Supporters clip cellphones to waistbands in honour of fallen fathers
VICTORIA, B.C.—Since time immemorial, fathers have fallen: off sidewalks; off fishing boats; off freshly built, slightly uneven decks. This Father's Day, supporters remember the fallen patriarchs with a symbolic gesture, clipping cellphones to their waistbands.
The tribute was initiated by Makaela Frost, 34, whose father fell out of a tree last year. "He was a wonderful man," said Frost as she fiddled with the grey Nokia on her tapered jeans. "And it's important to me that he isn't defined by his poor grip."
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The symbolic cellphones could be seen looking awkward and out of place on waistbands all over the city. They got in the way as supporters sat down for lunch and they clattered clumsily during the many long embraces shared.
It's a very functional tribute.- Harv Belanger
Edna James, 44, remembers her father with a water-damaged LG clipped to cargo shorts.
"He fell off the wagon when I was a teenager," said James. "And the phone fell into the toilet sometime after that."
Many fathers and grandfathers, as yet unfallen, looked to be supporting the movement, but were later found to just be wearing their cellphones clipped to their waistbands like they do every other day.
"On the one hand, it's a very functional tribute," said retired tightrope walker Harv Belanger, 70. "On the other hand, do you know how to check the messages on this thing? The light keeps blinking."
After the tribute's massive success, BlackBerry has announced that it will soon be playing to its strengths and rebranding as the "clippable" phone. And on a smaller scale, the expression of gratitude brought great meaning to the fallen's phone-saddled descendents.
"I barely even knew my dad," said Reid Arnold, 19, whose father "fell off the face of the Earth" when Reid was a young child.
"But today I feel like I can talk to him anytime I want—even though he specifically didn't leave contact information."
Wearables, a hot trend in technology, have thus far neglected the belt-line market. Most current phone models do not clip easily to waistbands, which has been a source of controversy to fathers for years. It has even been suggested that inadequate phone-clipping has been the cause of many fathers' falls.
For those who wanted to participate in the tribute but did not have clippable phones, money belts worn over golf shirts were incorporated into the day's symbolism.
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