My favorite Vans have a hole.

When I moved to Santa Cruz, CA in 2002 I made sure that everyone knew I was from Massachusetts.  I arrived on time, brought a bunch of sweaters and khaki pants, honked at pedestrians, and just in case anyone was left wondering, I dressed as a Masshole for Halloween.  A what? If you have to ask, you’ll never know.  That’s both the embedded Masshole in me talking, as well as the quote that was on the theme of my high school yearbook in 1994.  I became very self-aware in 1994.  My thick corduroy pants and chain wallet without the wallet complemented Counting Crows and the one-song gig of my band, Purple Karma.  It’s hard to be in a band if your musical contribution is via Suzuki violin because there are no rock songs that merge with Minuet in D.

My So-Called Life forever changed the complexity of television in 1994 and I thought that if I knew Clare Danes we might be friends, just as now I think that if I knew Diablo Cody, we would also be friends.  I doubt I’d ever get along with Sarah Jessica Parker, even though the characters she plays love shoes as much as I do, though by shoes I mean sneakers and she means Manolo Blahniks.

By my fourth year in Santa Cruz I had begun to arrive when I arrived, wear hoodies, ride a cruiser, and and have no problem participating in everyday impromptu parades.  Vans were my sneakers of choice.  Simple, blank canvases covered with a range of art, Vans should be the reference point for every usability engineer.  Consistent and predictable but with enough variety and edge so that you never know anyone that has the same pair that you have.  My Massachusetts friends accused me of being a Californian but I still honked at pedestrians.

wink wink - things are getting risque in downtown Holland

It’s 2009 now and I am afraid of Michigan. I don’t know what I’m going to look like in a month.  Two months.  If the people of downtown Holland are any measure, in a year I’ll look like a retiree.  Is there a raging subculture I have yet to find? A street of edgy stores?  What do Republicans wear to bed?

My teal Vans with white flowers have a hole, and somehow I transmitted floor polish to the inner soles, leaving me walking tentatively on slippery pucks as I people watch and try to guess an individuals political affiliation based on his or her outfit.  I love guessing the personal history of strangers.  My sister and I play this game to extremes and we get frustrated when other people refuse to show the same enthusiasm or prowess for pigeon holing.

I have a whole new crop of strangers to look at these days and this candy store is always open.  I know I’ll get used to this town and make it work just like you get used to having a small rock in your shoe and find a way to shake it into a tolerable place without having to remove your shoe.