Seen on Campus

Its spring again (at least for today) and love is in the air. Sort of. I made the trip to the main campus today which is twice in the past two days. Typically, I don’t go there very often but this week has been a little different for a variety of reasons. Of course, I was thankful to get out of the lab and experience the nice weather and see people that aren’t grad students or professors for a change. The undergraduate population always surprises me with their, shall we say, “eccentricity?” Today was no different in that regard as my trip to the main campus allowed me to observe the first instance of “geek love” this season. This particular pair consisted of a dashing young gentleman complete with boba fett tee-shirt, ripped jeans, long hair, and goth jewelry accompanying a stunning brunette who complemented her oversized glasses with a cloak. Now, I’m no fashion expert but on the first really nice spring day…who decides that a cloak is the best apparel choice. I mean seriously…looking through the closet and saying, “hmmm….sun dress?...no…halter top?...no…dracula cloak…YES.” So I’m not one to judge, actually I am. I avoid being judgmental the same way I avoid found money. In this case, I just can’t figure out what these people are going to do like that for the rest of their lives. It would be a nice place if the world was totally accepting of different people in all their forms…but its not. You can veer a little from the norm but when you go off the deep end…people get nervous. I know I’m supposed to respect these people because I’m sure they’re brilliant…at least that’s what people always say when they talk about the students here, “oh they’re very smart but just a little different.” Some of them aren’t so smart…so what’s their excuse??? Anyways, it always brings to mind the adage, “be nice to geeks…one of them will be your boss.” Well if I was looking to promote someone out of middle management would it be the well adjusted individual or the guy wearing the black nail polish and iron maiden t-shirt…yea, that’s what I thought. I guess these people just need to find themselves a bit more and I’m not saying they need to adhere to every social norm and more but someone should kindly let them know that on occasion playing within the system is your best bet for changing it. Patrick OUT!!!