Amanda Grant Smith writes: The photo is of my BFF Melissa Storch Epstein and me. Melissa was from North Miami Beach and was hands down the style icon and trendsetter
extrordinaire of Camp Akiba. She had the best clothes, hair accessories, stationary, bedazzled tee shirts, puffy stickers-- you name it. Melissa wore Revlon Sphinx Pink nail polish, so we all wore Sphinx Pink. Nothing less would do. This is why, actually, my Adidas Samba coup was all the more spectacular. In 1985, I eschewed the Reebok high tops, the Keds, and the occasional Tretorn for black Adidas Sambas. Perhaps it was the rock & roll in me--the fact that I preferred Journey, Duran Duran, and Def Leppard-- while my bunkmates listened to Billy Joel, Phil Collins and the soundtrack to Dreamgirls. Maybe it was because I was the one in the bunk that was a little more likely to have done more than French kiss after canteen. Or possibly it was because I only took about 15 minutes to get ready while the others clocked in at no fewer than 45 minutes. Whatever it was, those shoes made me feel like a little bit of a badass while the rest of me conformed to (and loved) everything about camp and my friends. I worshiped Melissa and her wardrobe and couldn't wait each year as she unpacked her giant trunk filled with the labels we'd all be begging our parents to buy as soon as we got home. So, imagine the incredible high I experienced in late June 1986, as the buses arrived from South Jersey, Long Island, and Philadelphia, unloading one Jewish American Princess after another (none of whom had ever set foot on a soccer field, natch) in none other than MY black Adidas Sambas. I had truly arrived.
Amanda Grant Smith writes: The photo is of my BFF Melissa Storch Epstein and me. Melissa was from North Miami Beach and was hands down the style icon and trendsetter extrordinaire of Camp Akiba. She had the best clothes, hair accessories, stationary, bedazzled tee shirts, puffy stickers-- you name it. Melissa wore Revlon Sphinx Pink nail polish, so we all wore Sphinx Pink. Nothing less would do. This is why, actually, my Adidas Samba coup was all the more spectacular. In 1985, I eschewed the Reebok high tops, the Keds, and the occasional Tretorn for black Adidas Sambas. Perhaps it was the rock & roll in me--the fact that I preferred Journey, Duran Duran, and Def Leppard-- while my bunkmates listened to Billy Joel, Phil Collins and the soundtrack to Dreamgirls. Maybe it was because I was the one in the bunk that was a little more likely to have done more than French kiss after canteen. Or possibly it was because I only took about 15 minutes to get ready while the others clocked in at no fewer than 45 minutes. Whatever it was, those shoes made me feel like a little bit of a badass while the rest of me conformed to (and loved) everything about camp and my friends. I worshiped Melissa and her wardrobe and couldn't wait each year as she unpacked her giant trunk filled with the labels we'd all be begging our parents to buy as soon as we got home. So, imagine the incredible high I experienced in late June 1986, as the buses arrived from South Jersey, Long Island, and Philadelphia, unloading one Jewish American Princess after another (none of whom had ever set foot on a soccer field, natch) in none other than MY black Adidas Sambas. I had truly arrived. 
