Oct 29 2008
Coffee Stains: Dressing for Success
Colin’s at his piano lesson and I’m noticing his outfit for today: Faded navy blue cotton pants and a cranberry-colored plaid shirt. It’s a nice outfit, except he has the pants and the shirt on backward. Apparently it’s Red Ribbon Week at his school and if I remember correctly, he and his school mates will dress up in different ways throughout this week. Today it might be backward day, tomorrow, I think, is crazy hair day. All of this, according to the take-home handout, is to show his spirit for this week: the Red Ribbon week.
I think the first time I realized that dressing up as something wasn’t the greatest way to express my support for some cause probably came in kindergarten when I was changing into my Planet of the Apes “Doctor Cornelius” Halloween costume. I won’t bore you with the details, but let’s just say it is the single reason why I didn’t dress up for Halloween during my childhood.
But I think the real shocker came in college when I was an resident assistant (RA) and the guys in my house wanted to dress me up as a woman. I resisted the idea, stating that I didn’t think was proper for a guy to dress up like a girl (which I knew would have some merit at the college I was attending. I even went to the Dean of Students would siding with my house guys and so I dress up in pink turtle neck, cardigan, plaid shirt, and boots. I was a fright to behold and got the desired affect effect for the ones who dreamt up the outfit in the first place.
We’re in a fairly serious class (I think it was Exegesis-English Bible) and Mr. Brew (our instructor) is lecturing about something equally serious (maybe the overall impact of Tyndale on our current translations) and he stops. Brew (a rather short man with glasses and wonderfully pressed shirts) looks at the class of 30 or so of us and steps toward the middle of the room.
He smiles.
“You know,” he says, “sometimes I wonder.”
He pauses and looks toward the window on his right.
“Sometimes I wonder what we are thinking and how that impacts what we do.”
We pause from our note-taking knowing that this would be another “Brewism”–a piece of thoughtful insight to the larger world beyond the campus on Franklin Avenue. This wasn’t the times that your teacher begins a digression for the sake of hearing one’s own voice. Brew was a smart, wise person who was unassuming with a zing of humor that earned our respect and usually our agreement of his perception.
“For instance,” he continued, “my daughter attends a ‘liberal’ college across town: Calvin. Now we may not agree with the doctrine over there or even how they would view our topic of translation and it’s impact on what we know about the bible.”
He looked at us, then walked to the window and then addressed us again.
“He are at Grand Rapids we have ‘Dress up your RA Day’ as a day of fun…and I’m not saying that’s a particularly bad thing.”
Brew then looked at the notes he’d scribbled on the board and then looked back at us.
“See, today we are having ‘Dress up your RA Day’ and at Calvin they are having a peaceable protest against world hunger.”
He let the words hang and then continued.
“We are so set on being right in our belief here and yet you have to wonder what is happening at Calvin to make them think about their impact on the world.”
Part of me wanted to explain to Brew that I didn’t even want to be dressed up this way and that I didn’t see the purpose of the whole dress up thing anyway. But I couldn’t because I was just feeling guilty for feeling guilty (something that religion does very well). Instead, I felt bad because he was right (something that he did not insist on).
Tomorrow’s crazy hair day and Colin has insisted on going with the green, wacky hair. Colin will be one of those students who will always participate on school or class dress up days. (Heck, he would have loved to be in my spot in kindergarten and then on those Spirit Weeks in high school and probably would have worn makeup with the turtleneck in my “Dress up your RA day”).
He likes to dress up because he likes putting the combinations on. And when the costume goes on so does the persona. Colin as the Joker, Colin as the Penguin, Colin as the Ninja Darth Vader.
And so, as he wears his clothes backward, he is happy to dress the part. And for dressing the part for Red Ribbon Week, he got a sticker.
It’s a round red sticker with an animal on it:
“Don’t monkey around with drugs.”
Piano lesson is over.
Haha. You used the wrong “affect” (paragraph 3), and you’re an English teacher.
I never enjoyed showing my school spirit. Maybe I just like being rebellious.
Yes Spencer,
Even English teachers make mistakes.
Peace.
I like this. There is one part that got muddy: “I even went to the Dean of Students would siding with my house guys…” I love the description of your professor though. I’m glad you’re still writing coffee stains.
The only time I cross dressed was for that play our senior year. That was enough for me. I did once wear a full on gorilla suit for a Spirit Week while teaching at good ol’ RVC. It was really warm if I recall.