a word about alabama, stripey socks & ani

a little story about wearing stripey socks off the beaten path:

once upon a time on our recent cross country drive from virginia to san francisco, we took the southern route. the back roads southern route...down through the carolinas, through georgia, & alabama. on this back roads route we decided to slip through linden, alabama. my father was a minister & pastored a church down there for about 2 years - i was around 4/5 years of age & went to kindergarten down there in this itsy bitsy town. i wanted to go see it; not having been there for 27ish years. found the church & house we lived in via remembering pictures from the photo albums. kinda crazy wandering around, remembering floating in big tubs in the pot holes in the driveway when it rained -- being pulled around in the red flyer wagon -- playing on the church bell tower -- sneaking into the church where my dad would ask who that little church mouse was pattering around -- being dumped over into the red ant hills & having to soak for hours in the tub to cool the bites -- playing in the woods -- riding horses -- riding on the back of my dad's motorcycle in the driveway that circled the church................

so that was fun, amusing, & fairly enlightening in thinking on how glad i was that we did not stay down there...strange to do the 'what if' game...what if i had grown up there? what would i be doing now? what kind of experiences would i have had...you know, the pondering game which is so great to do while driving, driving, driving...

now, the point of my story is this: i had on my cute skirt & knee high stripey socks & polka dot vans - all in all a super fun outfit that i would wear any day of the week. and i assume from what i'm going to tell you next, that this is a very, VERY odd outfit to wear in small town alabama. when we left linden, we got to another little town where we decided to stop in to the local grocery & get a few odds & ends. i also had to pee - which took me to the mcdonald's in this parking lot. so i go in & round the corner to go to the bathroom & this family of 4 are sitting in mcdonald's obviously after church (this was a sunday and presumably they were dressed in their sunday finery) - the teenage girl of the family totally stares at me - TOTALLY stares. i'm waiting for the bathroom to open up & this girl not only continues to stare at me, but begins to snicker & then leans over to her mother, whispers, & the mom turns and stares too, as does the younger brother AND the father...at this point i'm getting rather pissy & totally glare back at the dad & the girl who is smirking & laughing...it so very obvious that they are completely thinking my outfit is a bit odd. which i commence to think about when i go in the bathroom & start to get just a might haughty about this. i mean really...are we not living in 2007? do we not get out in the world at all? have they never been to a larger city? don't they at least own a damn t.v.?? am i really going to need to feel strange about what i am wearing? do i really need to start thinking and questioning the fact that just because i'm in a *very* small town in southern alabama, that this family that has obviously just come from church has the gall to laugh at what i'm wearing? & am i truly going to let this bother me? (well, obviously me writing about it has clued you in)...so. i come out of the bathroom, determined to at least glare & stare right back at them with my most highly raised eyebrow that i can muster so at least they can know that i know & that hopefully they might feel compelled to feel a bit bad. not being one who can ever actually say something to them (although i truly truly wanted to go & tell the daughter where i bought my awesome knee length stripey socks & polka dotted vans since she obviously *loved* them so much & was extremely jealous - yes, i wanted to, but bit my tongue). now, what was so strange about this experience is this: i have never really been bothered about looking a bit different (and actually, living in san francisco i am woefully normal) - but this experience totally bothered me. & i think it bothers me so much because of how completely stereotypical the whole scene was. out of towners pull into small town alabama, out of towners look --different-- the small town locals stare, the small town locals laugh, the locals make me feel like a complete weirdo. & i reallly have to wonder, for real? for real?!! my outfit was that strange? god forbid i drove through there with bleached out short hair & my funky attire from a few years ago? all in all, it made me really sad. to think that somewhere in this wide country i live in, there is a family that finds it alright to out & out laugh at a stranger after they have come out of going to church. what?! for real for real????

now the ani part: she sings a song about wandering around the states...and then being in alabama, wear she gets laughed at & stared at...& that at least when she walks down the street in n.y. that people tell her exactly what they think of her. & i heard this again fairly soon after coming home to s.f...and i thought, yeah, that's exactly how i felt...that i feel like the utterly boring one sometimes here in s.f. & felt so strange out of my element in a little small town...& i wonder...what would me life have been like if i grew up in linden, alabama? would i be the same person? would i have grown up to be involved in the arts? to embrace being different & be proud of that fact? or would i have ended up at the local mcdonald's snickering at the out of towners who obviously weren't from these parts... ?

it was so strange...this provided hours of pondering time for me.......