The Citizen, 2001-12-05, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2001. PAGE 5.
Other Views
In this case chance all in the jeans
C hance is a wonderful thing. Suppose,
for instance, Morris Strauss, a bearded
and nearly broke immigrant from
Bavaria had not been walking down that street
in San Francisco back in 1850. Suppose he
hadn't run into a crusty old gold miner who
asked him what he'd brought with him from
back east.
"A few yards of canvas," Strauss replied.
The miner scoffed and pointed to his own
ripped and shredded trousers. "You'da been
better off in you'd brought a few pairs of hard-
wearin' pants."
Pants, eh? thought Strauss. He took some of
his canvas to a tailor and paid him to make a
pair of pants out of it. Then he took the pants
back and sold them to the miner.
The miner was ecstatic. Finally, a pair of
pants that could stand up to the rigors of hard
rock mining.
He became a walking billboard for Strauss'
sartorial ingenuity. Pretty, soon, other miners
came looking for durable trousers.
Mister Strauss had found his personal gold
mine, but he needed a name for his popular
product.
He decided to use his middle name: Levi.
And he made a couple of changes.
First he switched from canvas to a softer but
still durable French textile that came from the
Someone once said that each person is
entitled to 15 minutes of fame during the
course of his or her lifetime. I would
imagine that the general reaction to this would
be that some people get far more than the 15
minutes; they may not be worthy of little, if any
of all. Other more worthy people get only a
portion of that time, all of which makes me
wonder if this is yet another injustice in the
world.
I am not arguing about what allocation of fame
I have experienced; as you will see in a minute
I would have gladly foregone the first segment
of it but then we are not asked how we would
like it; we take it as it comes.
I was on my way to the station in St. Gallen,
Switzerland, to playa game of hockey in
Zurich when I took a short-cut through a
building which promptly fell in on me. It took
them about 2 hours to dig me out and great was
the amazement when they found I was
unconscious but still alive. I came to a couple
of hours later in the canton hospital. The
amazement increased when they discovered
that all my injuries were treatable. I became
instantly famous and the word 'miracle" was
frequently used to describe the incident. I was
six weeks in the hospital but for months after
that, wherever I went, people knew who I was
and wanted to talk to me.
My next moment of fame came about as a
result of a cow crashing through our fence and
found itself in our swimming pool. No, I am
not making this up. The cow had broken out of
a nearby farm, charged through our
subdivision, and knocked down a few fences
before coming to a sudden stop in the our
swimming pool. It took four of us to get him
out and the last I saw of him was behind a
police car heading back to the farm. For years
afterwards I was asked by various people if I
had any more cows in my pool. To date the sum
total is 1.
My latest brush with fame has come about
indirectly because of Sept. 11. The university
where I teach made a list some years ago of
specific areas of expertise of the faculty and,
shortly after the terrorist attack, Western sent
out a bulletin giving a list of the professors with
expertise which might be useful to the media.
French town of de Nimes and was finished in
Genoa, Italy. Then he died it dark blue because
it hid dirt and stains better.
He also-introduced three new words to the
English language: levis, denim (from the
French serge de Nimes) and jeans, a corruption
of Genoese.
It's been a long and winding century and a
half for Levis since then. For most of that time
Levis were pants for the working stiff -
cowboys, miners, farmers.
Then, a transformation. "Jeans" suddenly
became chic.
Everybody from Bob Dylan to Princess
Anne was photographed in jeans.
Today jeans are a clothing phenomenon —
they're class unconscious.
They're worn by blue collar workers and
university professors; by cowboys and bank
tellers.
The makers of Levis have evolved too.
Customers of LVC (that's Levi's Vintage
Raymond
Canon
The
International
Scene
Included in this was my name in connection
with both military and commercial aviation.
It wasn't very long before my phone started to
ring. I started out with an appearance on CFPL-
TV's current affairs program Inquiry. Next in
line was a local radio station asking for a quote
followed by calls from the Globe and Mail, the
Toronto Star, Maclean's Magazine, New York
Times and the Wall Street Journal. On the TV
side the Report on Business interviewed me
three times in a month while CBC,--TV News
has quoted me twice.
Just when I thought it might die down, it caught
its second wind. CBC Radio One called and
asked me to do a syndicated interview one
Continued from Page 4
difficulty, their ability to walk any distance is
seriously curtailed. They are, in fact, disabled
and entitled to a special parking spot.
Many of these people suffer from Chronic
Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) —
chronic bronchitis or emphysema — which
affects 750,000 Canadians. COPD is a disease
of loss — loss of control and confidence, loss of
identity and self worth. COPD is also the fourth
leading cause of death of men and seventh for
women, killing nearly 10,000 annually.
The Lung Association's newest program
BREATHWORKS is a support and education
program to help patients cope with COPD. It
continues to develop and will be the fihest
leading-edge service of its kind available in
North America. Our Christmas Seal Campaign
funds support BREATHWORKS and ()then
vital research and education programs, such as
Lungs Are For Life and Asthma Action.
The Lung Association is one of Canada's
Clothing) buy personalized history prewashed
into each and every pair of pants.
Perhaps you'd like a pair of Dead Man's
Jeans, a replica of a pair that a man wore when
he was dragged behind a pickup back in the
'30's. Or a pair of 'Kerouacs' - replicated stain
for stain from a pair worn by the author of "On
The Road".
But it will cost you. In Tokyo, one pair of
Levi's 501 Signature series will set you hack
somewhere between $1,000 and $20,000 U.S.
That is not a misprint.
I guess that would have to be a
back-handed tribute to the durability of old
Morris Strauss' original brainwave back in
1850. Speaking of durable, did you hear
about the guy in Nevada, excavating his
backyard, who dug up a pair of mud-crusted
but still recognizable Levi's? Experts
authenticated the pants as having been made
circa 1880 - the oldest known pair of Levi's in
the world.
You can buy `ern yourself on e-Bay if you
hurry. Guy's only asking $25,000 U.S.
And what did the ancient pantaloons
cost when they were first sold back in the
1880s?
A dollar seventy-five.
You -know that somewhere the ghost of
Morris Levi Strauss is shaking its head.
afternoon. It ended up lasting two hours with
interviews stretching all the way from Sydney,
N.S. to Vancouver and Whitehorse.
Hardly had I finished that when the Globe &
Mail was on the phone again.
The next morning CBC—Montreal got me out
of bed to be followed by Time magazine and a
request to be on another Inquiry program, for
CFPL-TV - and so it went.
A lot of the discussions have been about
Canadian airlines, of course, but we also
examined such things as the plight of Swissair
and Sabena, both of which went bankrupt.
Many airlines all over the world are in bad
financial shape and it is a good question what
the aviation landscape will look like a year
from now.
In the meantime the Dept. of Economics at the
university is amazed at all the publicity th se
interviews have been bringing but this has not,
unfortunately, been translated into any increase
in my pay nor a mini-bar in my office. Nor has
anybody asked me for my autograph yet!
My granddaughters are, however, really
impressed and isn't this what counts?
longest standing charitable health
organizations, founded in 1900. The
association addresses many respiratory health
issues, including asthma, COPD and air
quality. Its 33 Ontario community offices work
with the provincial office in Toronto to develop
fundraising activities for the support of medical
research and respiratory health programs. The
Lung Association includes two medical
sections: the Ontario Thoracic Society
representing physicians and the Ontario
Respiratory Care Society with a membership of
other health care professionats.
With the Christmas Seal Campaign now in
full swing, we hope those who read this letter
will remember those disabled Canadians who
cannot walk across a parking lot and look at
this respiratory disability which affects
millions of Canadians with new understanding.
Ross Reid
-President & CEO
Ontario Lung Association.
Finding the wonder
have a favour to ask - let me talk to you /
about my grandson. I know, I've said I
wouldn't use this space too often to put
words to my emotions when it comes to our
little buddy.
But I'm sorry. An absolute delight came into
our lives two years ago and' it's, just too
difficult to keep his magic to myself.
Mitchell, as his daddy was, is an easy child,
adaptable and good-natured. A true little boy,
born with a weakness for anything with noise
or wheels, he comes with a sensitive side too,
demonstrated best by his penchant for cuddles
and a love of books and music.
The strong, silent type, talking isn't a
priority, but he is quick to prove he
understands and take action. Though fond of
the familiar when it comes to new lessons he is
keen to learn, to try new adventures.
And for his grandparents there is a joy to be
found both in teaching him and in watching
him learn.
However, what needs to be noted as well is
the beauty that surprises us most, those
wonderful moments when the student
becomes the teacher. Because sometimes
more often than one might think possible, this
ingenuous little fellow manages to, if not
exactly teach, than at least review ,the world
for his somewhat jaded elders.
Looking at things through Mitchell's eyes
goes beyond refreshing. He has brought back
wonder. From wide-eyed amazement to a
bubbling giggle, he shows us his world is one
full of good surprises. The first snowfall, a kiss
from 'puppy', Daddy's return, bring
unrestrained pleasure, not just the first time,
but every time.
Also, having a youngster back in our life has
taken us places we haven't been in years — the
Santa Claus parade and Toys 'IV Us for
example.
Saturday was Brussels Santa Claus parade
time, and I admit, before last year, I had been
absent from this event for some time. With
kids too old to really care, it became
something easily missed with no regret.
That story has changed, thankfully. Mitchell
every day in some small way can show us we
are never too old to delight in simple things,
though I must admit to some cheating on this
particular example. Parade, what parade? I
don't think my eyes ever left my grandson's
face, which is, as any grandparent will attest,
is a wonder-full sight. For that matter, I don't
think there's an adult out there who's not been
touched watching a little one when they catch
the first glimpse of 'Ho Ho'.
Then there was our second lesson, one for
which Mitchell didn't even need to be present.
Recently, for the first time in forever, Grandpa
AIM I found ourselves at the toy store
travelling a labyrinth of pre-school
entertainment, trying to find the allusive
treasure. Confronted by a plethora of
playthings we were as lost as a city slicker in a
cornfield. This wasn't helped by the fact that
we really had no idea what we were looking
for. The familiar no longer exists having made
way for the modern.
, So we wandered, lost babes in an
overwhelming wonderland.-And played. There
wasn't a "Try Me" button missed in our quest
and, at least on my part, many chuckles were
the result.
It was fun. And I had no trouble seeing that
even grown-ups can learn to how to find the
wonder.
My granddaughters are impressed
Letter to the Editor