ann arbor is overrated.

I was thinking again about the lady with the hats, and realized that she truly exemplifies Ann Arbor fashion. Take a walk down State Street or Main Street, preferably both, and you’ll see it first-hand. There are four types of clothing stores in town:

1) Outdoorsy ‘outfitters’ that sell tote bags with slogans about how traveling is a tough job, but someone has to do it, preferably a someone in his or her forties and shod in $200 Mephisto walking shoes.

2) Logo-sweatshirt emporia.

3) Would-be trendy boutiques that carry no more than fifteen items at a time.

4) Purveyors of comfortable quasi-hippie separates, distinguished by absent waistlines, for the discerning earth mother.

I believe there are only two shops of type 3) downtown, but many more of type 4) in Kerrytown (don’t get me started on Kerrytown) alone. Of course, the fact that this is what passes for fashion around here only makes this place even more of a national treasure for the “i’d rather be in ann arbor” bumper sticker crowd whose Volvos take up all the good spots at Whole Foods.

There’s a T-shirt I see on the residents of Ann Arbor every once in a while, reading “Co-op-ers make better lovers.” And I always wonder, what action does the wearer want the onlooker to take? Sidle up to the co-op-er and murmur, “How exactly do co-op-ers make better lovers?” Join a co-op and find out for him or herself? Challenge the wearer to an earthy-co-op-versus-sterile-North-Campus-apartment-complex loving contest?

Someone please tell me so I can be prepared next time.