you look like such an ameteur, you're not fishing!

i think everyone likes having something that defines them. at dull company christmas parties, when you meet bob vance, he tells you he works at (and coincidentally, owns, manages, and advertises for) vance refrigeration. first things that qualify you. when you meet someone, you tell them, i'm an investment banker, i'm a doctor, i'm the clown at your niece's birthday who can't make a proper poodle balloon.

but don't we love the classifications? things that let the mind take short cuts into discerning who someone is? you say, "i'm a student," and automatically, someone will label you as several things.
-you have worked hard to get here.
-you are of a certain socioeconomic class.
-maybe you party.
-maybe you knit.
-but you're going somewhere in life.

but then, why do any stereotypes exist? it's so people can make the connection.
stereotypes exist for a reason - they're not all bad - it helps you remember and compress information.

take, for example, the stereotype that all blondes are lacking in brain cells. how'd that one get started? by a lot of people meeting women of flaxen hair who couldn't pronounce words like "epitome."

generally speaking, of course.


i really need to finish this paper on 18th century feminist lit theory.


quote of the day: it's one of those yellow shorts kind of days.