I can count on my hands the amount of times I've stepped foot in a Wal-Mart. That's not a judgement on those that do shop there or the quality of their business. It's more of a product of where I grew up. We didn't have any Wal-Marts in Central NJ in the 80's and early 90's so all I knew of them was the random commercial and the idea that they existed only in rural places where someone who apparently feel the need to buy VHS cassettes, American flags and a tractor simultaneously would shop.
As I got older and moved around, I came in contact with Wal-Marts but it never really occurred to me to go inside. Blame Syracuse's School of Management really, one moment filling my head with ideas that Wal-Mart was the greatest thing that ever happened to consumers while also being the bane of every small business owner and minimum wage employee caught in its path. What's an impressionable nineteen-year-old going through a non-threatening anti-establishment phase to do???
And so, I found myself inside Wal-Mart this weekend, looking for patio furniture (Whipped you say? At least I didn't go see Sex and the City...). Whilst taking a lap around the store to take it all in, I came across one particular gem of an item that pretty much summed up every pre-conceived notion I might have had before I ever stepped foot into one of these behemoth, middle-American superstores. You might say it's only a T-shirt. I say it's so much more:
There's a lot to love about this shirt but my favorite has to be the unnecessarily placed "our," as if somewhere out there multiple factions of American soldiers are fighting against each other. Fuck those other American soldiers, we're rooting for THESE ones.
Driving on my way home it also occurred to me that the Los Angeles city flower was in full bloom. Central New York has the fall foliage but many would be surprised to know that LA has its own seasonal flower. It doesn't bloom every year but you can be sure that the only time you will ever see it is in June, if at all. We haven't had the bloom since 2004 so it was a surprise for many, even those who are responsible for its plumage. The purple and gold flecks have finally emerged and everywhere you look you can't miss them, even though you can't help but wonder where they were the rest of the year:
Than again, what's worse...Los Angeles fans who magically become die-hards as soon as the Lakers make it to the finals or Boston fans who can't walk out of the house without at least seven pieces of Red Sox/Celtics/Patriots flair on their person at all times? Would it really have been so terrible for Spurs vs. Pistons again?
As I got older and moved around, I came in contact with Wal-Marts but it never really occurred to me to go inside. Blame Syracuse's School of Management really, one moment filling my head with ideas that Wal-Mart was the greatest thing that ever happened to consumers while also being the bane of every small business owner and minimum wage employee caught in its path. What's an impressionable nineteen-year-old going through a non-threatening anti-establishment phase to do???
And so, I found myself inside Wal-Mart this weekend, looking for patio furniture (Whipped you say? At least I didn't go see Sex and the City...). Whilst taking a lap around the store to take it all in, I came across one particular gem of an item that pretty much summed up every pre-conceived notion I might have had before I ever stepped foot into one of these behemoth, middle-American superstores. You might say it's only a T-shirt. I say it's so much more:
There's a lot to love about this shirt but my favorite has to be the unnecessarily placed "our," as if somewhere out there multiple factions of American soldiers are fighting against each other. Fuck those other American soldiers, we're rooting for THESE ones.
Driving on my way home it also occurred to me that the Los Angeles city flower was in full bloom. Central New York has the fall foliage but many would be surprised to know that LA has its own seasonal flower. It doesn't bloom every year but you can be sure that the only time you will ever see it is in June, if at all. We haven't had the bloom since 2004 so it was a surprise for many, even those who are responsible for its plumage. The purple and gold flecks have finally emerged and everywhere you look you can't miss them, even though you can't help but wonder where they were the rest of the year:
Than again, what's worse...Los Angeles fans who magically become die-hards as soon as the Lakers make it to the finals or Boston fans who can't walk out of the house without at least seven pieces of Red Sox/Celtics/Patriots flair on their person at all times? Would it really have been so terrible for Spurs vs. Pistons again?