Last year The Star-News asked readers to chime in with their “Best of” picks. (To my relief the category “Best weekly columnist on page 6 in The Star-News whose name rhymes with arlos avalos” was left off the survey again for the umpteenth time in a row. Can you imagine how humbling and embarrassing it would be for that person!?)
The results are in and all the winners can be seen in this issue. Some of the winners will be celebrated in person at a Best of South County party Wednesday, Jan. 24, at Seven Mile Casino in Chula Vista.
Some of the selections may catch you off guard. Others will not be surprising. For example, the best thing about living in the South County, according to readers, is its diversity.
Others, however, may set people on edge leaving them gnashing their teeth and questioning the legitimacy of democracy.
Fair enough. My only questions to those people would be: Did you vote? And did you get like-minded people to vote?
Among the choices that caught me off balance were readers choice for Best Teen Hangout. The top two finalists were are Westfield Plaza Bonita and Otay Ranch Mall.
In this category my surprise is based not on the merits of either venue. Instead and, in all likelihood, it is a reflection on my apparent ignorance.
I do not have, have not had or am not about to have teens. There are no teens in my immediate family. My neighbors are adults with small children or grown children (presumably with jobs, credit cards and access to the internet and Amazon.com).
My interaction with teens is limited. I pass and grumble about them on the street as they schlep by in their pajamas and slippers, heads down fingers flying across their smart phones, lips flapping at one another; or as they swerve around me on their skateboards outside of a coffeehouse.
Or graciously sharing their music with me from their cars while we are stopped at a traffic signal.
But during the recent holidays the places I did not see a bunch of teens was at the mall. (For that matter I did not see a lot of people walking the malls but – a) I was not shopping at either of the finalists listed in survey and b) I visited the mall infrequently and at night and on weeknights.)
Nonetheless, I thought kids these days didn’t hangout at the mall anymore. I thought that pastime disappeared along with acid-washed jeans, hair-sprayed hairdos and neon leggings.
Instead I thought they gathered in virtual space and the etherverse, sharing weird music and sophomoric videos and passing along insults, unsubstantiated rumors and conspiracies via the Internet. Like their parents.
Evidently I was wrong.
Human, face-to-face interaction still exists and it can be found at the mall. Hurrrah!
