Life Ain’t What
p. 65 · Read in the full issue
It Used To Be
Ten years ago, it was a common sight to see the people of American Samoa walking the streets of Pago Pago in their bare feet and wearing only a lavalava.
Nowadays, walking barefoot is most unusual except for children, and, except for the chiefs, the men inevitably wear colourful shirts and trousers. The chiefs wear tailored lavalavas, shirts, and ties, and more often than not, coats.
As for the women, they used to wear only a lavalava and cotton dress; but these days, this is the garb only of the matrons of portly figure.
Girls wear slacks, shorts —from knee-length to the last vestiges of decency—or even skin-tight toreador pants.
At night, the strains of a ukelele or guitar may occasionally lure a youthful group to dance the Samoan "sivasiva", but far more often they perform the latest version of the Twist to the music of a juke box in a Pago store. —ED JOHNSON.