Re: Youth

On any given day, the sidewalks of North Park are teeming with trendy youth -- particularly at the intersection of University and 30th. On frigid February pre-7am mornings, style inspo moodboards come to life in the form of young women wrapped in oversized, cropped puffer jackets and skin-tight leggings, clutching their bundled yoga mats tightly under armpits like sacred bibles, as they scurry off to eventually arrive at the warmth of their exercise sanctuaries. Their consistent attendance is religious, to the point my own faith is challenged. To these youth, visual details reign supreme; they are the hard differentiators between the young and not-so-young. In the athletic universe, what was once the exposure of bare ankles from cropped leggings and low socks hidden within sporty sneakers has now subtly been replaced by classic dad sneakers with longer leggings tucked neatly into pulled-up tube socks. Suddenly, the former starts to look a bit tired. These are the codes of youth; the types of fleeting details reserved solely for those with sufficient mental capacity to meticulously care about and implement them, constantly. The rest of the day consists of iterations upon iterations of this same pattern in a variety of universes; tiny beanies delicately balanced atop heads, wide-cut pants hanging down just to the heels, braless ribbed tanks, immaculate middle parts, dangling wired earbuds -- the list unending and ever-changing. And for those who have already been hit with a hefty dosage of life (the not-so-young), if they try too hard to lean into these details, everything will begin to swirl into an existential headache of nothingness. Because for them, there are more crucial matters to dedicate their mental care towards. This is exactly why the codes work. These are the streets of North Park. Good morning.