Carl Setzer

Today, walking by my house, I see a young woman (twenty-something) standing on her back patio, cigarette in hand. I've noticed more and more young folks smoking, and it disturbs me. Watching my mother die of cancer plays a piece, and that deep inner desire for no one to ever self-inflict that horror. But there's another piece at play. Entirely anecdoteal observations on my part show a great up-tick in smokers. Now, my generation saw great deceases in the rate of smokers. The next seems to be growing. What's at play here? Our knowledge of health-risks has only increased, no it's not any kind of decrease in awareness of them. Actually, my wife presented me with an idea that makes sense: they're rebelling against us. We grew up with socially acceptable smoking parents. Perhaps part of our turning away from cigarettes was our own rebellion. Anyway, there is a communications piece at play: the social message against smoking has waned. To our detriment, as a society...

On the ferry yesterday, my son and I were behind a young woman. While she walked up stairs, she was clearly uncomfortable in her very short-shorts. They were short enough that we could clearly see her lack of undergarments. Her discomfort manifested mainly by her continued pulling the edges of her shorts down. Ironically, that's what gathered my attention, this continuous motion. I felt bad for her discomfort. And I wonder, as I'm want to do, how we found ourselves here. Why was she compelled to wear clothes that pushed her comfort levels? Was she trying to be more attractive? Was it an unconscious choice, or conscious only to see the challenges of this fashion (and resultant discomfort) too late?   Of course, we live in as culture where women and girls are supposed to be sexy, but not too sexy. It's a strange and painful duality.