3.26.2010

An Apology and a Manifesto. An Apologesto?

With my college career thus far nearing its end, this seems like a fine time as any to make a long overdue apology to someone. And if you don't know me well, I can be stubborn and not inclined to admit when I'm wrong, or when I've made a false judgement about someone, so please know this is a pretty big step for me. Maybe even a monumental one.

You see, I had a bad habit of giving Utah a hard time. I visited it quite a bit when I was growing up, and even at my young age I knew Utah was different than what I was used to. Granted, that was mostly because I found myself having to apply lotion in the summertime just to not crumble in pieces and didn't understand why, but you catch my drift. The western half of our fine country can be an easy target, especially from us Easterners with our humid climate and black clothing.

You poke fun at Utah or Idaho and you're likely to get an angry face as a response. You poke fun at New York or New Jersey and, well, it'll probably be a few weeks before they're able to recover your body from the bottom of the Hudson. That's just how things go.

So, Utah, I hope you can accept my apology. Because you're a fun state with great people and pretty great snowboarding. And I've loved my last four years here. And that high elevation doesn't hurt when I want a tan in the summer either. And Jamba Juice. And Cafe Rio. And good concerts. And Zions National Park.

I digress.

Now that that's out of the way, I propose my manifesto: Give people (and states too) some time to surprise you, because chances are they will. Nobody is ever as simple as we make them out to be. I can't tell you the number of people who are surprised by my taste in music, art and other things just because I'm known to occasionally wear ruffles and heels. It's just a good thing I don't wear pink because that thrown into the mix too would result in some sort of brain overload, I'm sure.

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