Opinion
Falcon stereotypes less evident than review says
September 20, 2007
I now have a great deal of admiration for Sociology majors. Anyone who is able to observe and understand human behavior in great detail and not go utterly insane is brilliant. I, however, am going utterly insane with every small societal realization. Although I haven’t been completely oblivious to the stereotypes found on UWRF’s campus, I have only recently realized just how recognizable they are to my peers.
The Princeton Review described our student body as “a mixture of farmers and eclectic hipsters.” In my home just off of campus my roommates (who, keep in mind, are truly caring individuals) had an even more detailed approach on these stereotypes.
“Oh yeah, I’ve had stuck-up horse-riding bitches in a lot of my classes,” acknowledged one of my roommates. I have gathered that these supposed conceited horse riders are most commonly attractive, talented individuals who are extremely (and not bashful about) their knowledge and familiarity with horses. Thus, because horses are found on farms, these young women must fall under the “farmer” stereotype in The Princeton Review.
My roommate’s boyfriend, a whisker-bleached, jean-wearer from Minneapolis, explained his experience inside the bars of River Falls. Apparently, he didn’t fit in too well with these “cowboy hat-wearers” and “their girlfriends with facial hair.” With a giggle, he told me that River Falls has a lot of “all-natural folk.”
It’s nice to know that The Princeton Review is at least half-right with their assumptions of the River Falls student body, but who are these “eclectic hipsters?”
They could very well be the mysterious one-eyed students who seem to be aimlessly wandering the paths of our campus with headphones blasting their favorite band (who, of course, they knew about way before they were on the radio).
Or perhaps “eclectic hipsters” are the marijuana-reeking art majors you will find in the back row of your Plants and Society class. When another source gossiped that these seemingly euphoric individuals, tangled in their hemp anklets, “probably (pronounced “prolly”) have some sort of sexually transmitted infection” I realized that, although these stereotypes have a lot of truth to them, they are mostly silly assumptions.
We are all individuals here on UWRF’s campus, despite what stereotypes are looming over us. And as an added bonus for the majority (farmers), even though “eclectic hipsters” might seem like the cooler stereotype to fall under, I’d take facial hair over Chlamydia any day. Go Falcons.
Annee Mayer-Chapleau is a junior studying creative writing. She loves astronomy and her main goal in life is to dance like David Byrne from the Talking Heads.