31 Days, 31 Memories - Day 22

[bironic]

Filled to the brim with a busy day topped off with post-food shopping/new-recipe meals, House reruns and a Firefly ep, I retire to bed with the hefty Cartographer's Craft PDF. Happy weekend, everyone!

Comments

[catilinarian]

I was in sixth grade before our school introduced a "summer uniform" for the stifling New Jersey May weather. It was hideous - grey walking shorts that would cover down to the knee for modesty, white ankle socks and tennis shoes, and a boxy white polo shirt with the school's logo - but it was such a relief when we finally got to put our maroon sweaters away for the summer, because during the winter-uniform months, we weren't allowed to take the sweaters off at all.

[bironic]

We didn't have uniforms at our school, and while I was glad most of the time, there were days when I wondered whether uniforms wouldn't have been easier: days when I hadn't done laundry and was wearing something stupid(er than usual), or on especially hot days when the other girls would all come in with spaghetti-strap tops and short skirts. The debate then would be what attire was "appropriate" for an academic setting, which we all knew was really about whether they were flaunting themselves for the boys, but no one seemed to consider whether the freedom to dress any way we wanted make the awkward among us uncomfortable. With uniforms like the one you described, we might all have looked stupid together. Or did the pretty ones manage to make the uniforms pretty while the awkwards still looked awkward?

[catilinarian]

Not only were the pretty girls able to make the uniforms look pretty (mainly by rolling the skirts at the waist or getting the shortest walking shorts imaginable), while the rest of us looked awkward in the horribly boxy things, but we even managed to preserve distinctions of socio-economic class in the damned things. Shoes, bags, the few delicate items of religious jewellry permitted, and of course, the newness of your uniform all marked you out. The students whose maroon sweaters were still dark and fit perfectly were indisputably of higher rank than those of us whose second-hand sweaters had turned coppery-brown and lost their elasticity. Uniforms can come in handy - they're cheaper and more durable than most kids' clothes - but in my experience they do nothing to mitigate the sharp distinctions children make among themselves.

[bironic]

Alas. Another idealistic hope dashed. :)