The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 4, 1986 - Page 9

Specialty s
By MELISSA BIRKS cent," said Keith May, owner of the
J.R. Tolkein's Middle Earth was Cat's Meow clothing store on State
never like the one at 1209 South Street.
University. The speciality store Mid- According to May, he knew that vin-
dle Earth is the home of Gumby and tage clothing and the accesories that
flamingos, not Gandolf and Frodo. go with it - like clear plastic women's
Middle Earth is representative- of shoes and rhinestone broaches-
Ann Arbor's gift stores that specialize were here to stay when "normal"
in bringing the music and per- students began shopping at Cat's
sonalities of earlier eras to the 1980s. Meow.
Music stores - like Wazoo Records "When I first started, the more 'ar-
on State Street - are popular for their tsy types' came in," Hay said. "In the
stock of out-of-print records. And vin- second year, I got more and more
tage clothing stores sell aparrel - 'normal' people."
ranging from 1940 military t-shirts to He added that more conservative
1940 Bermuda shorts - that are ap- students don't get too 'outrageous'
pearing mixed and matched with the with the bell-bottomed jeans and
vogue stirrip pants and oversized sequined dresses he offers. Instead,.
sweaters of the 1980s. Even the up- they combine "safe" vintage clothes
surge in paisley this year is a revival with convential clothes when they
of the styles from the mid-to-late '60s. want "to be on the fringe."
"In the three years we've been The increased business at used
here, business has increased 20 per- clothing stores mirrors a renewed in-

tores focus on nostalgia
terest in other used items at specialty in the '60s," Middle Earth owner Cyn- "We have a running joke," said out of the transient market of
stores. Even wall decor at restaurants thia Shevel said. "Some things their Farley. "It says on the box that Mr. out t ras in atabf
and gift shops consist of posters and parents or older siblings talk about, Potato Head is for ages two to six. No :specialty stores. A 6-foot inflatable
advertisements from twenty or thirty they're probably interested in." one's every bought one for a little replica of Godzilla in the store's win-
years ago. "Those things are repeated on t.v. kid." dow is stomping in to take Betty's
R i i t d We have little kids talking about Th e tn rf he a id is " s place.

neruns inspire trenus
A poster from a Walt Disney movie
and an advertisment for a Ronald
Reagan film greet vistors to Cat's
Meow. In the store, rhinestoned
poodle broaches, "real mod" love
flowers, and peace symbols key
chains, bring memories of an earlier
time that most students remember
only from television re-runs.
"Mrs. Cleaver on 'Leave it to
Beaver' had a poodle sweater," May
recalls.
Television reruns often spur
renewed interest in a particular
character who had been forgotten for
years, regardless of the buyer's age.
"Kids starting college were babies

Gumby," she said.
"It's kind of fun when you see all
these," said University graduate
Mike Wrathell, gesturing with a clear
plastic wand to a large collection of
wind-up toys. "It's the only store
where you can find Gumby."
Mr. Potato Head lives
Other vestiges have also survived
the years to serve as a reminder of a
long-lost childhood.
Like Mr. Potato Head.
Middle Earth carries the entire Mr.
Potato Head plantation. And accor-
ding to clerks, it isn't just little kids
who are singing the praises of the
sporty spud.

1e sw re, il a l, 15 geareu
towards the college student." Betty
Boop, showing off the same curvy
figure that chirped 'boop-boop-de-
boop' for forty years, highlights a
variety of paraphenalia that includes
a large jewelry collection, clocks, and
glassware.
Also found at Middle Earth is an en-
tire hive of tiny glow in the dark bugs,
rubber dinosaurs, day-glow barnyard
animals, and "instant mythology"
capsules which grow into unicorns,
centaurs, and pegasi when they're
dropped into water.
According to Middle Earth
display manager Lisa Farley,
however, Betty will soon be bopping

Godzilla regains popularity
Introduced in Japenese movies -of
the '60s to rid the world of Smog Mon-
sters, Godzilla is enjoying a resurgen-
ce in popularity. Tiny motorized God-
zilla that breathe sparks are hot
sellers at Middle Earth.
Like Betty Boop, Gumby may also
ride off into the sunset on Pokey. Neon.
clothing, too, had a brief shining
moment in the industry. Today, it's
neon statues, not shoes, that are at-
tracting buyers. And to to anyone who
enters Middle Earth thinking'
flamingos are coming into style.
"Some people are really behind,"
See GIFT, Page 10


Briarwood mall is essence of


By DOV COHEN
They congeal around Briarwood
shopping mall's central fountain.
They pose. They preen. They pout.
They flirt. They flaunt. They flout. For
local teenagers this is the place to be.
"People come to see a lot of
teenagers. There's nothing to do, so
they come out to Briarwood and see
other people," says Keith Wade, 16.
The mall is a haven for teenagers,
who seem to enjoy the independence
of their world free of parents. It's not
that adults don't go to Briarwood.
Kids and the parents usually split up
there. For some parents, the mall is
like a pubescent day-care center.

"We like to have our parents drop
us off and we mosey around," says 13-
year-old Carolyn McCloud, who visits
Briarwood every weekend.
Roderic Patton, 15, came with his
mother. But while mom went to the
stores, Roderic headed to the center
fountain. "Mom shops, I people wat-
ch."
At the mall, teenagers can eat with
each other, shop with each other, and
even pick up members of the opposite
sex.
Thirteen-year-old Mitzi Ratliff
comes.to Briarwood "cause it's like a
great place to flirt with guys."
"It's cool. It's the best mall. It
carries the most guys," says Mitzi.


Several other thirteen year old girls
in her group shriek with excitement
over the selection.
"Some girls come out here to im-
press guys," says one 16-year-old
male, adding that he tries to pick up
girls there.
"The challenge," he says, "is get-
ting them while they're with their
mothers."
Teenagers clog the arteries of
Briarwood, like cholesterol. And to
the discerning people-watcher, the
mall offers an insight into the essence
of pubescence.
The Walks
The most notable are the walks,
which broke down into several


categories:W
" The perfect posture, grace with a
capitol "G" saunder-a slow, ex-
tremely cool walk in which the arms
barely move, and the spine is kept
nearly erect. It's almost as if they're
walking with an imaginary book on
their head. The walk is so slow and
graceful, though, that the book might
be the Oxford English Dictionary.
This sophisticated walk is the choice
of the pubescent statesman. Other kids
look to this person as a model. They
eagerly gather around him and
almost always initiate the conver-
sation. The statesman employing this
walk is almost always a trend setter.
He was probably the first dude on his



pubescence
block to carry a prophylactic in his' effortless schlun
wallet. is on sloooow. B
" The Orangutan muscle-flex boun- slow, where o
ce - a hulking, brutish walk designed: necessary to sav
to expose as much pounding flesh as: The badass
possible. The shock of each pouncing tremely rhythm
step ripples to tease almost every un- shoulders bop u
covered muscle. If Stanley Kowalski pivots every ste
hung out at Briarwood, he would do from side to sid
this walk. check out the sce
" The "I'm with my mother and I'm,
unhappy" walk - the child in this * The Preen-
case walks a safe distance (usually 3 steps, the wa
to 4 feet) behind his mother. through his hai
" The effortless schlump - Imagine bangs upward
not sleeping for 48 hours. Now walk. ' variation on thi
" The straight backed "Look ma, in which the per
I'm barely moving" walk - Like the smoke in the

mp, the emphasis here
But it's a cool kind of;
ne takes the time
vor how cool one is.
s bounce - An ex-:
ic walk in which the
p and down, the pelvis
p, and the head turns;
.e every other step to.
ene.
n-walk - Every five
lker runs his hand
r and cooly blows his
with his mouth. A
s is the Smoke-n-walk'
son walks and exhales
coolest of fashions.


The Diag's highest ritual comes down

N6-..O v

By PETER EPHROSS
The Hash Bash is one of Ann Ar-
bor's highest traditions. Each year on
April Fool's Day, local high schoolers
and college students, pilgrims from
the '60s, and once even a state
representative toke it up on the Diag.
The ritual is a celebration of the
city's liberal $5 pot law.
The bash began in 1972 to protest a
much more stringent penalities for
posessing marijuana. Changes had
recently been made when a state
Supreme Court reduced penalties for
posession to 1 year in jail and four
year for selling. The penalty had been
10 years for posession and 20 years to
life for selling.
Ann Arbor residents, in what State
Rep. Perry Bullard (D-Ann Arbor)
called the "tail end of (1960s) ac-
tivism," were not satisfied and adver-
tised the first Hash Bash.
Two years later, they got what they

wanted. In a city-wide referendum
that drew 31,000 voters, a proposal to
further reduce the penalty for
posession to a mere $5 fine passed by
a 2,000-vote margin.
The Hash Bash has since continued
as a celebration of the liberal law. But
with no goals and the steady decrease
of campus activism, the bash has
gradually flickered.
The bash is now mostly a haven for
high schoolers and out-of-towners,
and is largely ignored by the Univer-
sity community. As the '70s drew to a
close, even the Daily - a longtime
supporter of the bash - called for an
end to the ritual.
"The Hash Bash no longer serves
any purpose but crowding the Diag
with high schoolers and other un-
savory characters," an editorial
said. "Most University students who
want to smoke marijuana can do it at
some other time and place."

'This is our day to be free.'
-Tim, LSA junior

Failure and revival
The bash finally hit its low point two
years ago when a cold rain kept
anyone from showing up. While there
was a resurgence of sorts when 150
people lit up last April Fool's Day, it
was nowhere near the 1,500 people
who toked in the bash's prime.
Bullard, who participated early in
his state political career, now doubts
he'll appear at the smoke fest again.
Then-Michigan Student Assembly
President Paul Josephson showed up
last year, but claimed he was "just
observing."

Still, the Hash Bash is part of cam-
pus-lore and recent participants
predict a revival. "It's a return to ex-
cellenge," said LSA senior Barry. "I
don't think anybody is getting back on
drugs - this is more communal and
open. It's positive." Earlier bashes
were sometimes marked by violence.
LSA junior Tim even sees the
rebellion of the early Hash Bash on
the return. "The laws of the rest of the
United States are pretty much April
Fools," he said, "This is our day to be
free."

This person is not a state representative. But like Perry Bullard (D-Ann
Arbor), she has celebrated Ann Arbor's lenient pot law on the Diag, this
time in 1980.
Sellers watch for fake ID


(Continued from Page 3)
better control, "If we. do have a
problem with that person,dwebcan go
back and check the sign-in sheet."
The sign-in sheet protects the U-
Club in legal proceedings, Dentling
said, even though it's never been used
in court.
"I tend to lean that way," Steinbach
said. "You graduate from University

of Michigan Business school, you have
a broad background. It would be
easier."
S ach said, however, that she is
not sorry she is graduating iwth a
liberal arts degree. With the degree,
she feels, comes the assurance of a
practical education ethat employers
may find attractive.

NC
ca
as.

muc

I

6 h

Here's a multiple choice quiz you
calit fail.
Should you buy a Macintosh"
Plus personal computer? Or our
newly enhanced Macintosh 512K
personal computer?
The answer, of course, depends.
If you believe in student power,
you'll want our new Macintosh Plus.
It has one full megabyte of RAM. 128K
of ROM. And a double-sided 800K
internal disk drive.
itanslated, that means
Macintosh Plus can plot a calculus
function or footnote a term paper in
the time it took you to read this
sentence.
Especially now that we've added
a numeric keypad and four cursor
keys to the newly-designed keyboard.
On the other hand, if you
don't need all these capabilities right
now we suggest our enhanced
Macintosh 512K.
It's considerably less expensive,
yet it still runs hundreds of programs
that will help take the work out of
your homework.
Then, as your course-load grows,
you can upgrade your enhanced
Macintosh 512K to a Plus.
Of course, both Macintosh
computers employ our point-and-
click mouse technology that makes
them so easy to use, it's almost like
cheating.
Which means you can imme-
diately do useful things, without
going back to remedial computing.
Demonstrations are being
held at your campus microcomputer

asoyu
flee.

Why settle for less?
The designer, or craftsman who has good quality tools
has the edge; such as a Lolly drafting table from Martin*.
The Lolly is a beautiful sturdy folding table with adjustable height
and tilt, in a variety of sizes and colors.
Come in and look at our complete selection of
art, engineering and drafting supplies.

i