Low Self Esteem on Parade

Last week my boyfriend and I decided to venture out for a night out on the town to the Big City (why, Salt Lake, of course). The city hosts free concerts in a public park once a week, to give back to the greater Salt Lake community and ward off the crack fiends that otherwise occupy its premises. Most of the featured artists aren't very well known amongst mainstream,un-artistic,uncreative radio listeners as myself... (I will be the first to admit,I seriously have the world's worst taste in music- in fact, this idea deserves a post of itself, which I promise will come very soon.)Last week's rising star was some DJ named "Girl Talk", who's musical talent seemed to consist soely of splicing together hip hop songs by pressing "play" on his iTunes and dancing around onstage with toilet paper guns. I wasn't too worried about not being able to follow along with every word; so what if I'm not a legit, merchandise carrying fan? The main reason for the outing was the fabulous people watching opportunity it presented.

If anything, my "people watching" expectations were exceeded. To be put quite honestly, I have never seen such a concentrated bunch of freaks in my life. (After Venice Beach, of course, but hosting complete freaks is its claim to fame...) Here is where my rant begins:

I was shocked at how much time and effort people seemed to have put into looking so homeless. Seriously, so much thought and planning was invested in each trampy looking outfit. This was made apparent by the mold that seemed to be adhered to; the criteria that was met in every single outfit. These so called indie hipsters all claim to be so original. They all claim to be "expressing themselves", right? Well then why do they all look EXACTLY the same? Why does EVERY SINGLE skinny, methed out guy have the SAME scoop neck stripey tank top, wayfarer sunglasses and baggy beanie sloppily thrown (although actually meticulously placed) on the back of his head? And EVERY SINGLE girl seems to own the same baggy fringed vest and miniskirt combo. As for the tattoos: you know what,I'll be open minded here- go ahead and be creative; "express yourself", whatever, I guess it's your body... But I just find it interesting that so many different girls all coincidentally expressed their inner beauty with the same bear paw print on each boob.

For a demographic of people who pride themselves on their "individuality" and "creative expressionism", everybody sure does look and act exactly the same. It is like bad self esteem central; a group of young adults who weren't popular in high school, so upon graduation decided to reinvent themselves and get that craved attention amongst the burnouts, who accept anyone willing to fork over money for pot, and gain inner confidence by appearing "intimidating". Well I'm tellin' ya, I have never encountered a less threatening bunch.

I realized that I must be getting old when I witnessed a particularly young, novice looking group of tramps walk by. I literally turned to my boyfriend and said "that little baby girl is getting pregnant tonight"... I sounded just like someone's mom.

Whereas even a year ago, I probably would have loved the situation at hand, mostly just because of its comedic value, last week we only lasted about 20 minutes. Maybe I'm just not as funny/carefree/open minded as I used to be, but honestly, I was disgusted and repulsed by the absolute lack of dignity/personal hygeine present. So much that it began to depress me. I know that I haven't been exposed to as much, being from Orem Utah and all, so I guess that probably explains the shock factor, but I am not naive; I know that sadly, this represents a big chunk of the adolescent/young adult population in America. On the bright side, that night's free artist (some DJ named "Girl Talk", who's musical talent seems to consist soely of splicing together hip hop songs by pressing "play" on his itunes and dancing around onstage with toilet paper guns) has provided me with a great running mix. Hopefully after enough miles on the treadmill, I will be skinny enough to pull off the baggy fringed vest look; it will show off my bear claw boob tatoos nicely, I think. Just kidding. I promise.;)