START WORLD NEWS**
STARTSVILLE**- This could be the end of so called “Gangsta Rap” clothing if Daddy START has his way. In a stunning decision made just this morning START was not allowed to leave the house in his oversized pink and black T- shirt, Dog Tag and black sagging jeans. START instead wore a pair of slacks and a button up shirt.
START was in shock but following a brief rebellion he agreed to abide by what he calls “an unfair and pointless rule”.
START believes the sudden decision was made after Daddy attended a series of Parenting workshops at a local church.
“School is a business and your clothes should show that you are serious about business” said Dad START in an afternoon conference to discuss the issue.
Step-Mom believes that the way START dresses has influenced her 10 year old son but says that as long as school work is done and grades stay up she sees no problems with the “Hip Hop look” but she also maintains she will not challenge any decision made by Dad.
START has one week to appeal and basically tell why his clothing choices should not be banned or his waist will be measured and all pants not fitting will be thrown out. START currently has a 33 inch waist and some of his pants are as wide as 38 inches, Dad START called the extra inches, “ridiculous”.
START plans to point out during the appeal that in the last few months he has gone from a C and D student to having almost exclusively A’s and high B’s, that he does not model himself after so called Gangsta Rappers and that Daddy START himself sagged his pants up until a few years ago. Real-Mom START who bought most of the clothing could not be reached for comment as of press time.
On the one hand, yeah, baggy clothes look stupid. I have a 14 year old son who leaves the house looking stupid every day. But then I think, well, I looked stupid when I was a teenager, too. My jeans were ripped and acid-washed, my earrings didn’t match, and my bangs were poofed sky-high and Aqua-Netted into submission.
Congratulations on the grades, BTW. That’s some awesome stuff right there. That’s probably going to be your best arguing point with DadSTART; you should also explain to him that you are aware that different situations call for different styles of dress, and that you don’t intend to dress like a baggy slob if you, for example, go to interview for a summer job, or attend a family reunion.
In conclusion, I’d just like to point out that guys are much cuter when they’re not swimming in their clothes.
You can wear baggie–but not so baggy. How about a 35 or 36?
Or how about you can wear those clothes when hanging out with friends, but agree to wear something more acceptable to school? If you must wear what Dad decrees, can you still put your dogtags on, underneath?
I just read (somewhere, I swear, just can’t remember where) that the baggie stuff is on the way out (finally!)…you may lead the change!
I agree with the above–IMO, the baggy stuff looks silly, but I looked silly as a teen, too.
Congrats on the grades. IIWY, I would parlay the up in grades into some serious bargaining power re: the clothes. I would also let Dad know that school is more than just “kid’s business”–it is important to fit in with one’s peer group(not at the expense of personal judgement, of course). He may tell you to just suck it up, but ya gotta try!
And I think your Stepmom got is exactly right–good for her.
You’ve been working on your OP’s there, START: don’t take this as being patronising, but that was funny and well written. Now get that hair cut, Mister!
Do you really want to be remembered by your high school classmates this way? Or look like that in yearbooks? Hell, do you want to remember yourself dresed so ridiculously ten, twenty years from now?
What would your children think? Wow, daddy be pimp when he was younger, yo.
Bluntly refuse to cooperate. Other than this be a perfect child, but just refuse to go to school wearing what your parents have commanded. Tell them, “If it’s going to cost me ten spanks every day to wear my clothes, then that’s what I’m going to do.” And take your spanks like a man every day.*
Braveheart
A girlfriend once informed me that “Even Mother Teresa would give jewelry to young girls in poverty.” There is no point in success in the world, if you still do not feel that you are a part of society–most everyone wants to be accepted and to be able to look good to those around him. If we are to just cease everything superfluous and dumb, your mother would have to lose all makeup and panty-hose. Your family in truth, might as well go about naked if it were not for the desire to fit into society.
And so on. If I had all of my books (they are unfortunately in storage) I’m sure I could fish up some good quotes from various minds as Thomas Jefferson, John Locke, and so on. Certainly, writing a well written paper and presenting it to them will be likely to succeed. And if doesn’t, item #2 will succeed regardless–if you care enough.
Now as to my personal opinion: 99% of everyone is cloning everyone else–indeed most clothing is totally unnecessary outside of perhaps pockets. And when that clothing further makes you look stupid, not only are you just being a follower–but an unthinking follower. Certainly it is your right to stick up for your right to dress stupid and I wish you success in that–but I would much more encourage yourself to look through clothing through the ages and try and come up with a look that is entirely original to yourself.
Once you get into the adult world, and will have to look proper for meetings and such–this will all go poof. If you care any about how you look, spending this time looking 100% like what you think would be the total badass way for yourself to look would be a good thing[sup]TM[/sup].
Oh, come on. Kids will always look at pictures of their adolescent parents and wonder if they were dressed by a blind person. I have many pictures of my dad and uncles taken in the late 60s/early 70s in which they are dressed in vivid plaid or vertical-striped flared pants. My parents’ wedding involved powder blue bell-bottom tuxes with ruffled shirts. It’s hilarious. And that’s just the way fashion goes, especially teenage fashion.
How about make a deal with Dad? As long as you keep the grades up, you can wear what you want in accordance with the school dress code, but the minute they slide you have to wear what he picks out? And if you want more of the clothes you like you have to buy them yourself.
I mean, really - I’d rather you didn’t look like such an idiot, but then I’d rather I could go back in time and tell me not to look like such an idiot, too. You would just die laughing at my hair in high school, I assure you.
Hey START, try the “support for law and order” approach on your dad. Tell your dad that you should be encouraged to wear ridiculously oversized pants because they will fall down when you run, making it easier for the police to catch you. Tell him you are just doing your bit to support the local police.
What do you have against dressing respectably, START? You sound like you’re at an age nearing high school graduation, and while there certainly are people in college who dress in baggy sports garb, poorly-matched colors and baseballs caps facing the wrong way, the degree to which they are taken seriously is directly inverse to their age. You can probably get away with it through college, but you wouldn’t want to do a job interview in a baggy basketball jersey and pants five sizes too large. Your ideals about self-expression through dress will have to suffer a bit if you intend on eventually landing a job and feeding yourself.
You’ll (hopefully - probably) outgrow this. Why not start now? You can please your father as well as get accustomed to having your dress and grooming habits dictated by others before you start moving in with strange women who will criticize you for not wiping your feet when coming out of the shower, or not trimming your armpit hair.
(or you could just force-feed yourself to fit the pants and claim color blindness to circumvent the ban)
But this is how it all works! I’ve seen pictuers of my dad in high school with an afro, a crazy mustache, and a tie-dye shirt. I laughed and laughed. I know that my kids are gonna see pictures of me in high school and be rolling on the floor beacause of my top hat and goatee.
