I tried wearing a brightly colored  "X" for Malcom hat for a while until I
decided that the blacks I was encountering had no idea what Malcom meant to
racial harmony. I got  to worry how many had actually read the autobiography --
or possibly how many had got past the first 20 pages in life style. I think
they suspected I was either patronizing, dumb, or daft. A little bit of
cultural conflict there. The hat did not work for me in Harlem, and did worse
on the Upper East Side. It now hangs on a peg in the back room and awaits the
next ultraconservative challenge.

My stepfather used to wear a CAP (Civil Air Patrol) hat and I would follow him
around w/ a hat that I had crudely fashioned the word CAT out of aluminum wire
on the front. Whenever he was talking to a customer and I came up from behind
to join in the hat always added an extra dimension to the conversation. I would
just stand there nodding my head with a big grin and looking as stupid as
possible (a contractor's tool I picked up early -- it keeps you from getting
asked really stupid questions). The idea of the makshift was interpreted that I
was trying to follow in Pop's footsteps but could not quite spell correctly. It
also forced people to suddenly realize that he was wearing a CAP cap.

So, if you want to know where G & E come from it started early.

"J.A. Drew DIAZ" wrote:

> Drew Diaz- in Tony Lamas, blue work shirt & a spiffy new black ballcap w/ a
> "HARLEM" logo

--
][<en Follett
SOS Gab & Eti -- http://www.geocities.com/~orgrease
Bullamanka-Pinheads website
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?A0=bullamanka-pinheads