(This really is a "quick" post, as timeliness is somewhat important to this topic.)

Maybe it is a symptom of an increasingly partisan nation. Maybe people just like to point out faults of a younger generation (to justify their own youth, perhaps?).

And maybe I only noticed because I myself am more attached to my favorite pair of jeans than I am to some relatives (sorry Uncle Gus).

Whatever the reasons for the "controversy" and my interest in it, I was quite irritated to see a clip on the NBC Nightly News about the students from Northwestern University who wore flip-flops to the White House.

If you're not familiar with the story, go ahead and give the article a read. I'll wait.

Everyone up to speed? Okay, then.

Not that I don't appreciate a bit of relief from the usual evening war-and-destruction roundup, but since when has appropriate footwear moved up from just neighborhood or office gossip to the national news on a major television network? Is the entire nation just a bunch of conservative old biddies, watching everyone else's moves so that we can jump all over--what's perceived as--their missteps like a pack of hungry wolves?

Of course Jackie O. holds a place in fashion history, and designers clamor to dress the Bush daughters, but really, I was unaware that Mr. Blackwell or even "Cojo" paid any attention to "visitor fashion" at the White House. The girls even had to go on television to explain themselves--come on! Last I checked, the harshest consequences suffered for violating dress code are being sent to the principal's office or not being seated at a swank restaurant, not having to make a public apology (unless, of course, you make the ultimate fashion faux-pas, the infamous "wardrobe malfunction"). And these were invited guests.

It was noted that wearing flip-flops may be the only way they could "rebel." They weren't rebelling. They weren't making a statement at all. They just got dressed. They thought they looked nice, and they did. It's not like they were wearing bikinis and the kind of flip-flops you buy off a hanging impulse-buy rack at the tourist drug store.

The report on the Nightly News used the term "the Peoples' House." Shouldn't the Peoples' House be as diverse as those it represents? I bet some of the stuffed shirts in there were happy to see a color other than black or navy blue, and they may even have forgotten what toes looked like.

All I'm trying to say is, we've got stores geared towards pre-teens that sell thong underwear. If fashion is going to start an uproar, shouldn't it start there?