City Desk: Gotta Be the Shoes

THE three signs of urban summer. Tiny parks stuffed with leaves. Tiny tops stuffed with breasts. Sneakers.

The dictionary defines sneaker (2. Plural) as “Canvas shoes with soft rubber soles. Also called ‘tennis shoes.'” I do have an old dictionary, don’t I? Sneakers haven’t used canvas since Wilt Chamberlain missed his last free throw. But definition (1. Singular) is still right on target: “One who sneaks.” Sneakers in the city are informal, to the point of disreputable: the footwear of the lazy or the criminal or both; of those who have lost their self-esteem, or who never had any. In short, they are the footwear of all of us who are not compelled by our employers to wear anything better.

About the Author

Richard Brookhiser

Historian Richard Brookhiser is a senior editor of National Review and a senior fellow at the National Review Institute.

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New York City

THE three signs of urban summer. Tiny parks stuffed with leaves. Tiny tops stuffed with breasts. Sneakers.

The dictionary defines sneaker (2. Plural) as “Canvas shoes with soft rubber soles. Also called ‘tennis shoes.'” I do have an old dictionary, don’t I? Sneakers haven’t used canvas since Wilt Chamberlain missed his last free throw. But definition (1. Singular) is still right on target: “One who sneaks.” Sneakers in the city are informal, to the point of disreputable: the footwear of the lazy or the criminal or both; of those who have lost their self-esteem, or who never had any. In short, they are the footwear of all of us who are not compelled by our employers to wear anything better.