California Girls

Of all the universal experiences in this world (happiness, grief, love, Shakespeare and Starbucks) few transcend cultures quite like a particularly surprising note. But as I walked down Saint Aldates this morning  from Catholic Mass at the Oxford Catholic Chaplaincy (Catholic mass is another decidedly universal phenomenon) I was startled by a new universality.

The universal note of which I speak is the Beach boys. The Beach Boys, this morning, blasted out of a small store where I purchased my diet coke and headed to Queen street where I people watched. But they can be frequently heard from store windows and cafes… This morning I saw tourists in bright colored shirts taking photos. Between the Michel’s creperie and the Westgate flower stand, looking at Primark and Beaverbrooks and the Scribbler, I, diet coke in 1 hand, egg and cress sandwich in the other I witnessed cross cultural patterns and the truest form of globalization.

The world wears Uggs, flipflops, jeans and polo. They consume McDonalds and drink Coke, Pepsi and Starbucks. We all eat, pray and love… and we know Beach Boys music: we want to dance, dance, dance, jam with Johnny B. Goode, rock with Barbara Ann, drive a little deuce coup, and have fun, fun, fun. So, a toast to the Beach Boys… and your noteworthy globalization.

Your surfer girl,

ej