Poem: "Stick Like Glue"
Dec. 6th, 2018 08:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem came out of the December 4, 2018 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by ng_moonmoth. It also fills the "relaxation" square in my 12-1-18 card for the Summer in December fest. This poem belongs to the Calliope thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.
"Stick Like Glue"
[Friday, June 20, 2014]
"Do you sell glue by the gallon?"
Vagary asked, leaning on the counter.
"Yes, we do -- wait, what are you
doing here?" Calvin hissed.
Vagary flinched away.
"Buying glue?" he said.
"Never mind ... I can
go somewhere else."
He had forgotten that Calvin
worked here, because Vagary had
only been to the store a few times, and
Calvin didn't look the same as Calliope.
The bond was wiggling around them
like a dog wagging its tail, though.
"Oh," Calvin said. "I'm sorry.
If you really came here to buy
glue, then I can help you."
"Yes, please," said Vagary.
"May I ask what project you have
in mind? That affects the kind
of glue you need," said Calvin.
"It's not for me," Vagary said. "I have
a list, though. I need at least clear glue
and white glue by the gallon, preferably
several brands with different ingredients,
and an assortment of glue sticks too."
"Okay, let's hit the adhesives aisle,"
Calvin said. "Grab a cart, you'll need it."
Vagary grabbed one of the sturdy carts
meant for large or heavy items. He knew
that water weighed eight pounds a gallon,
so glue probably weighed at least that much.
He hurried to catch up with Calvin.
It felt weird, in a way, because
most of the time they spent
together, Cal was Calliope.
Vagary couldn't help feeling
like he had gotten sucked into
some weird alternate reality.
This was part of Cal too, though,
even if it was a messed-up part.
Calvin lay behind everything
that Calliope had become.
Maybe Vagary couldn't really
know her without knowing him.
"Down here!" Calvin waved at
Vagary from the adhesives aisle.
"You want white, clear, or colors?"
"I'd like an assortment, please,"
Vagary said. "Different chemicals
may create different results."
"Okay, great," said Calvin.
"We have white and clear in
gallon jugs. We also have
a few colors for making crafts
like slime or calming jars."
"Oh, that's perfect!" Vagary said.
"I'm shopping for a guy who wants
to make animated calming jars."
"Animated how, like magnetic
or something?" Calvin asked.
"I don't know, maybe?" Vagary said.
"The shopping list doesn't tell that."
"Well, we have magnetic glitter
and other trick supplies if you
want," Calvin suggested.
"Sure, why not," Vagary said.
"It's a science lab, somebody's
bound to find a use for the stuff."
"Great, we'll hit the glitter aisle
next," Calvin said. "Meanwhile,
how much glue do you need?"
"Let's see, six gallons white and
six gallons clear, either two or three
different brands," Vagary read aloud.
"Add two gallons of each colored glue
that comes in containers that size."
"Got 'em," Calvin said. Muscles
rippled as he swung the jugs
into Vagary's shopping cart.
"What about glue sticks? We
have a school pack, all colors."
"Toss some in the cart," Vagary said.
Then he spied packs of glitter glue pens
and threw in several of those too. "Okay,
that should do it for glue. You mentioned
something about an aisle full of glitter?"
"Glitter, sequins, mirror tiles, and
other sparkly things are over here,"
Calvin said, leading him onward.
As advertised, the whole aisle
glimmered with light and color.
"Woah," Vagary said. "Coooool."
Calvin grinned at him. "Yeah,
the tweens go nuts in here,
even some of the boys."
Vagary made approving noises
as he pored over the merchandise.
"Magnetic dust, opalescent powder,
mega-glitter, laser shimmer sequins ...
temperature-sensitive color-changing dust?"
"Oh, we got it all," Calvin said. "Some of
this is basic stuff, some does science tricks.
What do you think your friend would like?"
"All of it," Vagary said, slowly rotating.
"We could make so many things with this.
Not just the new calming jars, if they work,
but tried-and-true things like fidget slime."
"I am all in favor of helping supervillains
find their quiet place," Calvin whispered.
"Yeah, me too," Vagary said. "Gods know
we need all the help that we can get."
"Well, what's your budget?" Calvin said.
"I can help you pick a representative set."
"I ah ... don't really have one," Vagary said.
Shyly he pulled out the Emerald Card that
he'd been given. Greenbucks made those
from actual lab-grown emerald wafers, issued
exclusively to their largest account holders.
"He just said 'get glue,' and I thought, since
I was in the neighborhood, this place might
have the kind of stuff that I needed?"
"We certainly do," Calvin said. "Okay,
let me grab some empty boxes. We can
get a couple jars each of all the good stuff,
and loosely sort them by product type."
"That sounds great," Vagary said,
and so they went to work on it.
They filled a box each with
magnetic dust, glow dust,
photochromic pigments,
three different sizes of glitter,
sequins both plain and shaped,
and the temperature-sensitive dust.
"All right, I think that does it,"
Calvin said, putting the last box
into the cart. "Unless you have
anything else your shopping list?"
Vagary checked the list, then said,
"I'm good." He looked at the cart
full of shimmering loot. "I am
totally putting in for a shift as
a lab assistant just so I get
to play with some of this stuff."
"You do that?" Calvin said,
giving him a sidelong glance.
"I do all kinds of work," Vagary said
pushing the cart toward the registers.
"Right now, I'm trying to cut down
on the ... uh, shadier stuff. So I do
shopping runs and such. I know
my way around a lab, at least
enough not to set it on fire."
"That sounds interesting,"
Calvin said. "I like working
here because the materials are
fun, but it's not that exciting."
"I beg to differ," Vagary said,
rapping his knuckles on a box.
"Anyhow, I like switching around
and learning new things. Some
of them I forget a week later, but
others stick like glue, and I never
seem to know which will do what."
"People can be the same way,"
Calvin said. Their hands brushed
as they started unloading the cart.
"You can't tell who will blow in and
out of your life or who will stay."
"Yeah, that's true too," Vagary said.
He'd had plenty of each in his time.
Cal might rearrange his reality on
a regular basis, but even so, Vagary was
pretty sure that he came out the better for it.
Now if only Cal agreed with that assessment.
"You sure have plenty of new things to try,"
Calvin said as he rang the merchandise
through. "I hope you have fun with them."
"I'm just grateful I finished shopping
before the store closed," Vagary said,
looking out at the gathering shadows.
"Oh, you have plenty of time left
before ..." Calvin's voice trailed away.
"What?" Vagary asked, worried.
"Wow, my shift ended ten minutes ago,"
Calvin said. "I didn't even notice."
"Sorry about that," Vagary said
with a wince. "I'll make it up to you?
We could go catch dinner somewhere."
They were supposed to spend time
together for the sake of therapy, and
hadn't put in their hour this week.
Calvin hesitated, then said,
"Sure, why not ... but I don't
want to stop too close to here.
I eat at the nearby ones too often."
"What about Cattle Platter?"
Vagary said as he bagged things
and put them back into the cart.
He'd never get all the stuff out to
his campervan without it. "You like it,
and there's a new Thai ice cream place
next to it that we could hit for dessert."
"Is that stuff any good?" Calvin said.
"The pictures on the window look weird."
"You've never tried Thai ice cream?"
Vagary said, grinning. He handed
the Emerald Card over to Calvin.
"Oh wow, are you ever in for a treat!
It has fresh fruit and everything."
"Yeah, but is it really worth paying
the price of a whole carton for
just one serving?" Calvin said.
"You will get your money's worth
just watching them make it,"
Vagary promised as he put
the card away. "Come on,
I'll buy dessert. No risk."
"All right, you got me,"
Calvin said. "Let me
go clock out of here."
"Sure," Vagary said.
"I'll be loading this stuff
into my campervan."
Outside, the summer evening
was warm and pleasant, with
a turquoise sky just starting
to turn colors in the west.
Soft shadows spread over
the parking lot like dark scarves
lost by children during play.
It was a perfect time for
eating ice cream, and Vagary
looked forward to introducing
Calvin to the joys of Thai ice cream.
Vagary hefted his purchases
into the campervan, now and then
glancing over his shoulder as he did so.
It seemed a little easier to get along
with Calvin than it had with Calliope.
Maybe he was imagining it.
Then again, maybe it was
because Vagary had not
royally fucked up with Calvin
the way he had with Calliope.
They weren't different people,
not quite, but Cal had mentioned
having different tastes when
male than when female.
Maybe that carried over
to people and relationships
as well as food and clothes.
If that was true, perhaps
they could relax around
each other, at least a little.
It'd be nice, wouldn't it ...
Cicadas sang in the trees while
Vagary stuffed in the last few boxes
and then closed the campervan.
The fireflies were coming out,
too, though they were still visible
more as dark spots in the air
than when they actually lit up.
Golden light spilled out of
the store across the parking lot
as Vagary pushed the empty cart
to the nearest return corral.
Calvin strolled toward him, and
for a moment Vagary's heart
ached to find that easy grace
with Calliope now that he had
somehow found it with Calvin.
"Ready to go?" Calvin asked
as he came up to the campervan.
"Yeah, hop in," Vagary said.
He would hold onto what peace
he could find, for as long as he could.
Who knows, maybe it would stick.
* * *
Notes:
Glue comes in many kinds. Some, like clear school glue, are readily available by the gallon. Others mostly come in small containers like glitter glue pens. There are craft projects for plain and glitter glue. You can make your own colored or glitter glue.
Calming jars can have all kinds of fillers that are fun to watch as they settle. Compare a basic recipe with some science experiment variations. Here are even more recipes.
Glue sticks also come in assorted styles. Most are white or clear, but you can find some colored ones. Combine a glue stick, heavy paper, and random small objects to make an activity bin. Learn how to make your own colored glue sticks.
Calculate the weight of water, typically just over 8 pounds per gallon.
(Warning: addictive craft supplies ahead!)
Craft stores in Terramagne have more interesting products compared to here. I did find some of the cooler examples online, but these are harder to find in local stores. Check out the magnetic glitter dust, chameleon flakes, glow dust, photochromic pigments, and exotic types of glitter.
Finding your quiet place can refer to a physical location, one you create, or a state of mind. Peace and quiet have many benefits. When supervillains find theirs, lots of other people enjoy the benefits too.
An Emerald Card is a Greenbucks card made out of actual lab-grown emerald. They're only available to the biggest account holders.
Thai ice cream is made by pouring ice cream batter onto a coldplate and mixing it around until frozen, then spreading it thin and scraping it into rolls. You can make it with junk like candy, or wholesome ingredients like fresh fruit. Choose from an assortment of fun toppings like toasted marshmallow or pocky sticks. (Things that turn hard when frozen, like M&Ms or gummies, are not as good.) There are ways to fake it at home. But if you get a chance at the real thing, grab it. Vagary is right about how watching them make it is worth the price all by itself.
Fireflies come out and blink anywhere from late afternoon to early evening, and stay on for a few hours. Just listening to the cicadas in that video makes it feel like summer, too.
Gender-variant people may have different feelings en femme and en homme.
ng_moonmoth. It also fills the "relaxation" square in my 12-1-18 card for the Summer in December fest. This poem belongs to the Calliope thread of the Polychrome Heroics series."Stick Like Glue"
[Friday, June 20, 2014]
"Do you sell glue by the gallon?"
Vagary asked, leaning on the counter.
"Yes, we do -- wait, what are you
doing here?" Calvin hissed.
Vagary flinched away.
"Buying glue?" he said.
"Never mind ... I can
go somewhere else."
He had forgotten that Calvin
worked here, because Vagary had
only been to the store a few times, and
Calvin didn't look the same as Calliope.
The bond was wiggling around them
like a dog wagging its tail, though.
"Oh," Calvin said. "I'm sorry.
If you really came here to buy
glue, then I can help you."
"Yes, please," said Vagary.
"May I ask what project you have
in mind? That affects the kind
of glue you need," said Calvin.
"It's not for me," Vagary said. "I have
a list, though. I need at least clear glue
and white glue by the gallon, preferably
several brands with different ingredients,
and an assortment of glue sticks too."
"Okay, let's hit the adhesives aisle,"
Calvin said. "Grab a cart, you'll need it."
Vagary grabbed one of the sturdy carts
meant for large or heavy items. He knew
that water weighed eight pounds a gallon,
so glue probably weighed at least that much.
He hurried to catch up with Calvin.
It felt weird, in a way, because
most of the time they spent
together, Cal was Calliope.
Vagary couldn't help feeling
like he had gotten sucked into
some weird alternate reality.
This was part of Cal too, though,
even if it was a messed-up part.
Calvin lay behind everything
that Calliope had become.
Maybe Vagary couldn't really
know her without knowing him.
"Down here!" Calvin waved at
Vagary from the adhesives aisle.
"You want white, clear, or colors?"
"I'd like an assortment, please,"
Vagary said. "Different chemicals
may create different results."
"Okay, great," said Calvin.
"We have white and clear in
gallon jugs. We also have
a few colors for making crafts
like slime or calming jars."
"Oh, that's perfect!" Vagary said.
"I'm shopping for a guy who wants
to make animated calming jars."
"Animated how, like magnetic
or something?" Calvin asked.
"I don't know, maybe?" Vagary said.
"The shopping list doesn't tell that."
"Well, we have magnetic glitter
and other trick supplies if you
want," Calvin suggested.
"Sure, why not," Vagary said.
"It's a science lab, somebody's
bound to find a use for the stuff."
"Great, we'll hit the glitter aisle
next," Calvin said. "Meanwhile,
how much glue do you need?"
"Let's see, six gallons white and
six gallons clear, either two or three
different brands," Vagary read aloud.
"Add two gallons of each colored glue
that comes in containers that size."
"Got 'em," Calvin said. Muscles
rippled as he swung the jugs
into Vagary's shopping cart.
"What about glue sticks? We
have a school pack, all colors."
"Toss some in the cart," Vagary said.
Then he spied packs of glitter glue pens
and threw in several of those too. "Okay,
that should do it for glue. You mentioned
something about an aisle full of glitter?"
"Glitter, sequins, mirror tiles, and
other sparkly things are over here,"
Calvin said, leading him onward.
As advertised, the whole aisle
glimmered with light and color.
"Woah," Vagary said. "Coooool."
Calvin grinned at him. "Yeah,
the tweens go nuts in here,
even some of the boys."
Vagary made approving noises
as he pored over the merchandise.
"Magnetic dust, opalescent powder,
mega-glitter, laser shimmer sequins ...
temperature-sensitive color-changing dust?"
"Oh, we got it all," Calvin said. "Some of
this is basic stuff, some does science tricks.
What do you think your friend would like?"
"All of it," Vagary said, slowly rotating.
"We could make so many things with this.
Not just the new calming jars, if they work,
but tried-and-true things like fidget slime."
"I am all in favor of helping supervillains
find their quiet place," Calvin whispered.
"Yeah, me too," Vagary said. "Gods know
we need all the help that we can get."
"Well, what's your budget?" Calvin said.
"I can help you pick a representative set."
"I ah ... don't really have one," Vagary said.
Shyly he pulled out the Emerald Card that
he'd been given. Greenbucks made those
from actual lab-grown emerald wafers, issued
exclusively to their largest account holders.
"He just said 'get glue,' and I thought, since
I was in the neighborhood, this place might
have the kind of stuff that I needed?"
"We certainly do," Calvin said. "Okay,
let me grab some empty boxes. We can
get a couple jars each of all the good stuff,
and loosely sort them by product type."
"That sounds great," Vagary said,
and so they went to work on it.
They filled a box each with
magnetic dust, glow dust,
photochromic pigments,
three different sizes of glitter,
sequins both plain and shaped,
and the temperature-sensitive dust.
"All right, I think that does it,"
Calvin said, putting the last box
into the cart. "Unless you have
anything else your shopping list?"
Vagary checked the list, then said,
"I'm good." He looked at the cart
full of shimmering loot. "I am
totally putting in for a shift as
a lab assistant just so I get
to play with some of this stuff."
"You do that?" Calvin said,
giving him a sidelong glance.
"I do all kinds of work," Vagary said
pushing the cart toward the registers.
"Right now, I'm trying to cut down
on the ... uh, shadier stuff. So I do
shopping runs and such. I know
my way around a lab, at least
enough not to set it on fire."
"That sounds interesting,"
Calvin said. "I like working
here because the materials are
fun, but it's not that exciting."
"I beg to differ," Vagary said,
rapping his knuckles on a box.
"Anyhow, I like switching around
and learning new things. Some
of them I forget a week later, but
others stick like glue, and I never
seem to know which will do what."
"People can be the same way,"
Calvin said. Their hands brushed
as they started unloading the cart.
"You can't tell who will blow in and
out of your life or who will stay."
"Yeah, that's true too," Vagary said.
He'd had plenty of each in his time.
Cal might rearrange his reality on
a regular basis, but even so, Vagary was
pretty sure that he came out the better for it.
Now if only Cal agreed with that assessment.
"You sure have plenty of new things to try,"
Calvin said as he rang the merchandise
through. "I hope you have fun with them."
"I'm just grateful I finished shopping
before the store closed," Vagary said,
looking out at the gathering shadows.
"Oh, you have plenty of time left
before ..." Calvin's voice trailed away.
"What?" Vagary asked, worried.
"Wow, my shift ended ten minutes ago,"
Calvin said. "I didn't even notice."
"Sorry about that," Vagary said
with a wince. "I'll make it up to you?
We could go catch dinner somewhere."
They were supposed to spend time
together for the sake of therapy, and
hadn't put in their hour this week.
Calvin hesitated, then said,
"Sure, why not ... but I don't
want to stop too close to here.
I eat at the nearby ones too often."
"What about Cattle Platter?"
Vagary said as he bagged things
and put them back into the cart.
He'd never get all the stuff out to
his campervan without it. "You like it,
and there's a new Thai ice cream place
next to it that we could hit for dessert."
"Is that stuff any good?" Calvin said.
"The pictures on the window look weird."
"You've never tried Thai ice cream?"
Vagary said, grinning. He handed
the Emerald Card over to Calvin.
"Oh wow, are you ever in for a treat!
It has fresh fruit and everything."
"Yeah, but is it really worth paying
the price of a whole carton for
just one serving?" Calvin said.
"You will get your money's worth
just watching them make it,"
Vagary promised as he put
the card away. "Come on,
I'll buy dessert. No risk."
"All right, you got me,"
Calvin said. "Let me
go clock out of here."
"Sure," Vagary said.
"I'll be loading this stuff
into my campervan."
Outside, the summer evening
was warm and pleasant, with
a turquoise sky just starting
to turn colors in the west.
Soft shadows spread over
the parking lot like dark scarves
lost by children during play.
It was a perfect time for
eating ice cream, and Vagary
looked forward to introducing
Calvin to the joys of Thai ice cream.
Vagary hefted his purchases
into the campervan, now and then
glancing over his shoulder as he did so.
It seemed a little easier to get along
with Calvin than it had with Calliope.
Maybe he was imagining it.
Then again, maybe it was
because Vagary had not
royally fucked up with Calvin
the way he had with Calliope.
They weren't different people,
not quite, but Cal had mentioned
having different tastes when
male than when female.
Maybe that carried over
to people and relationships
as well as food and clothes.
If that was true, perhaps
they could relax around
each other, at least a little.
It'd be nice, wouldn't it ...
Cicadas sang in the trees while
Vagary stuffed in the last few boxes
and then closed the campervan.
The fireflies were coming out,
too, though they were still visible
more as dark spots in the air
than when they actually lit up.
Golden light spilled out of
the store across the parking lot
as Vagary pushed the empty cart
to the nearest return corral.
Calvin strolled toward him, and
for a moment Vagary's heart
ached to find that easy grace
with Calliope now that he had
somehow found it with Calvin.
"Ready to go?" Calvin asked
as he came up to the campervan.
"Yeah, hop in," Vagary said.
He would hold onto what peace
he could find, for as long as he could.
Who knows, maybe it would stick.
* * *
Notes:
Glue comes in many kinds. Some, like clear school glue, are readily available by the gallon. Others mostly come in small containers like glitter glue pens. There are craft projects for plain and glitter glue. You can make your own colored or glitter glue.
Calming jars can have all kinds of fillers that are fun to watch as they settle. Compare a basic recipe with some science experiment variations. Here are even more recipes.
Glue sticks also come in assorted styles. Most are white or clear, but you can find some colored ones. Combine a glue stick, heavy paper, and random small objects to make an activity bin. Learn how to make your own colored glue sticks.
Calculate the weight of water, typically just over 8 pounds per gallon.
(Warning: addictive craft supplies ahead!)
Craft stores in Terramagne have more interesting products compared to here. I did find some of the cooler examples online, but these are harder to find in local stores. Check out the magnetic glitter dust, chameleon flakes, glow dust, photochromic pigments, and exotic types of glitter.
Finding your quiet place can refer to a physical location, one you create, or a state of mind. Peace and quiet have many benefits. When supervillains find theirs, lots of other people enjoy the benefits too.
An Emerald Card is a Greenbucks card made out of actual lab-grown emerald. They're only available to the biggest account holders.
Thai ice cream is made by pouring ice cream batter onto a coldplate and mixing it around until frozen, then spreading it thin and scraping it into rolls. You can make it with junk like candy, or wholesome ingredients like fresh fruit. Choose from an assortment of fun toppings like toasted marshmallow or pocky sticks. (Things that turn hard when frozen, like M&Ms or gummies, are not as good.) There are ways to fake it at home. But if you get a chance at the real thing, grab it. Vagary is right about how watching them make it is worth the price all by itself.
Fireflies come out and blink anywhere from late afternoon to early evening, and stay on for a few hours. Just listening to the cicadas in that video makes it feel like summer, too.
Gender-variant people may have different feelings en femme and en homme.
Re: Experience vs Performance
Date: 2018-12-08 01:13 am (UTC)Re: Experience vs Performance
Date: 2018-12-08 08:15 pm (UTC)Please keep in mind that my word is by no means authoritative on this. It's just a personal expression of how I'm experiencing gender and some related topics right now. Something tricky that constantly pops up when discussing this topic is that how one experiences gender is part of one's gender identity. So if there's anything that seems it doesn't quite fit, it's likely your gender identity informing you of that, and it's worth a bit of thinking about. Same thing if you read something on the topic that doesn't line up with your impressions.
That's the most important thing for me: that we all understand that gender is something that actually needs to be thought about, not just taken for granted. So far, it's working for me. If this attitude became commonplace, I suspect there'd be a lot less gender-driven hurt and hatred in the world.
Re: Experience vs Performance
Date: 2018-12-08 08:50 pm (UTC)Well, it's a lot more authoritative than cisgender people writing about gender questioning or gender variation. Everyone has to find their own way, but hearing from other travelers can help a lot.
>>That's the most important thing for me: that we all understand that gender is something that actually needs to be thought about, not just taken for granted. <<
If only. So many people find that the prescribed version fits "close enough" that they don't realize gender is customizable, and then they try to force everyone into that no matter how badly it fits. To say nothing of the agender folks being told they must have a gender, which is like telling nudists they're not really naked. 0_o
Re: Experience vs Performance
Date: 2019-01-05 06:40 pm (UTC)Reminds me of cars. (I've been trying since you posted this comment to expand that analogy into an actual piece on How Gender Identity Resembles Cars, but I don't think I want to whack that piece as it stands now with a big enough hammer to get the analogy to fit.) Almost everyone is content to find whatever they can on the lot and drive it off without tweaking it -- or, for that matter, even changing the look beyond slapping an occasional decal or bumper sticker on it.
Never mind if a hot rod, or a lowrider, or a kit car, or an art car, would be the thing that's actually right for them. Frequently, they don't care to deal with the scrutiny driving around in something like that brings.
>> and then they try to force everyone into that no matter how badly it fits. <<
Much like the derision and exclusion many people express at the owners of cars that are radically different from the norm. Me, I appreciate that someone chooses to express themselves that way, and values that expression to spend significant amounts of time and money on it. Beats all to heck the folks who give priority to something that expresses the image they want to project, as opposed to who they actually are.
Re: Experience vs Performance
Date: 2019-01-05 07:43 pm (UTC)More to the point, only well-to-do people can afford that. Around here, only people like doctors and lawyers can routinely afford a new car at all. Most people buy used because it's all they can have.
When modifying your body costs more money than a year's pay, most people are also stuck with whatever they have -- and that's a leading cause of the high suicide rate in transfolk.
>>Much like the derision and exclusion many people express at the owners of cars that are radically different from the norm. <<
It would never occur to me to judge someone by their car, because I don't connect people with cars. The most I'll do is admire an unusual shape or color, but that's usually on the road or in a parking lot.
Re: Experience vs Performance
Date: 2019-01-06 07:39 pm (UTC)Not necessarily. I have talked with a few people who drive art cars; they're fundamentally artists, and that's what drives them. The commonly associated adjective, "starving", is pretty close to defining their income stream, and a lot of their tricking-out is done on the cheap via dumpster rejects and thrift-store purchases. A documentary I saw, exploring lowrider culture, reveals a similar approach. These pretty much aren't high-income people (being overwhelmingly Latino, at least around here, doesn't help much there), but they put every penny they can spare into their cars because it's something they can do to proclaim and share their identity while getting in the face of a culture that often scorns them.
I've also got a couple of friends who bought used cars and are slowly modding them to fit their needs better as income permits. So, from my perspective, there doesn't appear to be a particularly strong linkage between income and desire to modify one's ride. In fact, it often seems to go the other way: better-off people risk more by being "different", and are consequently less likely to do it.
I realized there's another factor at play here, too. If you don't own the place where you live, your ability to do things to the place is limited and not particularly under your control. Plus, your space for other things by which you might express your identity is also limited. A car you own is unconditionally yours, and a portable form of expression.
>> Most people buy used because it's all they can have. <<
*sigh* Yet another example of short-term thinking driven (or forced) by one's income being far too close to that required to cover basic needs.
Cars are the same way. If one can buy a new car for cash, with an eye toward having it for a long time, and treat it and maintain it well so it will last that long time, the annual cost can be quite favorable. The car I had before the one I own now I bought for cash, and lasted nearly twenty-five years before a maintenance threshold and tightening emission control standards made it uneconomical to keep roadworthy -- but also made it so that the state would buy it to get it off the road. Net purchase cost on the car, divided by years of ownership, was less than $500 per year. It was having the cash at hand that made it possible for me to do that.
>> When modifying your body costs more money than a year's pay, most people are also stuck with whatever they have -- and that's a leading cause of the high suicide rate in transfolk. <<
Yep. A couple of my trans friends endured jobs they weren't a good fit at all for, and hostility from managers and coworkers, for the sake of insurance that covered enough of the relevant surgery to make it financially possible. This is also not good.
Fortunately, there's a small but growing number of gender-aware people in the world, who understand that body shape of any sort does not determine one's gender, and that everyone has their own contextual way of expressing (or suppressing) their gender identity. Providing gender cues by behavior (free) or clothing etc. (doesn't have to cost a lot) can go a long way in such an environment.
>> It would never occur to me to judge someone by their car, because I don't connect people with cars. <<
And you aren't like very many people. No surprise there. But when I look at car advertisements, in whatever form, I am struck by how so much of it is about image. Apparently this works well, or there would be more advertising focusing on other things. So there's a whole lot of people in the world who buy their cars based on image, and expect that other people are doing the same thing. And if their image of who would own a vehicle like one they see isn't one they care for, will share that with others. I've been around conversations like that.
Nowadays, when I see someone driving something out of context, I just cue Rich Fantasy Lives, and don't spend much time harshing on them for maybe being a poseur.