On Wednesday I was in professor mode and thus must blog about it. While I spend most of my days wearing sweats or fleece (cuz, ya know, I spend a lot of time resting or getting chemo), I put on a pair of jeans and my new flannel button-up and made a public appearance on campus. I attended a talk by Wendy Lee that addressed Jane Austen's novel, Persuasion, and then I participated in a panel discussion on Persuasion. I talked about what Austen calls "good company," and I was certainly in great company.
Don't worry. This is not a blog post about Austen. It's about flannel, so let me get to my point: flannel for the win.
Flannel. n. 1.
a. An open woollen stuff, of various degrees of fineness, usually without a nap.
d. Ludicrously used to designate a Welshman.
f. slang. Nonsense, ‘hot air’; flattery, unnecessary ostentation (Oxford English Dictionary)
Two of the three definitions listed above apply to me! Hint: I'm not a Welshman. I like flannel because it is soft. I like flannel because I like nonsense. :D
As you know, flannels come in many forms. You might own a thick, woolen flannel shirt or soft, cotton flannel sheets. You might wear a lumberjack plaid flannel or Scotch plaid flannel. Heck, you might even wear a flannel without a design. Plain flannel exists, the Web tells me, but I don't believe it! Long before grunge bands made flannel popular in the 1990s, flannel was associated with cultures across the pond. Want to know more about the history of flannel? Check out this timeline.
Here's the American Eagle "Ahhmazingly Soft" flannel shirt I wore on Wednesday:
AE's title is right. It is amazingly soft. And what a bargain at $24.97.
Luckily someone took a picture of me in the shirt because I forgot to do that. The photo below was taken by a UMF student who is working with the New Commons Project.
Pictured: Stephen Grandchamp, Kristen Case, Dan Gunn, Wendy Lee, and moi.
So glad my red Bean Boots made into the pic!
Go out and get yourself a new flannel shirt. You deserve it. (At least that's what I said to myself when I bought mine!)
