as a follow up to part of my previous post, i will direct you elsewhere. to get an idea of just how isolated University Park/Highland Park is, take a gander at sh-n’s post on the mysteriously missing gays at our alma mater. (just fyi, the part i’m interested in is after a funny little ramble about her aunt’s old car.)
to give you a further idea, i will give you a personal anecdote. i was a very lower middle class kid when i matriculated at smu. very used to seeing the poor and lower-class daily. after 4 years there, i was honestly shocked at how many “ugly” people there were in the world. it took a good year or so to get used to it again. living in a bubble will do funny things to a person.
I’m assuming you’re not talking about ugly on the inside.
sadly, no. just people who don’t meet our cultural/media imposed standards of “pretty”.
thank google that, as the ex-duck in monty python said, “i got over it”.
wait, wasn’t that a newt?
it is strange to be surrounded by incredibly stunningly beautiful people ALL THE TIME. it becomes the new normal, even as you are aware of it given that you are one of the horrid horrid few who can’t afford perfect skin. seriously? how is it possible that 99% of the incoming first-year students, a slew of hormone-laden eighteen-year-olds have no acne whatsoever?
lasers, man. really expensive lasers.
even those without striking features made up for it. with money. and great hair.
so yeah, the world outside is jarring.
yes, it was a newt. i got my animals in the witch hunt story mixed up. color me shamed.
to add to what you’re saying, minxiebelle and i have discussed, probably ad nauseum, the whole rising tide lifts all boats effects of smu. we both (and you too) came to smu as relatively cute, but lacking certain pretty-making skills. by the end of four years, despite no direct access to it (i.e. no greek experience), we’d somehow absorbed the info and learned how to make ourselves prettier, too. it wasn’t conscious, but looking at the pictures, you can see the progression in make-up, hair, and clothes.