Exhibit A (For Awesome)
Tuesday I awoke with a start, realizing that I still had to think of a costume (Saturday night's "Sexy Hobo" garb having been deemed inappropriate for school). I looked around at my meager supply of costumesque materials and had practically decided on going as a waitress, when suddenly it hit me: I would go as a desperate housewife! I decided I'd wear my bathrobe and slippers, and give last year's MC P Pants shower cap another workout. However, as well you know, desperate people are prone to perform acts of desperation. And what act, my friends, exhibits more desperation than flashing? None! Hence I wore a corsette, with a sign reading, "BOO!" pinned to it, and some short pajama pants under the robe.
I left my brownstone gleefully imagining my students' reactions to my getup. It seems, however, that I missed the memo that wearing costumes during the day on Halloween is not cool in New York. On my short walk to the train, on the platform, and on the train itself there was no one--not even a child, in costume except for me. New Yorkers are just too cool for school. I, however, am a teacher, which implicitly excludes being too cool for school. Thus, I held my head up high and flashed a man on the platform. Most people on the train looked at me as if nothing was odd, but then averted their eyes quickly (the way one does when confronted with a fellow subway passenger of questionable sanity). One man asked to take my picture, and when I agreed, took several semi-candid shots of me messing with my ipod. When we reached his stop, he told me to have fun. Another man also said that he loved my costume and told me to wear it with pride.
While it was a bit unsettling at first, I take tremendous pride in having, one morning, been THE WEIRDO in New York City.
My students loved my costume, and some of them had come up with some pretty creative stuff. The halloween revels at school were pretty enjoyable, despite the fact that my lesson went less awesomely than I had hoped.
After sundown, the streets filled with folks in costume, and after finishing my afternoon private lesson, I headed for Greenwich Village. I saw a lot of cool things on my way to line up for the parade. Among them, Gene Simmons in full makeup and attire in a parking lot near the float he was destined to ride. I wasn't able to meet up with my students, but I succeeded in finding one of my fellow teachers and his band of pupils. Though we had to wait a long, annoying time before we could march, the parading part was lots of fun. My general strategy was to walk around looking desperate (to this end, I added a faux designer bag and a copy of Fear of Flying to my ensemble), and then to suddenly run up to one of the sides where the spectators were and flash them. I got some interesting responses (among them, "Well DA-mn!").
My costume was thoroughly inadequate as compared to those of many of my fellow paraders. People got REALLY creative. I saw a man who went as his myspace page, a man riding in a hot air balloon and the ghost of habeas corpus, among many other things. I was glad to finally have found fellowship among other weirdos in crazy costumes.
I left my brownstone gleefully imagining my students' reactions to my getup. It seems, however, that I missed the memo that wearing costumes during the day on Halloween is not cool in New York. On my short walk to the train, on the platform, and on the train itself there was no one--not even a child, in costume except for me. New Yorkers are just too cool for school. I, however, am a teacher, which implicitly excludes being too cool for school. Thus, I held my head up high and flashed a man on the platform. Most people on the train looked at me as if nothing was odd, but then averted their eyes quickly (the way one does when confronted with a fellow subway passenger of questionable sanity). One man asked to take my picture, and when I agreed, took several semi-candid shots of me messing with my ipod. When we reached his stop, he told me to have fun. Another man also said that he loved my costume and told me to wear it with pride.
While it was a bit unsettling at first, I take tremendous pride in having, one morning, been THE WEIRDO in New York City.
My students loved my costume, and some of them had come up with some pretty creative stuff. The halloween revels at school were pretty enjoyable, despite the fact that my lesson went less awesomely than I had hoped.
After sundown, the streets filled with folks in costume, and after finishing my afternoon private lesson, I headed for Greenwich Village. I saw a lot of cool things on my way to line up for the parade. Among them, Gene Simmons in full makeup and attire in a parking lot near the float he was destined to ride. I wasn't able to meet up with my students, but I succeeded in finding one of my fellow teachers and his band of pupils. Though we had to wait a long, annoying time before we could march, the parading part was lots of fun. My general strategy was to walk around looking desperate (to this end, I added a faux designer bag and a copy of Fear of Flying to my ensemble), and then to suddenly run up to one of the sides where the spectators were and flash them. I got some interesting responses (among them, "Well DA-mn!").
My costume was thoroughly inadequate as compared to those of many of my fellow paraders. People got REALLY creative. I saw a man who went as his myspace page, a man riding in a hot air balloon and the ghost of habeas corpus, among many other things. I was glad to finally have found fellowship among other weirdos in crazy costumes.