The Wrap-Around Butt logo

Not too long ago I became aware of a fad that has increased in popularity. I call it the "Wrap-Around Butt Logo" pants. The first time I saw WABL pants was in the mall. A few young teenage girls had them on. The pants themselves weren't much to speak of and were not worthy of notice except for the sagging wording imprinted on the seats of the pants - "ABERCROMBIE." How ridiculous I thought, to pay good money for pants that don't even fit right in the first place, then to add insult to injury the wording on the seat of the pants is so long that it almost wraps around the whole pelvis area and as if that weren't enough, the whole package was extremely unflattering to the young ladies appearance.

As time has gone on I have begun to see more and more women wearing these pants with different words or names emblazoned across their rump. The trouble is that someone has sold these women a pack of lies saying that this fashion statement looks good. IT DON'T! Just like with those dang stirrup pants that were all the rage for a few years - women just don't look good in them. Oh, I suppose that somewhere there is a woman that these WABL pants look good on, but she sure isn't in this hemisphere. For most women WABL pants emphasize their "wobble" - and I'm not talking about how they swing their hips! For these women suddenly four and five letter words look like they were printed by someone who spent too much time in the fun house mirror room. Again, it reminds me of those awful stirrup pants where every centimeter of cellulite and plain old fat is highlighted, accentuated and flashing in neon!

I don't know who the fashionistas are that sell women these ideas about clothing when they should be listening to me instead. I can tell you in a heartbeat what looks good on women and what doesn't. I mean if you can't trust a bona-fide all-American heterosexual man to tell you what looks good on women who can you trust?

The Meaning of "Hand Prints"

In the Louis L'amour book "The Californio's" there is a passage where the main character is describing how he once came across some old adobe ruins and in those ruins he found a stone imprinted with an ancient hand print. The character begins to wonder about that hand print and who made it. What was he like? What were his dislikes? What were his fears? What would he consider his accomplishments? Was he loved? Respected? Honored? Just who was the man that made that hand print and what was his world like? Did he make the hand print on purpose for those to come eons down the road of time? Was it his way of saying "I was here!" "I made a difference!" "I am important!" "Do not forget me!" Was it his way of becoming immortal?
The imagery from that passage has stuck with me ever since I first read it years ago. We all want to be remembered by somebody and we all try to find our own way to be remembered that satisfies us. For some it is enough to be remembered by family, others desire notoriety or a place in history books, still others desire fame or a lasting image on celluloid. We all want to find our own way to leave our "hand prints."
While the internet and web logs can be fleeting and temporary, it is for me one way to say that "I was here." Maybe someone will copy something I say or post or maybe they will just remember it. If so then I will not be forgotten quickly and possibly something I will write will be copied, repeated and remembered through the eons ot time.
This then is my "Hand Print."