Edgy like a suburban mallrat

I got a phone call from my sister this evening. She'll be 14 next month. She called to tell me what she wanted to get my son for Christmas. The she proceeded to talk to me for a while about a bunch of things that I can barely remember...her friend who shops at Hot Topic and listens to Panic! At the Disco and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and various and sundry other bands on heavy rotation on Steven's Untitled Rock Show...Some book she saw in a Books A Million in Tennessee that she couldn't even remember what it was about by the time she went to tell me about it (you should ask her to tell you a joke sometime)...What kinds of chores she'll have to do to earn the money to buy her nephew a Christmas present. You know what sticks out the most, though? The fact that she shops at Wet Seal and wears a size 1. I never fit into the clothes at Wet Seal at age 14, let alone fit into anything with a tag reflecting a number that low. The last time I could wear a size 1 from any store? Elementary school - maybe. At least she finds the proposition of shopping at Hot Topic abhorrant and thinks her friend's "screamo" bands are loud and annoying. This means she's nothing like me at her age. My mother can consider that a dodged bullet.

There is a Republican debate scheduled for tomorrow about a block from where I work. They had this CNN outfit staked out in our visitor parking all day to get "voter reaction" to all of the "issues" facing voters in the upcoming election. Never saw more than two people talking to all the young, energized CNN staffers skulking around looking like flesh-starved beasts ready to pounce on the first meaty disenfranchised, apathetic non-voter to make the mistake of looking them in the eye.
There's been a little bit of controversy locally, because there were advocates for the local homeless population that wanted to protest the debate, and they were encouraged to move to a location that was not on city property. The protest is actually to bring attention to whatever their issue with the services the city and county government might be providing that doesn't meet their needs or expectations - this time it seems to be that the shelter being built is not located in the proverbial "heart" of town and the homeless population (or rather, their politically motivated "advocates") believes this will render the local homeless population "invisible".

The city put barracades up and have police standing by to make sure no one crosses the barricades. Now the protestors (made up of what looks to mostly be homeless people from downtown) are camped out across the street. In front of the Barnes & Noble. Which is next door to the Hilton.

So if you watch the debate, that's my town...in all its dubious glory.