Our name went through several versions before I settled on this one. I wanted something that would raise questions, inspire an imagination, but also something intentional that had a true meaning behind it. Eventually I settled on “Different Pants” – the idea being that different circumstances require different pants. Do I want comfort? To come across a professional? Do I need to honor a heritage? Do I want to wear pants at all?
It was a good start. And then as I started to build this site, I kept being offered alternatives to “Different Pants” as a site name. I was bewildered – what was wrong with “Different Pants?” Why was this website builder trying to get me to choose something else? I knew it was available – that was one of the first things I’d checked. “Unique Slacks” was one of the first alternatives, and, at first, I thought it was dumb. What does that even mean? What could a site called “Unique Slacks” even be about??
Then I noticed the initials created “US.” Oh, I thought. We are unique slacks.
I was compartmentalizing too much, not seeing the bigger picture. We may want comfort, and honor, and a cultivated image from the clothes we wear – but sometimes we want all of that at once. And in that case, we may require something unique. That’s US.
Unique Slacks is a small crew of writers and artists. There are several things that link us together: a shared sense of morality (no fascists, nazis, or sympathizers in our midst); a shared love of creative pursuit and expression; and we all have something vital to say, despite whatever fears we may have about speaking out.
Staying quiet is not as easy as it first appears.
How hard can it be to shut up? Disengage? Turn away? It requires no action, not really. It’s a total lack of action. If we didn’t feel things like dread and horror, it would probably be the easiest thing in the world.
The problem is the wormy creature that gets left behind after the brain gets that oh no feeling. It burrows deep, spreading a scar though the body like a crack in an iceberg.
The split is going to happen — there’s no avoiding it. Violent and loud and frightening, words erupt and behaviors we never knew were in us manifest until, suddenly, friendships, families, and inner- peace are in pieces. We can’t help it. Even before the stranger danger slogan, when humans see something, they say something.
It may take different forms, but as far as staying quiet goes, human beings are not very good at it.
And we absolutely shouldn’t be.
At Unique Slacks we have something to say about the world we live in. Some of it may resonate, and some of it may offend or surprise. But all of it is genuine as we navigate a world we just want to understand.
Unique Slacks 