May 23, 2007
Morning Roundup: Fear Of Flip-Flops Edition
Good morning, Washington. We pestered you yesterday about your Memorial Day plans. Today, a word of warning: make sure they don't include flip-flops. As FOX5 helpfully warns us, the sandals can lead to sprains, broken bones or even the dreaded Flipflop-Induced Foot Failure Syndrome (aka FIFFS). We had no idea we were in such peril.
Bad Day For Bobb: Yesterday the U.S. Senate unanimously approved Mayor Fenty's school takeover plan. Rest assured, we'll have more to say about it later today. But for now, a moment of sympathy for newly-irrelevant school board president Robert Bobb. Not only did face condemnation for his role in the hold on the legislation, but he's now been fired from his other job working for a real estate development firm, according to WTOP. Also, his name is Bob Bobb — that's got to be rough. Recent unpleasantness aside, we've always enjoyed Bobb's appearances on the D.C. Politics Hour. Here's wishing him better days ahead.
Guilty Pleas In Senitt Murder: You probably recall the headlines from last summer when Alan Senitt, a young British man active in politics, was brutally killed on the streets of Georgetown. The case attracted considerable attention, both for its contribution to 2006's declared "crime emergency" and for highlighting the varying levels of concern that crime in Northwest generates versus crime in the rest of the city. Today the Post brings word of what will hopefully be the final chapter in Senitt's tragic death: Christopher Piper and Jeffrey Rice have pled guilty to second degree murder, along with several other charges.
Pellet Gun Problems in Fairfax: If you nodded off before hearing the payoff on the evening news' urgent teasers about GUN SALES! IN OUR SCHOOLS!, rest easy. The guns in question turn out to be pellet guns, according to WTOP. Five kids are now in trouble over them (and a sixth is facing a drug charge after his pot was found during the gun search). Pellet guns certainly qualify as dangerous contraband, but this don't exactly live up to the Doogie Howser/Miami Vice mashup scenario we'd been encouraged to imagine.
Briefly Noted: Alexandria's dismissal of school superintendent draws criticism... Maryland says no to pet monkeys and may say no to text-messaging while driving... Fairfax once again seeks to ban guns in public buildings... D.C.-based XM Radio resolves widespread service disruption...
This Day In DCist: One year ago we got ready for Unbuckled and welcomed a baby sloth bear to the zoo. Two years ago the Dulles Toll Road was increasing its fare and Gawker was promising that Ana Marie Cox would keep helming Wonkette.
Image posted to DCist Photos by Flickr user SuperTopher
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Am I the only one who was disturbed by that pet monkey article?
No flip flops? It's about time you guys made the announcement. I'm beyond fed up with seeing girls wearing flip flops w/dress clothes or (even worse) men who wear sneakers with a suit. DC is quite possibly one of the most unfashionable towns I've ever seen. People are sooooo lazy. I don't understand it. Then again, I'm from NY, where girls can actually wear heels and walk in them too.
I agree with the Colonel. Girls who slob around in their flip flops (or guys in Dupont for that matter) really irritate me. "Ooooh....my feet hurt so bad." Get a job at Starbucks then where you can wear comfortable shoes.
The pu$$ification of America at its best.
Sad irony about the pellet gun story really: as if follows the Senitt murder which apparently involved a pellet gun painted black to look real.
I catch the bus and the metro to work, Colonel K, and you'd better believe I wear sneakers with my suit to do it. I also run 20 miles a week and need to take good care of my feet.
You must drive to work, your wingtips paid for with a $225/mo. Colonial Parking bill.
Didn't the Georgetown verdit story get reported yesterday?
I think wearing flip-flops around the city is incredibly stupid. Leaving aside the issue of sprains, etc., they come off your foot so easily - do you REALLY want to step in whatever happens to be lying around on the sidewalk? And I'm not even talking about the usual gross city film, but broken glass, metal, used condoms - all that stuff you see all over the place.
I'll wear sandals around the city, but flip-flops are solely for the beach or for indoors.
I'm sure the Convention and Visitors Bureau has hushed up FIFFFs (Flipflop-Induced Foot Failure Fatalities) caused when sandal-shod pedestrians walk on those damn brick sidewalks.
I'm guessing you probably are the only one, Shelley.
The woman lives in a jurisdiction where exotic pets like monkeys were recently prohibited, but after the deadline she got one anyway (if their documents that it was born in December are accurate). Now it has been confiscated, and is being cared for in an environment that has experience in keeping such animals. If she moves to a state where keeping monkeys as pets is legal, I would imagine she'll be able to get it back.
What's disturbing about that?
Meg: you're right. I missed yesterday's "briefly noted" item and read the Post's site wrong. Sorry for the duplicate story -- it was dumb of me.
If given the choice between flip flops and those hideous, hideous sandals with the velcro straps and like 1 inch thick rubber (or whatever it is) bottoms (think Tevas), I will take my chances with the flip flops. Those sandals are almost as ugly as the huge white tennis shoes tourists wear, and as an added bonus they stink, and they turn the bottom of your feet black. Yuck!
I really don't understand the controversy around flip flops. No, of course I wouldn't wear them to any sort of event (or, uh, the White House, recalling that lacrosse team incident from last year), but they're cheap, comfy and go with basically any casual outfit. The all-rubber Old Navy ones are for the beach, yeah, but there are actually a lot of cute styles. My feet have never hurt from them before, but if they start to, I guess I'll stop. Until then, everyone else can just deal with it.
i agree with sarah. the hatred seems unreasonable and old-fashioned, especially with the new styles. other sandals and heels can easily slip off or cause injuries to feet, too.
I think wearing flip-flops or sneakers to and from work is unprofessional and shows an unwillingness to grow up. I'm sure others agree with me. Maybe that won't affect your career, but chances are that at some point someone is going to be looking at you and considering whether you are mature and professional enough to handle increased responsibility. All your own personal justifications for wearing them will not matter if the impression you're giving your boss as you've flip-flopped your way into work is that you still think of yourself as a 20 year old.
I think of it as the visual equivilant to the word "like". Go ahead and use it. Just don't be surprised when people think less of you for it.
Flipflops...the sound of indifference.
It's the never ending slapping of the flip flops that drives me nuts. I know other sandals can make that noise too, it drives me just as insane. Flip flops also make you look sloppy, especially when people wear them until they are raggedy and dirty. The rest of you may be polished and clean but walking around in dirty flip flops is just nasty.
So is the hatred with flip flops in general or flip flops in the workplace?? I can understand and agree that they aren't professional, but I think they're acceptable in casual situations and "around the city."
also the equivalent to checking/commenting on flip flop posts on dcist while at work- go ahead and do it, but don't be surprised if your coworkers think less of you for it as a result
Reid, you hit the nail on the head.
But the flip-flop issue is just the tip of the iceburg. DC, on a whole, is not a very fashionable city. The shopping here is terrible. I'd shop at Barney's if I could afford it, but what are the other options? Filene's Basement? H&M? Hechts? Egad.
Even worse is going out at night. Is it just me, or does every guy in Dupont/Adams Morgan look exactly the same. Is every girl really wearing the same ridiculous sunglasse, ridiculous blouse and ill fitting jeans?
They sell some decent basic stuff at Hecht's/Macy's - I've bought some decent jeans there, a corduroy sportcoat, stuff like that. Other than that, though, you're right - DC is all about the bland yuppie chains. It's all about Banana Republic, J. Crew, Joseph A. Bank, etc. I mean, I have nothing against those places, but all things in moderation, you know?
There are a couple of decent places in Georgetown, but even they're just the same places you get in your average upscale shopping mall in the suburbs (and don't even get me started on how bad Club Monaco is in this country compared to Canada.)
On the plus side, I spend *LOTS* less money on clothes since I moved here than I did in New York.
Damn, I just reread my post and realized I used the word "decent" like, six times. Oh well, deal.
Another thing about the clothes - the gay guys in DC are the worst. They all look like they came from the same Stepford mold. Dress shirt in solid color (or perhaps diagonal stripes), short hair (either military or Young Republican style, perhaps with a fauxhawk and gel), blue jeans or cargo shorts, and flipflops. No originality, please - we're from DC.
And, NEWS FLASH to my fellow homos - if you're above the age of 24 or so, you really should not be wearing A&F or Hollister. Certainly not if the item in question has the company's logo in letters large enough to be seen from space. You just come off as trying waaaaaaayyy too hard.
I think it's unfair to assume that someone who is wearing flip flops on their way to work is necessarily wearing them throughout the workday and therefore a slob or unprofessional or whatever other putdowns y'all have throwing around. I walk a mile to and from work everyday, and can not only get there faster wearing flip flops versus heels (it shaves five minutes off my commute, no joke!), but also with a greater degree of comfort. That being said, the second I'm at my desk the flip flops come off and the heels go on. What's so wrong with that? Moreover, having had a few close calls wearing heels, and none wearing flip flops, I'm fairly certain that my chances of injury from getting a heel stuck in a sidewalk crack/subway grate or having the heel fail to clear the curb are far greater than from, what, getting tangled up in my flip flop?
I can't believe some people devote their time to criticizing other people's footwear choices. Honestly, does it bother you that much? If so, get a life.
That's the one annoying thing about anonymous comment threads: You can insult or mock anyone you choose without actually confronting them. Imagine if all you jackasses started actually going up to people and mocking their shoe choices to their faces. Oh wait, you're all cowards.
Congress should require a pair of flip flops to testify on the behalf of the people who wear them. Only then can we get to the bottom of this fiasco.