The Other 99%
[ I have some privacy at work for the next 90 minutes or so, so I'm going to add one (or possibly more) posts that have been kicking around in my head for a while. Sorry for the delays - I'm swamped at work and at home, and my home computer's been unplugged for a couple weeks anyway while Kenyon and I -- well, mostly Kenyon -- paint my place. ]
I don't think of myself as a whole lot smarter than the rest of the world. All those tests in high school, I usually came out in the top 1% of things, yes, but so did all of my friends. There were kids a heck of a lot smarter than me in high school too, so -- despite the insistence of Mom to the contrary (Hi Mom!) -- I tended to think the 1% thing was no big deal. But every now and then I'd go out into the world, outside of my freakishly smart high school classrooms, and discover that maybe it did mean something after all.
This story is about one of those times: yesterday, on my way home from the gym, on the L.
I'm sitting in the first seats off the doors, facing sideways. Right next to me is the first row of seats that faces "forward" (well, backwards that day). There are two young ladies in those seats, backs to me. They look/sound to be 20-somethings, and very Lincoln Park. Blonde, leggy, minimally clothed for hot summer weather, talking about bars and dating, that kind of thing. (My favorite.) I sit back and read my magazine and try to tune them out. And I do a fairly good job, until I happen to hear one of them say:
"How do you spell 'etch'? E-A-T-C-H?"
(Hey, at least she got the 'T' in there.) Turns out she was working - very hard, I might add - on a crossword from a puzzle book. (A crossword that had lots of 3-letter words, too. Not exactly the NY Times Sunday puzzle.) Her friend helped her out though, and spelled "etch" for her out loud so she could fit it in the puzzle. She also explained what etching was. ("You know, like, lines on glass.") And then she stood by and assisted for each of the next several clues, very patiently, like she was helping a 3rd grader with her homework.
I just stared at them, dumbfounded, until the train pulled up to my stop.
I don't think I'm being overly egotistical here when I say that this is a prime example of "the other 99%" in action. Good lord.
--J
I don't think of myself as a whole lot smarter than the rest of the world. All those tests in high school, I usually came out in the top 1% of things, yes, but so did all of my friends. There were kids a heck of a lot smarter than me in high school too, so -- despite the insistence of Mom to the contrary (Hi Mom!) -- I tended to think the 1% thing was no big deal. But every now and then I'd go out into the world, outside of my freakishly smart high school classrooms, and discover that maybe it did mean something after all.
This story is about one of those times: yesterday, on my way home from the gym, on the L.
I'm sitting in the first seats off the doors, facing sideways. Right next to me is the first row of seats that faces "forward" (well, backwards that day). There are two young ladies in those seats, backs to me. They look/sound to be 20-somethings, and very Lincoln Park. Blonde, leggy, minimally clothed for hot summer weather, talking about bars and dating, that kind of thing. (My favorite.) I sit back and read my magazine and try to tune them out. And I do a fairly good job, until I happen to hear one of them say:
"How do you spell 'etch'? E-A-T-C-H?"
(Hey, at least she got the 'T' in there.) Turns out she was working - very hard, I might add - on a crossword from a puzzle book. (A crossword that had lots of 3-letter words, too. Not exactly the NY Times Sunday puzzle.) Her friend helped her out though, and spelled "etch" for her out loud so she could fit it in the puzzle. She also explained what etching was. ("You know, like, lines on glass.") And then she stood by and assisted for each of the next several clues, very patiently, like she was helping a 3rd grader with her homework.
I just stared at them, dumbfounded, until the train pulled up to my stop.
I don't think I'm being overly egotistical here when I say that this is a prime example of "the other 99%" in action. Good lord.
--J
posted by Call Me Joan @ 11:43 AM
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