Codell Rodriguez
Daily Egyptian
Everybody's doing it. They're all wearing the "Ghostbuster" and "Get-along-Gang" t-shirts. Everybody's wearing the cheesy '80s shirts and they're being accused of following trends. Well you know what? Say what you want about my "Ninja Turtles," "Transformers," "Goonies" and "Nintendo Power" shirts, but it's about time I deserve to be a cheesy '80s kid.
Why? Because I couldn't enjoy being a cheesy '80s kid when it was time to be a cheesy '80s kid. I'm not one of these people that wasn't born until 1986, but proudly dons GI-Joe gear because their favorite emo bands do it. I wear them because where I was in the '80s, it wasn't cool to wear those clothes.
I was in Benton. If you're from that town, pretend like you're not. If you don't know about that town, let's just say there are certain criteria to fitting in around there. If I wasn't getting pummeled with racial slurs, the kids found other reasons to make fun of me. Perhaps because my hair was different, I didn't have as much money as them or because of the stupid clothes I wore.
While I was trying to wear my plain black t-shirt with the "Ninja Turtle" iron-on, the other kids were wearing their Motley Crue shirts with their super mullets. Or they had nicely trimmed hair and wore polo shirts. Nevertheless, wearing shirts with cartoons such as "Ninja Turtles," meant instant excommunication from the church of popularity. Those clothes were stupid and only babies wore clothing with cartoons on them.
Now I'm a bitter old man (I'm almost 23 for Christ's sake!) and I look back at the days that I missed out on. I missed showing pride in the fact that I thought Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Donatello and Raphael were just as cool as rock stars. So what am I going to do about it? I'm going to get my cheesy '80s shirts and I'm going to wear them with pride.
But one dilemma is where I'm going to get my '80s shirts. The thrift shops are a good source, but pickings are slim. So I'm going to go to Hot Topic. That's right, the place that caters to the sheep that want to wear '80s clothes because Bethany's friend, Tyler, knows a guy named Brad, who knows a guy who says '80s clothes are in. As long as they have what I want, they're going to get my money. If stores such as Hot Topic are corporate whores, then consider me a john.
As long as they have shirts pertaining to "Transformers," "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," "GI Joe," video games and "The Goonies," I am their slave. Maybe I'll even buy a bumper sticker while I'm there.
So despite what's trendy, what's out, what's boring, what's hip, what's professional and what's sloppy, I'm going to wear my '80s t-shirts, I'm going to pour me a bowl of Life Cereal and watch my "Goonies" and "Big Trouble in Little China" DVDs.
Codell Rodriguez can be reached at crodriguez@dailyegyptian.com.
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
