Wednesday, May 02, 2007

I'm on a plane, looking at those ice crystals that form on the windows. Only about an hour left, thankfully. I kinda like flying - especially on Jet Blue - but by the end I'm glad to get off.

Moving was rough, but I guess it's never easy. This was my first time actually doing it, and Boyfriend and I were exhausted as we passed out in a seedy (but cheap!) motel last night.

The funniest thing happened when we put our things into storage. An older heavyset man in a button-down denim-ish shirt and glasses was at the desk. First of all, he was a KICK-ASS guy who said that instead of paying $60-80 for a 5 x 5 unit, we should get a 7 x 10. We were like, "No thanks," till he explained that they had a special - the month of May free. (We only need it for about two weeks). We gave a $30 deposit that we'll get back, so the grand total came to three dollars and change. We wouldn't have had any idea had he not told us!

Secondly, he judged from Boyfriend's voice that he was from India. Not only that, but he went on and on about cricket, Boyfriend's favorite sport ever. Turns out that this Texan with a Southern drawl had lived in England and knew a lot about both the sport and people from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, in terms of the nuances of their last names.

This is not a nice thing to admit, and I hope my online friends will forgive me, but I am from a city up north. There is definitely a - 'prejudice' is a strong word, let's call it a 'perception' - that Southerners are not the brightest. Obviously, this must come from the idea of uneducated farmers and such, and it isn't fair, but that is often how American Southerners are portrayed in movies.

I have lived in Austin for eight months now, and have found it to not be true. Nonetheless the man surprised the hell out of me. Perceptions - hell, let's call it what it is! prejudices - die hard.

And it is definitely not fair, because I know people from back home who are practically unaware of a world outside their neighborhood, and have no interest in conceiving of one.

1 comment:

cheekynomad said...

Guilty! I gotta admit I was on the phone with this woman who had a heavy Southern accent and as we were trying to troubleshoot something she figured it out herself and I thought, wow, she's really smart! oops.