Generation V.

I just saw this guy on the train. He was an older guy, dirty-gray hair, glasses, white beard. Light gray vest over a tie-dye t-shirt. There was a U.S. flag patch on his right vest shoulder. Baggy, forgettable pants. The reason I paid so much attention to this guy on a standing-room only J train at 1am is because he had a pair of what, I think, were map cases on his back. Black plastic tubes about five inches in diameter, wide nylon straps attached to the tubes with multiple thin leather bands. There was a turquoise stone tied to one, and some other items appropriate for a man who looks like he's stuck 40 years in the past. I thought about how that happens, and could only conclude that maybe it happens to all of us, but the ones who really lived a style are the ones who really stand out. Then I though about how there are still punks living the dream from the 70s, at times being nostalgic for the past, not realizing the irony of a sentimental punk. In ten years, they'll be just like those old gray-haired hippies. Mohawk comb-overs. Braces holding their pants up to their chest. Utilitarian canes. Krist, imagine what the hipsters are gonna look like in 30 years.
But map cases? What were in those map cases?

Side.