You Better Start Swimmin' Or You'll Sink Like a Stone

Everything old is new again.  Every girl between the age of 22 & 42 seems to own a green army or military type jacket this year.  And this is no exaggeration.  I even considered walking the streets to see just how many I would find in a one day period.  Street fashion has always been interesting to me and it sort of tells stories about life in these times.   And it struck me this week that I used to and maybe still do have a green army jacket that I sported for years in SF.  I used to tell people it was my brother's, but that wasn't true, I got it at a thrift shop and that would make my brother super tiny because of my size.  But that excuse would ward off anyone that had issues with people walking around in military gear.  And my brother was a sergeant in the Marines in Vietnam and he always wore his green jacket when he came back around town and even gave one to my other brother that didn't serve because he got married and they would wear them while riding their Harley's.   That was when I got a little bit more cred in the neighborhood, at least in my mind, when I had two brothers riding choppers no less and would ride up with their hippie long hair and people would say 'he just got back from 'Nam'.  I walked a little taller after that along Schele Street in Fort Wayne and even though I didn't understand completely, I knew we were super lucky to have brother back at home safe.  He had seen and done a lot of things over there and would be changed forever.  They were goofballs in real life but seemed to immortalize on those motorcycles.

No matter what, when you sport a fashion statement I think it should mean something.  And you really can't assume all these girls have a connection or are wearing the green with any conviction.  I guess that's what's bothering me.  It's possible it has no meaning but there are mass amounts of girls wearing them.  I'd love to think maybe they have brothers (or sisters) that fought in the war and wear it as a sort of reminder or they protest war.  Maybe they feel like post apocalyptic war children themselves.  Or perhaps a statement that we're all at war here in the trenches of society.   For me, it does makes sense that this look works at this time.  What bothers me is that I fear they only bought it because everyone else has them and it's a hipster look.

It's more part of a general frustration I'm feeling with the youth around here in Brooklyn, although I have to say I am not seeing a large portion of the local society on a day to day because my route is one view.  I feel youth has a responsibility to shake things up and test boundaries, get a little freaky and parade a bit.  But they're not.  They're just there, no bright lights, no fight, no protest.  Or maybe they're throwing a lame wave to the eighties with pastel colors and Wham type t-shirts.  C'mon people, wake up!  There is a lot of shit going on in the world right now.  Don't you have anything to say at all?!  Where's all the music, the voices, the angst, the art???  Shouldn't it feel like a huge movement out there right now?  Everyone just seems so normal and content, walking zombies texting other boring hipsters, choosing to live in a cyber world where I can only hope energy is abound.  Spirit is waning and I don't know what happens when our youth has nothing to say.

I reinvented an old classic tonight myself with these lettuce fajitas.  Instead of lettuce tacos, I grilled up some red & green peppers and onions in order to put inside a nice wrap.  To truly be correct, I should have used thin sliced beef or chicken but ground chicken with corn worked just fine, especially with all the fixings.  I learned from my dad to always have fresh homemade hot sauce on hand when possible because basically it's the ketchup for Mexicans.