Dear Fashionistas,

Bonnets are back. That’s right, you heard me correctly - all the latest rage.

Now I am not talking about the traditional mid-18th century brimless house bonnet – those are so last century. I am referring to the ever-so-brilliant calash bonnet, with the intensely large stiff brim – you know, to protect your hair from the gale. (Thank you, Wikipedia, for clarifying such an important distinction in headdress history.)

How do I know they are back in style? Well, as Susan and I were leaving campus on Thursday, we caught a glimpse of a woman walking across campus wearing a burnt orange UT shirt and a daffodil yellow bonnet with a tiny pattern (perhaps floral?) – she was really too far away to tell what the pattern was. Since Austin is the fashion capital of the world, we see plenty of trendsetters walking our campus.

Don’t believe me? Consider the following t-shirt:

Not-so-fashion-forward, you say? InStyle Magazine, Teen Vogue, College Fashion, and the Fashionable Housewife (among others) beg to differ. Perhaps we’ll see tie dye bonnets soon.

Admittedly, tie dye shirts can be seen around town on many-a-fashion-forward Austinite, whereas the bonnet has yet to achieve such mass appeal. That being said, one can definitely understand how I might have questioned my initial assessment of this woman’s sleek and saavy sense of style. I decided to put out a feeler into the social media world and see what kind of responses I could get. I shared the following letter on facebook:

Dear Random Woman walking across campus, Susan and I want to know why you are wearing a bonnet. Please advise. Sincerely, Justin

Over the next twenty-four hours, I received a handful of outstanding conversational comments, including:

MR: is she the sun maid raisin girl? that would be fun…that is the only person I can think of who wears a bonnet :)

CK: Or, Holly Hobbie!

MR: oh fun game! Maybe strawberry shortcake?

JB: Perhaps a Precious Moments model?

TR: Perhaps she is Menonite

AM: Perhaps its Baby Jane.

LD: Omg can’t a girl wear a bonnet anymore!??? Maybe she was honoring one of the many fashion icons from little house on the prairie!

While the comment game provided some great entertainment, it also demonstrated the general population’s discomfort with fashionistas. I am truly sorry, 2010 Bonnet - perhaps the world just isn’t ready for you.


(Old woman in sunbonnet, (c. 1930) - Special thanks to Doris Ulmann for this fabulous photo)

In President Obama’s weekly address, he discusses his nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the U.S. Court of Appeals to replace the retiring Judge David Souter as a Supreme Court Justice.

” She has more experience on the federal bench than any incoming Supreme Court Justice in the past 100 years. Quite simply, Judge Sotomayor has a deep familiarity with our judicial system from almost every angle. And her achievements are all the more impressive when you consider what she had to overcome in order to achieve them.”

Beyond the importance of this specific weekly address in educating the public on Sotomayor’s background and experience, President Obama’s use of online communication brings to light an important change in our government - information is becoming more accessible, as the President makes use of social media to bring the message to the public in a variety of ways.

The White House Blog with Obama’s weekly address, along with the facebook fan page and twitter account are fantastic examples of Obama’s transparency, which also seem to provide access to a larger percentage of the population. Hopefully, the result of these efforts will be a more engaged citizenship, particularly among young adults. (Speaking of accessibility, for those who cannot watch the YouTube video above, the White House Blog also provides the opportunity to read the transcript from the address.)