I usually love where I live. It’s quiet, slow-paced, and people are generally very friendly. However, once in a while I come across someone who just doesn’t “get” me, someone who, for whatever reason, feels it necessary to take it upon themselves to poke at me like I’m a bizarre insect, to prod into my cage with their pointy stick until they elicit the behavior they seem to feel I should have displayed at the outright, the behavior they have assigned to individuals with my appearance.
Steve did a great post a while ago on stereotypes in writing, and their necessity. As art echoes life, I understand the need for stereotypes in society, for neat little boxes to insert people into so that they may be understood better: athletic; beautiful; nerdy; normal; devil worshipper. You know, all the usuals. I understand that without the means to sort and categorize the world around us, humanity would lose much of its ability to function. Boxes have a purpose. They help keep our minds from overloading. I get that. I just wish we all could follow basic kindergarten rules and be nice and keep our sorting mechanisms to ourselves.
To the charming lady I ran into in the store yesterday, here’s an educational video to help you out. Enjoy.
(Bad words here, kiddies… Get Mom and Dad’s permission before clicking. Or just don’t tell them I was the one who taught you how to say them)
Hell and Wheels 
December 15th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Lana — Whoops. I meant “then” and not “that.” Sorry. I had to go to WalMart today. Hope that explains the lapse.
December 15th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Steve — I thought you in particular might get a kick out of it.Lana — Sometimes it’s better to go around in Stealth Mode, that they’re all the more surprised when you start talking.Charles — One of the things I love best about you is the dichotomy between the nature of your day job and your glorious bad boy streak.
December 12th, 2008 at 6:24 am
I once had a fellow come up to me and ask me what kind of statement I was trying to make with my long hair. I said, uhm, that I like having long hair.
December 12th, 2008 at 12:58 am
OMG! Thanks for sharing. That kind of stuff’s right up my alley. I may look somewhat typical, but that’s where my box ends….Er…that didn’t quite come out the way I meant it, but I’m sure you get the point..?
December 11th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Avery, you are *so* much fun! That clip was just the ray of sunshine I needed!!
December 11th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Spy — Yeah. Sqt — It’s from a movie called SLC Punk. A very insightful/funny look at eighties punk culture.Those kind of what’s supposed to be my kind are called poseurs. When anyone’s Too Goth/Punk/Emo for everyone else, it’s generally because they’re a big honkin’ fake. Don’t have to worry about that kind of crap with me, though; as with cash and religious beliefs, I accept all denominations.Sidney — I’m in a Blue state, but the peninsula of Maryland on which I currently perch is so Red that every election time there is talk of the whole damn panhandle receding and calling itself the 51st state of Delmarva. No joke.Laughingwolf — I just heard that song for the first time the other day. It was brilliant–made me feel antsy, nervous and a bit depressed.
December 11th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
typical…’little boxes’, song by malvina reynolds [pete seeger does a version]
December 11th, 2008 at 4:14 am
Wow, I think that was my neighborhood, not Wyoming. I’m thinking of writing a memoir someday about my time: “Trapped in a Red State.”
December 11th, 2008 at 12:17 am
Funny video. I have a different view on things though. My first boyfriend looked like the tall fellow with blue hair in that clip and his friends hated me because I looked “too normal.” These people did not know me and had no interest in knowing me. Because I didn’t fit into their group they treated me exactly the same way they despised being treated.
December 10th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Oh. My. God.