I like b-ball caps cause they keep the sun out my eyes. That’s the biggest reason I wear them, since I don’t own a pair of sunglasses. I also wear baseball caps cause it’s a habit, a personal tradition. This developed in the early 90s. In my high school graduation group photo, I’m the only one wearing a hat (cause it was blue cordroy and it rocked -and it was sunny out that day). While reaching for a hat I’m often reminded of my days in university residence, when I was scolded by a patriarchal figure for going to class with bedhead. “At least put a hat on for god’s sakes!” he said. Because of the good times I had then, and the fact that we all wore baseball hats in residence, the tradition that began as a teenager was nurtured. I remember at the time being fond of the Tragically Hip song, “50 Mission Cap”, whose main lyric “I worked it in to look like that” seemed to exemplify the relationship one has with ones hat – as you work it in as it accompanies you through these experiences that live on in memory.

Sometimes I feel more comfortable with something on my head. I’ve worn other hat styles, but because of the ubiquity of baseball hats, wearing other styles usually draws for more attention than I’d like. You end up talking about the stupid hat you’re wearing. That quality of anonymous ubiquity I find appealing. You can do the whole “something on your head” thing without being too warm in a toque, keep the sun out of your eyes, and not draw undue attention to yourself.

I’m glad that there are no photographs of me from the 1980s wearing acid wash. As well, I managed to make it through the 90s without getting a tattoo. But the one area fashion area where I don’t mind following the crowd is to wear the baseball hat, since they are the contemporary tricorn. An example of this is how last summer during the previews for the new Star Trek show, they had scenes with the mid 22nd Century characters wearing baseball hats, which was meant to convey that they were more contemporary then the 23rd and 24th Century characters known from the previous series.