Montag, 31. August 2009

It's not just me.

I think that I may like commuting.

Yesterday I was at ZHAW, where I will attend classes starting September, in Winterthur. On the train trip home I instinctively grabbed the Blick Am Abend laying on the nearby seat and read the front page story. (Blick am Abend is one of the trashier of the free newspapers offered to commuters.) The story was about Caster Semenya and wether or not she is male or female. The choice of words in the headline turned my stomach. As one of the teenaged girls picked up the paper Ivo and my repetitive conversation about misinformation with the illusion of information due to these free newspapers. The girl who'd begun reading the paper guffawed at the "manly woman: when is a man a man?" headline and then started talking to her friend about women who walk around with short hair "-shorthair is cute what's your point?" her friend interrupted. The friend tried to explain that she meant those women who walk around in sports clothes. Before I could internaly groan her friend said "I have trouble understanding other people's styles too. Like, wearing tons of make up and tripping around on high heels, that's not for me." I was so relieved. I was preparing myself internally for hatefull ideas sprung up from the trashy newspaper but instead found myself being excited about all of the usefull things that I can learn eavesdropping on my daily commute. That, or I could just read my purchased newspaper, I suppose.