Spring Break
Fashion Perspectives
Small downtown still worthy of expressive appearance
Erin Beauchemin
Issue date: 4/17/09 Section: Diversions
A university situated a moment's walk from downtown is still a bit new to me after one term at Oregon State. A walk downtown from my previous abode, the suburban University of Victoria in British Columbia, is, in the winter, best restricted to walking up the stairs of a double decker bus. However, despite the city's remoteness for those living in residence, the university still managed an extravagant nightlife. An example of a few of its hot spots, never the same from Friday night to Friday night, were 102 Ring Road, 110 Thompson and 200 Emily Carr.
With leaving campus a bigger deal, leaving one's residence for something other than class became a special occasion, and we dressed up for it weekly. The sidewalks buzzed with light from street lamps diffused upon taffeta and other materials that would befit prom dresses - at least winter ball. We only traveled a few paces to parties one building over, but it seemed longer in heels. If the staff had caught us with the cliché vodka in a water bottle, we could not have run.
My decorated arm gave the resident cat - another night owl - a scratch on the head, and I went to find the answer to the universal question: can a dance fit in a double room? Our friend's furry clothes blended better into the dark; it was made for exploring the outdoors and missing none of the people watching. Lucky, lucky kitty.
Our night-blooming ensembles may have looked pointless to those who did have cars, but we knew they looked worse on the bottoms of our suitcases. As long as they were there, there was a point. There were occasions as long as we made them.
Creativity was, I think, responsible for our finding convenient reasons to spend more time getting dressed. When we do so to go somewhere meaningful, it is extra time to make ourselves look like the pictures of ourselves we paint inside. We would not let this creative urge lie ignored for too long just because of our location. We expressed our ideas of beauty on our own terms. And like that, collectively, psychologically, we made our own city that celebrated by the light of our imaginations, strung between the residences in our brightest dresses.
Coming from where the trouble of a big night out makes the excitement of each little one ask for a work of art, I still see a grain of opportunity for expression in whatever involves being seen, big or small, even though the short distance to downtown Corvallis puts things in a more casual perspective. I do not think I want to stop. Any world is what you make of it.
Erin Beauchemin
diversions@dailybarometer.com
With leaving campus a bigger deal, leaving one's residence for something other than class became a special occasion, and we dressed up for it weekly. The sidewalks buzzed with light from street lamps diffused upon taffeta and other materials that would befit prom dresses - at least winter ball. We only traveled a few paces to parties one building over, but it seemed longer in heels. If the staff had caught us with the cliché vodka in a water bottle, we could not have run.
My decorated arm gave the resident cat - another night owl - a scratch on the head, and I went to find the answer to the universal question: can a dance fit in a double room? Our friend's furry clothes blended better into the dark; it was made for exploring the outdoors and missing none of the people watching. Lucky, lucky kitty.
Our night-blooming ensembles may have looked pointless to those who did have cars, but we knew they looked worse on the bottoms of our suitcases. As long as they were there, there was a point. There were occasions as long as we made them.
Creativity was, I think, responsible for our finding convenient reasons to spend more time getting dressed. When we do so to go somewhere meaningful, it is extra time to make ourselves look like the pictures of ourselves we paint inside. We would not let this creative urge lie ignored for too long just because of our location. We expressed our ideas of beauty on our own terms. And like that, collectively, psychologically, we made our own city that celebrated by the light of our imaginations, strung between the residences in our brightest dresses.
Coming from where the trouble of a big night out makes the excitement of each little one ask for a work of art, I still see a grain of opportunity for expression in whatever involves being seen, big or small, even though the short distance to downtown Corvallis puts things in a more casual perspective. I do not think I want to stop. Any world is what you make of it.
Erin Beauchemin
diversions@dailybarometer.com
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