Dear Younger Self
Right now you are most probably attempting (rather unsuccessfully as I recall) to study for your final Mathematics paper and have fallen into one of your deep fantastical reveries. Why you continued on higher grade and how you will pass with a C is still baffling considering the amount of daydreaming that has already crept and will continue to creep into your study hours. I don’t want to disturb your scurrying imagination but I think it might be better if I give you a little bit of insight into your future to prevent you from experiencing too much of a disappointment at how misled your view of life at Rhodes really is. You are now, as I was, under the misconception that Rhodes is a dreamlike, inconceivably liberal place, devoid of the things you hate so much about your hometown. It might well not be as closed-minded as ‘die klein dorp wat Srings genoem is’ but a surprisingly large number of infected rats have, unfortunately, found their way into the Rhodent community. It is still different though: you certainly won’t have to witness as much blatant prejudice-driven acts and attitudes as you do now, but the closed-minded mentality lurks here as it does everywhere in the world. Unfortunately
there aren’t the 3000 or so hippies you expected: only a minority of dread-locked, bear-footed or sack-wearing inhabitants. Prejudice exists here even though it is a lot more undercover than you’re used to. You will discover that this is actually worse because you’ll become frustrated as you won’t know what to do about it. You won’t be able to be what is termed ‘weird’ without being labeled and placed in the minority group or at the very least given a few puzzled looks. And finally, although I don’t think this will deter you, you will get looked at ‘funny’ if you dye your hair green.
Good luck mini me,
Amy Green (from the future).
Right now you are most probably attempting (rather unsuccessfully as I recall) to study for your final Mathematics paper and have fallen into one of your deep fantastical reveries. Why you continued on higher grade and how you will pass with a C is still baffling considering the amount of daydreaming that has already crept and will continue to creep into your study hours. I don’t want to disturb your scurrying imagination but I think it might be better if I give you a little bit of insight into your future to prevent you from experiencing too much of a disappointment at how misled your view of life at Rhodes really is. You are now, as I was, under the misconception that Rhodes is a dreamlike, inconceivably liberal place, devoid of the things you hate so much about your hometown. It might well not be as closed-minded as ‘die klein dorp wat Srings genoem is’ but a surprisingly large number of infected rats have, unfortunately, found their way into the Rhodent community. It is still different though: you certainly won’t have to witness as much blatant prejudice-driven acts and attitudes as you do now, but the closed-minded mentality lurks here as it does everywhere in the world. Unfortunately
there aren’t the 3000 or so hippies you expected: only a minority of dread-locked, bear-footed or sack-wearing inhabitants. Prejudice exists here even though it is a lot more undercover than you’re used to. You will discover that this is actually worse because you’ll become frustrated as you won’t know what to do about it. You won’t be able to be what is termed ‘weird’ without being labeled and placed in the minority group or at the very least given a few puzzled looks. And finally, although I don’t think this will deter you, you will get looked at ‘funny’ if you dye your hair green.Good luck mini me,
Amy Green (from the future).
1 comments:
Hey greenas!
I must agree with you. We all had preconceived ideas of Rhodes being liberal paradise, but alas, all has not turned out to be what we wished. Judging faces do meet you when, as a black man, you walk around holding a white girls hand. The owners of puzzled eyes do reject you when you walk around with a tie hanging from your waist-line. But one thing I have found comfort in at Rhodes is that there is no malicious intent in those judging eyes. Coming from a small town and an old-boys school I have experienced that image is everything and people can and will do anything to make you conform. But here at Rhodes the glares and snickers are purely out of ignorance and nothing more. People don’t understand nor do they care so they still let you get on with your life whilst they got on with theirs. As for not knowing what to do about it and being frustrated-there’s no need. Let us ‘weird people’ be who we are whilst the normal lead their boring lives.
Keep it strange
Big Sexy
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