Lost in the 21st Century

Just back from a quick trip up to my home town of Danville, Va….it always makes me think of this old Paul Simon song..

In my little town
I grew up believ–ing
God keeps His eye on us all
And He used to lean upon me
As I pledged allegiance to the wall
Lord I recall
My little town

Coming home after school
Flying my bike past the gates
Of the factories
My mom doing the laundry
Hanging our shirts
In the dirty breeze

And after it rains
There’s a rainbow
And all of the colors are black
It’s not that the colors aren’t there
It’s just imagin-ation they lack
Everything’s the same
Back in my little town

Nothing but the dead and dying
Back in my little town
Nothing but the dead and dying
Back in my little town

In my little town
I never meant nothin’
I was just my fathers son
Saving my money
Dreaming of glory
Twitching like a finger
On the trigger of a gun
Leaving nothing but the dead and dying
Back in my little town

Repeat and fade:
Nothing but the dead and dying
Back in my little town

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It’s really sad to go back there…It’s a dying town and mostly only has itself to blame.  It’s sad to see them tearing down Dan River Mills and the whole city just seems rundown.  It seems to have an air of hopelessness.  I don’t know what people do for jobs there now.  Nothing but chain stores and chain restaurants.  It seems to be losing it’s character and whatever made it pretty and somewhat unique.  Really sad…

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One of the reasons I don’t post as often as I might like is that I travel on business about 50% of the time. I’ve been doing this for almost 15 years now and I’ve really seen first hand the decline in quality of life for airline travelers. A lot of it– most of it– is the fault of the airlines, but my fellow travelers are also contributing heavily to the unpleasantness of travel through their own behavior. Here are 10 suggestions I think would improve the process for all of us.

1. Weld all airline seats to a stationary position. I’m tired of some drunken businessman laying in my lap and blocking my reading light all the way across the country.   I never recline my seat.   Not only does this lead to poor posture, I find the seat is even more uncomfortable reclined than upright. Exceptions would be made for overnight flights only.

2. Allow pets in the cabin and put ill behaved children in the cargo hold in pet carriers. Not only would it deter terrorists if we had numerous dogs loose in the cabin, it would be much more pleasant than having some kid kicking your seat from coast to coast, screaming and crying at the top of their lungs or whining unattractively.

3. Either increase the width of the seat or enforce the policy for severely over weight people to have to buy two seats.   God knows I could lose a few pounds and I hate to say this, but it really makes for an uncomfortable flight if the person next to you taking half of your space.  If you have spent 5 hours hanging halfway into the aisle or unable to move your shoulders because the person next to you takes up so much space, you will know what I mean.

4. Limit carry on bags and enforce the limits. I’m sick and tired of people practically dragging steamer trunks onto 30 seater planes, then seeming amazed that they don’t fit in the overhead.

5. Deliver checked luggage in a timely manner. We now have to pay the airlines to handle checked baggage, so they should handle it quickly. I’m tired of waiting up to 45 minutes after landing for my bags to arrive.

6. Ban carry on food.  Either provide it or sell it, but don’t make me smell a meatball sub for hours in a confined, ill ventilated space.

7. Define “weather” delays so the airlines don’t use it as a catch all excuse not to staff or schedule appropriately or pay for hotel rooms for passengers they leave stranded.  I’ve seen the airlines use this excuse too many times when they strand people for several days due to canceled flights when there either is no weather issue or it was several days previous to the delay or cancelation.

8. Don’t let airlines claim an “on time” departure from pushback from the gate. Require it to be when the plane actually is airborne. This would greatly reduce the time spent sitting on planes on the tarmack.

9. Start calling “Flight Attendants” Stewards and Stewardesses again. This might bring their attitudes down a notch and make them a little less uppity and mean.

10. Nationalize the airlines and start over by reselling them to someone with a viable new business plan and customer focused strategy. We’ve gone so far downhill, this may be the only true fix….

A young friend of mine just saw “Breakfast At Tiffany’s” for the first time recently and it got me to thinking…

Holly Golightly always goes to Tiffany’s when the “mean reds” hit or she needs to feel safe and secure.  That’s how I feel about Brooks Brothers.

A lot has changed since I first discovered them– late for some people– in college.  It was love at first sight.  I quickly realized that Sater’s and J.Berman’s, the premiere men’s stores in my home town, were pale imitations.  Let me tell you, once you try a Brooks Brothers shirt, nothing else will do.  Polo/Ralph Lauren was tempting for a while- especially during the brief era when BB quality slipped, but now that the quality is back at BB, their shirts can’t be beat.  I bet I have more white Brooks Brothers shirts than Don Draper has on “Mad Men”.  They last forever, get better with age and usually only have to be replaced due to, uh, weight fluctuations.

When I step into Brooks Brothers, it takes me back to a time when quality and classic style mattered.  It makes me feel secure.  I’ve always been of the “I would rather have a few nice things than a bunch of junk” school of thinking.  I think this philosophy is pretty much gone.  Also gone area lot of  jobs that went to China, Mexico and other places as they took over manufacturing all this stuff so it could be sold cheaply enough for Americans to have lots of it.  Quantity became more important than Quality and the downstream costs are not always obvious.  Best I can tell, there are at least 2 generations that have no idea what it was like to buy quality merchandise.  Even today’s designer goods don’t have near the quality a Belk’s house brand had in 1970.  Today, the sizes (even for the same item) are inconsistent, patterns don’t match at seams, seams are sewn so close to the edge they come undone almost immediately, buttons are barely sewn on, fabric quality is poor, linings are missing or incomplete– except at Brooks Brothers.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m glad for a lot of the changes over time.  As a Gay man and a progressive Southerner, I’m very happy with the social progression of the country.  Just wish it could go faster…I still wonder why people don’t take to the streets like they did in the past to drive the change forward, but I guess the internet is the new street-and that’s another post….

Still, I’m disturbed by so many of the younger American people today, who I lovingly refer to, in code to Steve in public, as SJI’s (Slack Jawed Idiots), who seem to have no idea of how to behave in restaurants, don’t understand that one dresses differently for the theatre or work than to wash the car,and that one basically behaves differently in public than in your Great (misnomer) Room at home. That’s when I get the “mean reds” and need to go to Brooks Brothers.

Flannel, Harris Tweed, Silk, Cashmere and quality Oxford Cloth Shirts can really soothe the nerves…