Identity???

For a long time my image of college students was people who are just old enough to be cool and had a radical, hippyish aura. They wore old jeans with multi-colored patches, long, flowy skirts, old birkenstocks, always carried a frisbee in their bags, hung out in coffee shops, and, if they were really working at the college student image, had a head full of unkept dreds.
I may have gotten this image from living in Claremont, CA, home of several prestigious colleges with brilliant students who did everything in their power to hide their wealth. However, this is not just a Claremont Colleges thing. These students also exist at Bethel and especially Goshen.
Since I've been in college, I have not really found myself fitting this image. These people exist at St. Olaf, but in less concentration because, well, St. Olaf is a Lutheran school in Minnesota named after a Norwegian King. St. Olaf students are too busy figuring out the most efficient layers for staying warm outside in the winter without suffocating in the classroom.

I don't usually associate myself with the birkenstock crowd, but today I looked at myself and came to a profound realization.

My hair is so short that at a first impression in bad lighting some people think I'm my brother

Today I was also styling a timeless fashion taboo: socks with sandals (something Phillip would never do). The weather is great, but cold toes ruin the pleasure of being outside. Worn out teva sandals, socks and sweatpants are perfect for fall days. I am also the proud owner of a holly pair of pants, not because I can't patch them or buy new ones, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Last year someone called me a feminist, which caught me off guard but then I realized that perhaps it's true.

Just to finish off the package, I added a nose stud. It was a choice between piercing my nose or my eyebrow, and I figured my nose was more subtle and less painful. It is indeed subtle, but it's there nonetheless.

The college image snuck up on me! Now I need to decide if that's really me, which is amazingly tough because I don't know if the outside matches the inside. However, the inside is even more confusing than the outside! I suppose it was me who made these decisions, and I'm okay with it for now.