I have a knack for standing quite still and pretending I’m not there. Apparently, I’m quite convincing: last week, while waiting, late night, for an interminable F train, a roach crawled over my foot.
Two things followed quite quickly: one, I resolved to never ever wear sandals ever again in this city, ever; two, some words flashed through my head. These words have been tumbling around since I moved here, bouncing up every time some such discomforting thing happens. The first time I heard this phrase, it was as the title of an excellent program from This American Life, about those who found themselves homeless after Hurricane Katrina.
I ran home and started imagining this phrase in a typical Tiny Alligator setting, all big vocal lines detailed with winds.
But, knowing the cleverness of radio producers, it occurred to me that this phrase was probably yet another pop-culture reference that I, having grown up in a cornfield in which all the radios were stuck on CBC 2, missed entirely.
I guessed correctly. Thank heavens for the internet; it prevents many bumpkinly embarrassments.
Why were music videos so cool back then? Why don’t musicians wear suits anymore? Can I still rip off this phrase? Damn it, Graham, how do I enable comments on tumblr?
