Volume CXXXII, Number 5 October 18, 2002 f

From Boulder to Brunswick
LARA JACOBS
COLUMNIST

For those of you winding down from parents weekend last Monday night, you might have caught the premier of Everwood on the WB. Originally excited by the prospect of a Colorado-based show, since many of the prime time sitcoms are set in the east, my enthusiasm quickly turned sour as I watched every stereotype of a small mountain town complete with two rival doctors play out. I cringed at the thought of what would be added to the list of pre-conceived notions people have about Boulder, Colorado and about me-living on a ranch, skiing to school, eating tofu, driving an SUV, camping most weekends.

The irony is that people in Boulder, including my pre-Bowdoin self, have just as many offbeat notions about Maine. For graduation I received at least five sets of hand and feet warmers for the "unbearably" cold winter I will soon be facing-explorers heading to the Yukon have fewer down vests and fleeces than are hanging in my closet. Many people picture rugged Mainers, decked out in their L.L. Bean outerwear, eating lobster for most meals.

Although humorous, these far-fetched scenarios are disturbing in what they say about Americans. According to David Brooks, author of Bobos in Paradise, in his essay from the November issue of the Atlantic Monthly, "Most Americans have entered their own little worlds of self-validation and know very little about their countrymen outside. . .Each segment of society becomes a purer version of itself as the nation as a whole becomes more static." Thus the problem with pre-conceived notions is that they evolve into stereotypes that in turn become judgments and prejudices.

In reality, I've never owned a pair of cowboy boots or ridden a horse, I can't stomach tofu and think SUVs are ruining the environment-my pre-orientation trip was my first time ever camping. The image of Boulder as a hippy-haven with plenty of LSD, marijuana, and dreadlocks is itself outdated-the Volkswagen vans were replaced with Audis years ago. Similarly, J. Crew or Banana Republic must give L.L. Bean a run for its money as the most traversed store in Freeport. So far, I've been wearing sundresses while it froze in Colorado, and I have actually met some Mainers who don't eat seafood, proving the ridiculousness of assumptions.

However, it has taken time to adjust to some of the actual differences between Bowdoin and Boulder. In Boulder, snobbery is based on materialism-what sort of car you drive or how large your house is, but here social hierarchies revolve around who you are-what county you're from in Connecticut, what prep school you attended, or what your parents do for a living. Although it's been difficult at times, getting out of my "social milieu," as Brooks puts it, has enabled me to base my opinions on observations rather than on stereotypes. If I hadn't ventured north (and east), I never would have learned the term "wicked" or experienced the faster pace of life here.

Conversely, the more we travel and observe other people and places, the more we discover who we are and appreciate where we come from.
So, to quote Brooks, "It would be nice . . .if everybody spent some time playing sociologist, and learned about the strangers who are our fellow citizens". Who knows, you might just learn something about yourself in the process.