Native costume

Occasionally I participate in events at the university in Minsk where people ask me to arrive in “native costume.” This is a little tough for me. I could take them literally and dress as a real Native American (still Known as Indians in Belarus) but such a costume could cost piles of money and I’d feel a little odd in any event appropriating a tribe. I spent some time, then, noodling over what might seem believable in Belarus as “native” garb for an American.

My first choice was to arrive as a Red Sox fan, but I don't yet own a single piece of the required gear. At a minimum, I'd need to get a proper hat (which I should own anyway) and a replica jersey. But I'm not sure what I'd wear from the waist down unless I add a pair of honest-to-goodness baseball pants and a pair of red stockings. It seems like a whole lot of stuff to buy just to strut around at some event pretending to be a typical American with a sense of humor.

I never really considered coming as a Wall Street mogul, though I do own fancy suspenders and the other required gear. Feeling like I’m done with that stuff, I toyed briefly with grunge culture and thought about dressing as an urban skateboarder. But my skateboard is out of date and I can’t do any tricks on it anyway. It would be a lot more fun to arrive in a zoot suit, but once again I’d be starting from zero and I’d have to buy a whole lot of stuff. I promise: If I ever hit the big time I’ll buy myself a zoot suit and parade around in it for everybody’s amusement. (See advertising photo at right.)

That left me with my beginning cliché. I can dress like a cowboy without much effort. When I started Canyon Technology Group I began wearing a lot of Western apparel, and I can bring an acceptable outfit without even buying anything new. But my Western belts are all far too serious, perhaps even yuppified. I decided I’d look for a more attention-getting belt buckle, and I didn’t even have to look very hard. Today as I walked down Charles Street I noticed that Helen’s Leather had some excellent buckles in their window. I didn’t expect to find anything like this in Massachusetts, let alone in downtown Boston. I chose for myself a buckle that melds the Indian Motorcycle logo with other American symbols. I’m all set now with the buckle alone. I don’t even need to bring my cowboy boots and other stuff, but I will anyway.

My belt buckle