Airwalks vs. Vans

The pricing of shoes ,who wears shoes, and where they can be can bought, determines the “coolness” of them for example Airwalks vs. Vans . Vans are cooler. The term coolness can be described as what’s new and what is in. Airwalks shoes where founded in 1986 by Bill Mann, George Yohn, and Jess Laguna, Vans came along 20 years earlier in 1966. Vans shoes were created by Paul Van Doren. Airwalks can be purchased at Payless. Vans are purchased at Journeys, and other stores at the mall. Payless is seen as uncool because it is cheaper. The people you tend to see shopping at Payless are the older and younger generations not the teenagers. Growing up in elementary and middle school if you walked down the hallway with payless shoes on you were made fun of simply because your shoes were cheap and the brand may not have been a well known one for example Airwalks. However Journeys is seen as the cool store. Mostly teens go to Journeys where as older people tend to go to payless more.

Vans are seen as cool in today’s teen population. Skaters wear vans while they grind on rails and do tricks on their skate boards. In the hip- hop world vans are seen as cool too. There is a hip hop song named Vans were the artist, The Pack.”They slide in and out real easy like chucks. You can get different colors like rainbows.” This is a line from the song that explains how convenient vans are(they slide in and out real easy) and how cool they are because you can get them in all different colors to match your style. Cool also means to match. Vans also symbolize “coolness” because famous people wear them. For example the hip-hop artist Pharrell always wears vans to portray his skater look. You don’t see too many famous people walking around wearing Airwalks because they are referred to as the “fake me out” vans. Meaning Airwalks are the cheaper, fake versions of vans.

But what is the real difference between Vans and Airwalks? You can also get different color air walks and they slide on easy as well. They look exactly the same. The only difference between Airwalks and Vans is the name on the back of the shoes. But lately payless has been making a statement. More and more teens are starting to buy sandals from there. I think if this recession continues people will begin to turn to the cheaper store for their shoe needs. But as of today because Airwalks are cheaper and can be purchased from Payless so they have been stamped uncool.

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The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Walking into Mrs. Jones first grade class was exciting and fun. I thought to myself this would be the year I would learn how to read. Now that I was going to learn to read I could open that book that sits on my bookshelf and read it to myself no more mommy coming to read it to me anymore. This book was The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. My mom would come into my room and we would read the book. Every time she opened it I had the same amount of joy and happiness it was like I had never read the book before. This book was full of colors. The caterpillars himself was very colorful. First the caterpillar ate through one apple then two pears and so on until it ate too much. Since I would read this book every night I had the words memorized so I would be mumbling the words while my mother read it. I would follow along the words with my finger. When my mom said a word I would trace over that word or what I thought was the word. Sometimes she would stop reading to hear me mumble the words after a while I would too stop because I needed her to guide me with her voice. But now that I was learning to read she would no longer need to be my guide. This book taught me many things not only how to memorize words but counting as well. On the first day the caterpillar ate one thing the second day two and the third three. So before I turned the page (turning the page was my job) I already knew how many things the caterpillar was going to eat because he ate in the order of numbers. Every day in Mrs. Jones’ class we would learn more and more words. We would get into small groups and read to each other. Each night we were allowed to take home and read other books to our parents. These new books made me forget my old one, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Until one night I happened to glance over at the bookshelf after I had read my class book to my mom, and asked if I could read her one more before bed time. I went over to the bookshelf grabbed the book and began to read it. This time when I read it I still traced the words but this time my own voice was the guidance for my fingers. When I finished I looked at my mom and smiled. I had finally achieved my goal I was able to read this book that mom used to read to me alone. After I finished reading the book I put it back on the shelf and went to bed knowing I could now read The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

My parents were born and raised in Bluefields, Nicaragua. My ancestors are Mosquito Indians. If you look at me you would think i am African American. I listen to Reggae,Latino,hip-hop& R&B,and country. My family and I eat Hispanic food such as Frito, rice and beans,tortillas,and Spanish white cheese. I am Moravian which is a type of Christianity. I attend church every Sunday when I am at home. I am a strong believer in God and his son Jesus Christ. My family is very tight and close knit. My great grandmother on my dad's side had 14 children and my great grandmother on my mom's side had 10 so my family is pretty huge. We celebrate holidays by going from one cousin's house to the next. As a family we enjoy listening to music and dancing. Every other year my family and I go to Nicaragua to visit my grandparents and other relatives. In Bluefields we speak broken English similar to Patois (Patwa) in which Jamaicans speak,and Spanish in the markets. I am not fluent in Spanish but my parents are. Bluefields is a very poor place but the people are very friendly.