Back to school time - Where's my shoes?

Timberland - better than Sperry Topsiders?
Originally uploaded by Brite Lights photos.

LAKEWOOD, New York - It was just about this time every year that my mother would pile me into her Rambler and announce that we were making a pilgrimage to Carnahan's in downtown Jamestown.

Time for some new threads and almost always, a new pair of shoes for school.

Because I was completely clueless about what was fashionable, I was an easy shopper the first few years of high school. Two pairs of dark pants, three or four light shirts with collars, some socks and maybe a windbreaker.

The pants were the most urgent, because every summer I seemed to grow at least two or three inches.

But the shoes I remember because when it came to shoes, it was hard to figure out.

You needed Converse All-Stars for gym class (Did they even make any other kind of shoe like that then?), but for school, I really wanted some kind of slip-on loafers.

Mom like lace-up shoes. More mature, she said.

So for an hour or so, ever goddamned lace-up shoe (I would claim) hurt my foot, or didn't feel quite right, or was the wrong color (brown?) or just seemed, well, not what I needed for those slippery winter days ahead.

Eventually, I would get the loafers, usually having to agree to letting her buy an extra plaid shirt for me (I wasn't fond of plaid shirts, but if it meant maroon loafers, OK).

The guys are Carnahan's were great though, and it was the only place in Jamestown my mother had a charge account - a fact I used to good advantage the last two years of high school when I would slip in and pick up a shirt or two when dances were coming up, knowing the Wrath of Mom would follow.

But Jaysus, I couldn't wear a plaid shirt to a dance!

Except for my rare (and very much discouraged) forays to Carnahan's, whatever clothes I started out the school year with was what I ended up with until the next summer.

And some things don't change all that much.

Last week I wandered into some joint called Shoe Supermarket in Elmira, New York, went over to the boat shoe rack and grabbed the first size 10 pair of shoes that looked ok. Yes, boat shoes have laces, though once you tie them good, you never touch them again until the shoes disintegrate out from under you.

Now if I can just pick up a few non-plaid shirts for teaching, I'm set to go for the whole year.

What? No new neckties to start the semester at the university?

Not when you have have tenure, amigos...