On Tue, 22 Feb 2000, sean deason wrote: > dude! dont get all sensitive on me now. > If you lived in the southeastern section of Michigan I wouldnt have to guide > you > to the humor in the image I was trying to conjure (think Carlton on "The Fresh > Prince"). The *funny* part is that Grosse Pointers are not notoriusly known > for > thier individual fashion sense and we would try to emulate such blandness. > sorry > to you other out of towners for my regional sociolgical references, I > sometimes > forget how small the internet makes the world seem :^) > sean
I'm in Ann Arbor now....and grew up in Detroit during the period you speak of. It's hard for me to take off my intellectual hat, because that's what I do for a living.... Here then, I understand where the humor is supposed to come from. But at the same time this is the period I lived in, and I knew that the supposed "ghetto kids" weren't really ghetto....except for the fact that they were black and lived in Detroit. Black Detroiter=ghetto kid. This equation doesn't quite hold though....even the distinction that Dan makes in the book was a bit more fluid. I went to Bishop Borgess....a private working class school on the West Side. (For those of you not from here, this isn't an oxymoron in Metro Detroit.) We had a strict dress code....but this dress code still allowed for a great deal of stylistic freedom. What was interesting here is that you had some people who were preppy...but only at school. At home they sported patent leather addidas, kangols, and addidas jogging suits. And then you had kids who did the exact opposite. All to say that I get the joke....but recognize that race, class and space are different. The black preps mimicked Grosse Pointers like May mimicked Kraftwerk. peace lks
