HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2006-05-04, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2006. PAGE 5.
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Oh, the shoes we choose...
Remember leather shoes? There was a
time not so very long ago when every
middle-class North American male
past puberty routinely crammed his feet into a
pair of non-breathing, arch-crushing, toe-
mangling leather shoes every morning as a
matter of course.
Nowadays? Check out the feet of the next 10
males you pass on the street.
Unless you're at a funeral, a wedding or on
Bay Street, I'll betcha eight of them are
wearing some variation of what Canucks are
pleased to call the 'running shoe'.
I say hallelujah and good riddance. Those
leather shoes of yesteryear were an
abomination on mankind.
My old man wore leather shoes his whole
working life. And each workday evening after
dinner he stuck his aching dogs in a basin full
of hot water and Epsom salts to soothe the
bunions and ;orns caused by his lousy
footwear.
As far as I'm concerned, running shoes
( `sneakers' to Americans) are the best thing to
happen to men's pedal extremities since
Madame LaZonga's Erotic Foot Massage.
Of course, they're misnamed. Most of us
who wear them seldom run and hardly ever
sneak. ,
And yes, they're garish and ungainly
looking, but Lordy, they're kind to the tootsies.
That said, there is the danger of Too Much
of a .food Thing. Such a situation seemed to
be playing out in San Francisco recently,
where footwear fetishists lined up for an entire
week in front of a store called Niketown for
the privilege of laying down $295 U.S. per
person just for the privilege of buying one pair
of running shoes.
Not just any running shoes mind you — Air
Jordan VI Retro basketball shoes.
So were these eerily-patient shoe seekers
The longest-running feud in Ontario
politics is between two former premiers
and it is not running out of steam.
New life was injected when Liberal David
Peterson, who was premier from 1985-90, said
Bob Rae, who as a New Democrat defeated
him, has no credentials to run for leader of the
federal Liberal party.
Peterson said Rae has effrontery wanting to
start at the top of a party rather than first serve
in its ranks and his loyalty is suspect. .
Rae retorted quickly Peterson used. to
predict he would never become premier, so he
is not worried.
Peterson naturally resents a former enemy
who . ended his political career being
considered to lead his federal party, but he also
makes valid points.
Many feel it important a leader of a party
should have shOwn ability and commitment to
it by working at lower levels and this is bound
to be raised against Rae by others. Peterson for
example was an MPP for seven years and ran
twice for leader before being chosen.
By deserting the NDP, which has never won
a federal election and has little immediate
prospect, and by switching to the Liberals,
whose leaders often have become prime
minister, Rae has raised questions about
whether his personal ambition outweighs ,his
loyalty.
Their gritty exchange was unusual because
ex-premiers mostly gloss over past
differences, getting on well together as a
chummy, exclusive club at ceremonies they
are required to attend.
Most recent former premiers including Rae
and Progressive Conservatives Frank Miller,
William Davis and Ernie Eves have been
appointed to provincial posts by parties they
merely netball wannabes? Aspiring athletes
looking for some hi-tech gear to help them
crash the NBA?
Nope. They call themselves `sneakerheads'.
They had no intention of ever actually, you
know, wearing the shoes they were so
desperate to buy. They simply collect them,
like foreign stamps or rare coins.
As one sneakerhead explained to San
Francisco Chronicle . reporter Steven
Rubenstein, "Wearing them would be stupid.
If you wear them, the value goes down real
fast. They get creases in them."
So what is the point?
"They express your personality," says
another sneakerhead. "They speak up for you
without words. They say you're hip, that
you're not a follower. These shoes tell you
who you are."
What I've always craved — a pair of shoes to
tell me who I am.
Some people take their sneakers dead
seriously. A kid in Philadelphia was shot and
killed for his Air Jordans a few years back.
Same thing happened to a guy in Houston in
1996.
But perhaps the most bizarre sneaker story
comes from the Mexican-American border
where the coolest thing you can slip your feet
into these days is a pair of Brincos.
Brincos — the name comes from the Spanish
word for 'jump' — are at least as specialized as
Air Jordan Jordan VI Retros — but not for the game of
once fought..
Davis persuaded federal Tories to give the
prestigious job of ambassador to the United
Nations to Stephen Lewis, an NDP leader
although never premier, which helped make
him a world figure.
But the animosity between Peterson and Rae
runs deep. Rae once revealed he knew
Peterson, although not well, for years before
they led opposing parties.
They first met at a friend's cottage and Rae
revealed Peterson in those days was known to
his friends as Boot and Squire and does not
explain why and perhaps it is better not to ask.
Rhodes Scholar Rae summed it up by saying
"I was never able to overcome my initial
impression of him: witty, caustic, superficial
and someone who felt charm would get him
further than hard work," which would have
wounded Peterson, who often was called
intellectually inferior to Rae.
After the Conservatives under Miller lost
their majority, Rae wanted them out so badly
he swallowed his disdain of Peterson enough
to support him as head of a minority
government on condition he implemented
some key NDP policies.
But Rae felt he got the short end of this
deal, because it helped make Peterson so
popular he won a massive majority next
basketball.
Unlike the typically lurid running shoe,
Brincos are jet black, for camouflage. They
also feature unusually high ankle support. for
negotiating treacherous terrain in the dark.
In fact, they come with a host of oddball
accoutrements — a built-in miniature compass,
a clip-on mini-flashlight, plus a tiny pocket for
painkillers — all of which sounds unusual, but
is as nothing compared to one more strange
feature you won't find with any other running
shoe.
Pull out the insole of a Brinco and you're
looking at a detailed, full-colour map of
southwestern North America — specifically, the
best route to take from Tijuana, Mexico to San
Diego, California.
So who's likely to want a pair of Brincos? A
very specific group — border hoppers. Latin
AmeriCans eager to enter the U.S. by the back
door, without benefit of passport or green card.
Sounds like 'way too small a target group
until you crunch the numbers. The U.S. Border
Patrol estimates that 14.7 million Latinos were
involved in 'illegal crossovers' between 1990
and the year 2000. And the numbers are
growing.
On the other hand, anybody willing to risk
their lives sneaking past rattlesnakes, Mexican
banditos and trigger-happy U.S. border
patrollers probably doesn't have a whole lot of
discretionary income.
Are they likely to lash out $215 U.S. for a
pair of Brincos?
Sounds more like a PR stunt to me.
And indeed, Judi Werthein, who created the
Brincos, describes them as more of an artistic
statement than simple footwear. She says they
show "how a- product can mean different
things in different economies".
At the very least, Brincos bring a whole new
relevance to the term 'sneakers'.
election.
Rae recalled Peterson patted him on the
shoulder not once but several dines and
gloated "You may be a good fellow, Bob, but
you'll never be premier. Get used to it."
Rae has praised other opponents, saying he
quickly developed a good relationship with
Davis when the latter was premier and had
enormous admiration for Bob Nixon, the
earlier Liberal leader often called the best
premier Ontario never had.
Rae got his own back when, as almost his
first shot in the election he won in 1990, he
called Peterson a liar and kept repeating it.
Rae also accused Peterson, who is wealthy,
of living a lifestyle of the rich and famous and
being cozy with developers.
Peterson retorted Rae would bring in taxes
that would kill businesses and jobs and lay
waste to the economy.
Peterson said Rae with his socialist
philosophy would destroy everything
Ontarians had fought for and children would
go hungry.
Rae retorted Peterson was a "wecko," which
no leader had called another before and made
for headlines.
Politicians are thick-skinned, but there are
some words they find it difficult to forget.
Final Thought
The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts
wciAtng the moment .you get up in the
morning and does not stop until you get
into the office.
— Robert Frost
Dreaming big
W ell, well done, Mr. Nesbitt! For one
day this August the area-is going to
be able to enjoy a veritable
smorgasbord of tasty tunes thanks to a local
man who's cooking up a heck of an event.
The Canadian qualifier for the Global Battle
of the Bands will be an outdoor concert Aug.
26 on the -old Blyth soccer field behind the
arena. There was talk about the amphitheatre
quality of the area many years ago. It was
touted as the perfect place for concerts, but to
date no one had taken advantage of it.
Jeff Nesbitt of Blyth has found a way.
Nesbitt found out he liked organizing big
parties, volunteering as site manager at the
Walton motocross last year. He has also gained
experience in the hiring of entertainment as the
guy who books the groups for the Blyth Inn.
His interest piqued, Nesbitt began
considering ideas and came upon the Global
Battle of the Bands organization and signed a
contract as national director.
This event actually begins with some
skirmishes throughout the area. Across
Ontario, entertainment establishments have
been invited to host a qualifier. The winners of
these will proceed to the Blyth contest and the
top prize getter from there will travel across
the pond to compete in London, England in
December. The prize is $100,000 plus a world-
wide tour. ,
Music is a common attraction in this area.
The Blyth campground resonates with—
stompin' fiddle and banjo tunes at the annual
Jamboree Campout ill the spring, then again
with the Thresher Reunion in the late fall. :t's
always a great time, and people have come to
find the entertainment one of the biggest
highlights of these huge get-togethers. From
stage performances to impromptu gatherings
around the campsite, the down-home rhythms
are in keeping with the rural and historic
themes.
However, musical, tastes are as varied as
snowflakes. The pluck of a banjo that sets
some toes a'tappin' may be nails on a
chalkboard to someone else. The Battle of the
Bands, which it's anticipated will attract 100
groups playing a number of genres, offers a
stage for those with raunchier, more
sophisticated or more eclectic musical tastes. ,_
Not only that but it will bring people from
across the country to Blyth. They will stay at
the campground, at bed and breakfasts, at inns.
Service clubs will benefit through the sales at
food booths at the site.
Certainly there will be some who never
leave the event, but there will be others who
will venture out into the downtown and
beyond to learn more about this place they are
visiting, many for the first time.
But, it's not just that Jeff's ambition brought
a new event to the community that should have
lasting impact. It's also the fact that he
discovered a personal interest and wasn't
afraid to dream big to put it to use.
Many times people go along in life,
apathetic or lackadaisical, willing to maintain
the status quo even though the status quo may
no longer satisfy them. Often we are cautious,
leery of taking a step when where it leads may
not be a certainty. Too frequently we become
jaded, lacking the passion required to think
outside the box.
So well done Mr. Nesbitt. Not just for
bring;ng some variety and excitement to town,
but also for taking a chance.
Longest running eud still on