Yesterday morning I received a text message from my friend Amelia about the state of things in downtown Chapel Hill. Apparently, there were waves of people in various stages of dressiness in blue and white. She is from Maine, so she was alarmed. I reassured here that this was just football in the South, and concluded my text with, "Welcome to the South!" Later, when I ventured outside, I was struck by the shear number of people here, not so much by their dress. But, I did take notice of what she was telling me about 45 year-old mothers of college girls in their baby blue and white best, heels, and pearls to watch football and their husbands in khakis and baby blue polos or searsucker(it's a little late in the year for that isn't it?. It's weird, but it is something I am accustomed too. What I am not accustomed to is people tailgating in parking garages here. What is that?! As I walk to the library, I am struck by the number of people in the bottom of parking garages eating Bojangles chicken from their trunks and tailgates and by the people on the top of the parking garage GRILLING OUT with their tents set up. Very strange. There is amble green space here, so I don't know why they choose to tailgate there, but now I have an idea. Taking the bus back from downtown, I noticed all those well-dressed college parents in green spaces and parking LOTS. You have to be a member of Carolina Livery (whatever that is), a fraternity/sorority, or pay for a special event parking pass to park in these traditional tailgating spaces. Incidentally, they also have McCain/Palin stickers of the back of their car...and there are a lot of them, so I am guessing they don't live in Orange County, which votes and pulls for baby blue. Those in the parking garage are not as well dressed. They just have on school t-shirts and jeans. Apparently, where you get to tailgate depends on your socioeconomic status...
I actually hate football days here. I do not care about ACC football (the district UNC plays in). I am an SEC fan (hard football and Southern football). So, this may be influenced by that, but I get really pissed off about football game days. They always happen on Saturday, so if I have any errands to run, I better do it on Sunday or Friday because I will not be able to unload my items from my car by parking in the parking garage near my house, because it is reserved for "event pass football fans only," and if you park there, your car will be towed. AND I cannot leave my parking garage to go somewhere in my car because I will not have a space to park when I get back because MY parking garage where I pay $350 to park allows those "event parking pass" people to park there and if the garage is full,tough cookies, even though you pay to park there. So, then you have to drive around and fight masses of people crossing intersections, cops telling you which way to go, and road closures to find another space to park where you will not be towed. I did this last Saturday. Something just doesn't seem right about that to me. So, they next day, when you finally get to run your errands, you car will have beer cans and trash around it from those "event parking pass" people. Oh, I love them.
While continuing my anger-spree against rich white people, let me know address hipsters. Today, while coming back from the library, I saw this group of about 10 teenage hipsters. They were being their normal hipster selves--being "weird" and "ironic." I noticed their aesthetic: torn jeans, black hair with patches of blond, girl jeans, converse tennis shoes, hoodies, the usual. I just laughed. These kids think they are so cool. I just wanted to tell them the subculture they were modeling themselves on was commodified 30 years ago. If you bought that outfit at H&M or Hot Topic in the mall, you ain't hard.
10 years ago
