As per every Spring since I’ve been in New York, the Spring heralds my new Chuck Taylor’s. I never had them growing up. I think that my parents associated it with impecunity and preferred us to be shod in leather or some strange petroleum byproduct.

But since I moved to the city, I’ve come to pretty much wear dress shoes most of the time with Chucks stepping in for what sandals used to do in California and Texas (bare feet on the subway platform, or getting caught in a flooded gutter during a surprise Hudson downpour? Ew.)

Anyway, when Spring comes I get a new pair and take last year’s pair and save it for tubing or adventuring. There wasn’t much of that last year owing to COVID-19, but I’m hoping for a different Spring and Summer this year.