Don Kowalewski
Writer. Ad Sales and Marketing. Social Media Content Creator. Aeropress Coffee. Makes the best salsa in the world.
Things I’m Doing: 44 Days of Ties (Day 7)
You’ve heard of “mental floss” …well, consider this (and my “44 Days of Ties” project) “writing floss.” Or, call it the “writer plunger” or “blog Draino” or whatever term you’d use to describe a task that’s just a warm-up for other stuff you have to do. I write about my ties usually moments before writing about new-home construction, pop-culture, or sales and motivation.
Today’s tie is not from Express. Rather, it’s Kenneth Cole and I’m pretty sure it was bought for me from Nordstrom. Back when I had a pink dress shirt, this tie went with pink, but it also went with a coffee-brown shirt I had in my repertoire, and with this other salmon colored shirt. Today I’ve paired it with a casual dress shirt from Express (always something from Express, I guess).
In the background is Woodward Avenue and I’ll be taking as many tie pictures as I can on Woodward this week because it’s Dream Cruise week. I love Dream Cruise week. I think it’s such a celebration of the industry that built this city we call Motown and I can’t understand why some people hate it so much. I’ll admit, if I lived along Woodward, it might be annoying not being able to take my normal routes home and hearing big engines revving all night, and smelling gas and burning rubber. But it’s only once a year, and it’s a celebration of our Detroit heritage. Without all those cars and the world’s love affair with cars (a “love affair” our ad agencies and marketing firms convinced them they all should have), Detroit wouldn’t be Detroit.
I shouldn’t care why people hate it, but it bothers me how people (Americans) so easily discard or minimize important parts of our history. Maybe it’s our “independent spirit” that makes it difficult for some to just “go with it.” I was struck last night watching the closing ceremonies of the Olympics how Great Britain seems to just “go with it” and if something is British, well it must be awesome and worth celebrating because, well, it’s British. Mind you, I’ve never been to Great Britain and maybe there’s a huge portion of the population that hates One Direction and can’t stand the Royals, or are disgusted by The Spice Girls and it sickened them to see the girls of spice get the big closing number. But I don’t get that feeling …I get the feeling they love it because it’s British, and that’s good enough.
In contrast, we have the Super Bowl and when we put Britney Spears up there, music purists and non-fans, 80% of the population, squawk and bitch and moan and hate. Hey …she sucks, but she’s our dysfunctional, untalented, white-trash mega-star …so step off. She represents the American dream.
Which brings me back to the Woodward Dream Cruise. Yes, it’s loud, and smelly …it guzzles gas …at times it’s a representation of greed sacrificing style for the happiness of Wall Street investors …it’s demise can lead to a conversation on how Union labor ruined our manufacturing base. Yes, it’s all those things. But those are our things and when everyone outside of the Great Lakes region turned their back on Detroit, we needed to stick together and we’re united by these Big 3. I love that, and hence, I love the Dream Cruise.
Wow. And here I was only going to talk briefly about my tie.
Don Kowalewski 