Last night, I made an impulse buy at Whole Foods. (I'm there everyday, right? Re-naming the blog I've Been to Whole Foods stat.) The CD Here Lies Love was for sale in the checkout line. David Byrne! Fat Boy Slim! Disco tunes about Imelda Marcos! Had.to.have. I was ripping off the cellophane as soon as the checker ran it across the scanner.
The checker: What kind of music is it?
Me: It's dance music. The songs are about Imelda Marcos.
Checker: And she is?
(My first reaction was "ARE YOU SERIOUS?" but I didn't say that. I waited for my second reaction, which was understanding - compassion, even - that he's a young man born long after Ferdinand Marcos was in power. (But, come on, the "as many shoes as Imelda Marcos" thing? Is that totally out of the pop culture lexicon now?))
Me: She was the wife of a dictator in The Philippines who was deposed in the 80s.
Checker: Oh, yeah? My Mom is from The Philippines. She left there in the 80s.
(My first reaction was "ARE YOU SERIOUS? You're Filipino and you don't know about Imelda Marcos?" But I didn't say that. My second reaction was polite smiling and taking my receipt and my CD and getting the hell out of there.)
I hope David Byrne's dance beats will be an opening for this young man and his Mom to discuss their family history. Perhaps they'll dance a little, too.
2 comments:
Blessed are the meek, for they shall remain ignorant.
CD + shoes + (Imelda Marcos/80(s)) = family history time. They've done studies, you know. 64% of the time it works every time. That was a beautiful thing you did, Not Stacy.
(my captcha word today is "boated") (I don't know how that happens, it just does!)
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