That's LA. I land here and get on the road and get caught in traffic and listen to KCRW in real time as I move all over the city, anyway...and it feels like home. Even though I'm staying at a Studio 6 that does NOT look like the photo on the website and is in the middle of Sherman Oaks, hardly the greatest neighborhood in the world. All of my friends are here, and seeing them sends shards of ice into my soul. This is home.
I'm moving back when I can figure out how to do so.
I am a bit perturbed about not being able to find a simple, cheap, cotton t-shirt with a pocket. I used to be able to find them everywhere, but this last year I went seeking some to buy...and cannot find them at Penney's (whose t-shirts are made from a nasty form of non-absorbent cotton), Macy's, Old Navy, HM (which DID have David Beckham's undies, and I just about died at the price -- $15 for 1 pair of boxer-briefs?!?!?), Gap, Marshall's, or Target. Guess I'll have to live without. Dammit.
I could make a case for that heralding the change in attitude to blue-collar workers in this country. Used to be, they were the t-shirt-to-wear-to-work guys (truckers, teamsters, assembly-line, dockworkers, that sort of thing), who needed a pocket to hold pens and cigarettes and such. But the rich have decimated America's manufacturing base, sending most of it to Mexico, China, India, and Canada...and did so with tax breaks from the politicians in Congress and the White House. So the demand for usable t-shirts has vanished.
Now it's all about t-shirts that fit tight on young male bodies, none of whom need the pocket because they don't smoke and don't carry pens and it interferes with the line of the clothing; besides, everything's done on their phones. There's one company whose designer t-shirts were fun and I was willing to buy, but who doesn't make them in my size -- XXL -- and who indicated his sizes tend to run small, so I'd probably need an XXXL since I'm nowhere near a size zero.
The vanishing of the pocket t-shirt is the surest sign of the decline of American dominance in the world. Believe me, I know all about this nonsense.
I'm moving back when I can figure out how to do so.
I am a bit perturbed about not being able to find a simple, cheap, cotton t-shirt with a pocket. I used to be able to find them everywhere, but this last year I went seeking some to buy...and cannot find them at Penney's (whose t-shirts are made from a nasty form of non-absorbent cotton), Macy's, Old Navy, HM (which DID have David Beckham's undies, and I just about died at the price -- $15 for 1 pair of boxer-briefs?!?!?), Gap, Marshall's, or Target. Guess I'll have to live without. Dammit.
I could make a case for that heralding the change in attitude to blue-collar workers in this country. Used to be, they were the t-shirt-to-wear-to-work guys (truckers, teamsters, assembly-line, dockworkers, that sort of thing), who needed a pocket to hold pens and cigarettes and such. But the rich have decimated America's manufacturing base, sending most of it to Mexico, China, India, and Canada...and did so with tax breaks from the politicians in Congress and the White House. So the demand for usable t-shirts has vanished.
Now it's all about t-shirts that fit tight on young male bodies, none of whom need the pocket because they don't smoke and don't carry pens and it interferes with the line of the clothing; besides, everything's done on their phones. There's one company whose designer t-shirts were fun and I was willing to buy, but who doesn't make them in my size -- XXL -- and who indicated his sizes tend to run small, so I'd probably need an XXXL since I'm nowhere near a size zero.
The vanishing of the pocket t-shirt is the surest sign of the decline of American dominance in the world. Believe me, I know all about this nonsense.
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