We're all odd, aren't we?
OpinionTHE CAMPUS PRESSUpdated Monday, January 30, 2006 8:11 PM
Sunny Boulder, California
Katelin James
Staff Writer
There is an unusually insightful t-shirt floating around campus. In the beauty of simplicity the shirt reads: “the University of Colorado at Los Angeles.” Despite the intentions of the witty owner to proudly support or attack the campus mentality, the statement rightly articulates a general consensus.
To the avid VHI viewer, People reader, or Paris Hilton wannabe, Los Angeles California is summed up in about four adjectives: fabulous, wealth, chic and sexy. In such a stylish Mecca, designer names are as well known as those that wear them, greed is the norm and vanity is bliss. The image-obsessed mentality synonymous with Los Angeles offers a social commentary on the CU campus attitude so overtly vain that some unaffiliated genius made a t-shirt out of it.
Perhaps the 1,675 students that name California as their home state are to blame for infusing their mentality onto the pristine Colorado locals. There is a relatively high out-of-state population; many out-of-state students come from California or Texas. The on-line edition of the Princeton Review quotes students as identifying the CU campus as “a large visual disparity from the in-state students just lucky to have a chance to go here, to your Mrs. Beverly Hills decked out in the latest designer wear [and] Tiffany & Co. jewelry and driving the Mercedes her daddy gave her.”
The alfalfa sprout isn’t fooling anyone. Boulderites are often confused with second wave, pot totting, lefitist hippies; the campus maintains its seclusion from the more earthy locals. Very rarely are there campuses where Louis Vutton and Juicy Couture bags serve as backpacks, where not even a run for late night snack at the local eatery goes without the presence of fashion forward females competing for the biggest earrings or sparkliest tank. Only in the sunniest of states do the males maintain the same year long tan as the man-bag totting CU guy. Even the elusive affluent wannabe hippie dubbed the “trustifarian” rolls around in latest 06’ edition. An L.A. attitude compacted in the small five by five square mile basin of the regal Rocky Mountains is a lot like attending a drag queen convention. In the city the divas merge with the rest of the population and are more conspicuous, but fill a two-story building with them and divaness smacks like the obnoxious waif of Greeley round spring when farmers fertilize the onion fields.
The “University of Colorado at Los Angeles” is not just a social commentary on big attitude in a small town, but a real world reality. The shirt may as well have just said, “The University of Colorado at Austin” or “The University of Colorado at New York” or “The University of Colorado at Chicago”. The image-obsessed mentality adopted by the CU campus is not only a reflection of just Los Angeles, but every major city.
Where ever there are large populations with excesses of cash and the demand for luxury items lies a population saturated in image obsession. For those about to embark on grandeur adventures, B.A. in hand and big city in the horizon, those lessons learned outside the classroom such as the difference between nigiri and unagi, knowing Seven isn’t just a number, and mastering a good martini are attributes that don’t fit on resumes but equips the recent grad with a real world savvy. Perhaps, those Thursday nights at the Foundry, the frat-rat-packs, and the sheik “Tinkerbelle” totting diva in your 10 a.m. are educators too, like it or not.
home / news / 2006 / January
Sunny Boulder, California
Katelin James
Staff Writer
There is an unusually insightful t-shirt floating around campus. In the beauty of simplicity the shirt reads: “the University of Colorado at Los Angeles.” Despite the intentions of the witty owner to proudly support or attack the campus mentality, the statement rightly articulates a general consensus.
To the avid VHI viewer, People reader, or Paris Hilton wannabe, Los Angeles California is summed up in about four adjectives: fabulous, wealth, chic and sexy. In such a stylish Mecca, designer names are as well known as those that wear them, greed is the norm and vanity is bliss. The image-obsessed mentality synonymous with Los Angeles offers a social commentary on the CU campus attitude so overtly vain that some unaffiliated genius made a t-shirt out of it.
Perhaps the 1,675 students that name California as their home state are to blame for infusing their mentality onto the pristine Colorado locals. There is a relatively high out-of-state population; many out-of-state students come from California or Texas. The on-line edition of the Princeton Review quotes students as identifying the CU campus as “a large visual disparity from the in-state students just lucky to have a chance to go here, to your Mrs. Beverly Hills decked out in the latest designer wear [and] Tiffany & Co. jewelry and driving the Mercedes her daddy gave her.”
The alfalfa sprout isn’t fooling anyone. Boulderites are often confused with second wave, pot totting, lefitist hippies; the campus maintains its seclusion from the more earthy locals. Very rarely are there campuses where Louis Vutton and Juicy Couture bags serve as backpacks, where not even a run for late night snack at the local eatery goes without the presence of fashion forward females competing for the biggest earrings or sparkliest tank. Only in the sunniest of states do the males maintain the same year long tan as the man-bag totting CU guy. Even the elusive affluent wannabe hippie dubbed the “trustifarian” rolls around in latest 06’ edition. An L.A. attitude compacted in the small five by five square mile basin of the regal Rocky Mountains is a lot like attending a drag queen convention. In the city the divas merge with the rest of the population and are more conspicuous, but fill a two-story building with them and divaness smacks like the obnoxious waif of Greeley round spring when farmers fertilize the onion fields.
The “University of Colorado at Los Angeles” is not just a social commentary on big attitude in a small town, but a real world reality. The shirt may as well have just said, “The University of Colorado at Austin” or “The University of Colorado at New York” or “The University of Colorado at Chicago”. The image-obsessed mentality adopted by the CU campus is not only a reflection of just Los Angeles, but every major city.
Where ever there are large populations with excesses of cash and the demand for luxury items lies a population saturated in image obsession. For those about to embark on grandeur adventures, B.A. in hand and big city in the horizon, those lessons learned outside the classroom such as the difference between nigiri and unagi, knowing Seven isn’t just a number, and mastering a good martini are attributes that don’t fit on resumes but equips the recent grad with a real world savvy. Perhaps, those Thursday nights at the Foundry, the frat-rat-packs, and the sheik “Tinkerbelle” totting diva in your 10 a.m. are educators too, like it or not.
home / news / 2006 / January