Being able to understand more than one group’s ways of using language such as what is practiced by many Asian Americans, Mexican Americans, lesbians, gay men, and members of other groups that are simultaneously part of a dominant and a minority culture is known as .

In “Life Without Go-Go Boots,” we meet Barbara, who is the protagonist of the story. Throughout the story, Barbara is extremely interested in new fashion trends, and she always wants to wear whatever is popular and trendy at the moment. However, her mother tries to teach her that this is a pointless pursuit. The theme of the story is that chasing trends is usually a waste of time because they change too often, and caring about them deeply would consume your whole life. One of the metaphors used to convey this is potato salad. Potato salad has a very short shelf life, and this is compared to the "shelf life" of fashion trends.