COUNTDOWN

Ten days until the boy arrives in Honolulu.  Ain't he adorable? 

2:48:21 PM    

NO, NOT YOU

I made the mistake of wearing a Penn T-shirt out to a gay bar last weekend.  I should have known better.

While every idiot owns a Harvard or Yale T-shirt, most people who wear a Penn shirt are attending or did attend the University of Pennsylvania.  I am one of these poor lads.  The reaction I received was surprising.  Here is a smattering of things I heard from people:

“You go to Penn?  I went to Stanford!”

“You go to Penn?  I go to NYU!”

“You go to Penn?  I went to UVA!”

“You go to Penn?  I went to Berkeley!”

I had the same reaction to all: “So?”  Does this mean that we have something in common?  Why do you think this is a good way to start a conversation?  One of my friends suggested that these people thought they shared something in common with me because they too attended a selective schools.   Big deal.  I hate elitism.  I hate ivory tower snobbery.  I don’t care to meet any more Ivy-leaguers.  Instead, I want to meet the kind of people that are more difficult to find: people that speak in their own voice.  I want to meet that interesting artist that dropped out of college as a statement against false hierarchies and the patriarchical institutions.  I want to meet the guy that buys all of his clothes at the Buffalo Exchange and sells his independently produced hip hop CD’s on the corner of a busy street for $2.  I want to meet someone that didn’t sellout and instead pursued their interests despite pressures from society.

While I fully acknowledge that I am, in many ways, a sellout, I know that I long to meet those that had the bravery I did not and faced the pain of rejecting common norms. 

I am not saying that these elitist bastards did not love their life or that they are not doing what they are meant to do.  What I am saying is, quite simply, that society embraces and accepts their idea of success while it shuns those that reject such norms.  If I am going to make time in my life for friends I want to meet those people that struggle to express their individuality in a society that shuns individual expression.  Being with those that simply bought into the system is like watching a rerun: While it is slightly enjoyable, it is also boring and predictable.  

I want to switch the channel or, better yet, turn of the TV and pick up a good book.

12:11:03 AM