longer and select a field where you will be well paid for finding the solutions to these problems. Remember, that the contemporary and future world is inextricably linked with technology. You must develop the skills that will enable you to compete by being thoroughly familiar with, and keeping up to date with, the newly emerging technological tools. Adaptability is the key to professional survival. The latest Bureau of Labor statistics show that your generation will change jobs at least 12 times during your professional career. This means that you must be both adaptable and flexible. What this all comes down to then is the fact that the economic and psychological pressures you are exposed to during your student years will be excellent preparation for your professional future. Resign yourself to the presence of these pressures, better yet, embrace the fact that they are unrelenting in the competitive world you will shortly enter. Be determined to harness these pressures so that they will be an impetus toward achievement and success rather than permitting them to enervate and discourage you. -~;~1.·~ ~ K. Michael Seibt is a Professor at Snow College. |