In the Daily Brief yesterday I stated, quite provocatively, that the righteousness quotient had risen in the SCV as Master’s College students returned to the SCV. One reader took offfense:
So Jeff….you have “witnessed” TMC students all over town? How do you know they are from TMC? Are they all carrying Bibles, wearing signs and singing hymns? Are you stereotyping? I thought flaming lib types didn’t stereotype.
First of all, I’m honored you’d think of me as a “flaming lib.” I’ve worked hard to earn that title and it’s nice to see my work hasn’t been all for naught. I would have accepted “bleeding heart” or “commie pinko” as well, but I’ll settle for “flaming lib.”
Secondly: yes, it is just that obvious, literally. Let me give you an anecdote.
My wife and I (moreso my wife) are foodies. We love and appreciate good food. And as such, we appreciate Fish Tail, a Copperhill/Newhall Ranch Road Asian Fusion restaurant that specializes in great seafood entrees at a decent price.
One night we had a Fish Tail craving, but it was getting late. At 8:50 I rang the restaurant and begged them to take our order as we skedaddled north in our flaming liberal Subaru Outback, the official car of SCVTalk. They graciously said they’d stay open past 9 pm, as long as we ordered our food to go.
And when we arrived, they were true to their word, handing us a bag of delicious fishy entrees wrapped in styrofoam containers and bidding us adieu.
Naturally, we wanted to eat on site, but the restaurant was closed. So we snuck into the outdoor Chipotle dining patio, hoping our brown bags of food would fool the ever-present and helpful Chipotle employees. We had the entire patio to ourselves, and I looked forward to a great meal with the best of company, my lovely wife.
But then it happened. One by one, clean shaven, clean-looking college youth poured out of Chipotle. They said “Excuse me,” as they bumped my chair. They politely asked if we were using all our chairs. One of them did in fact carry a gold-leafed Bible. They didn’t cuss or swear and they wore crosses around their neck. Some of them had Southern accents, not unlike the ones I imagine Fred to have.
Soon, five of them grew to ten. Then 15. Then 25. We were surrounded by cleanly shaven, well-behaved college students. It was a Master’s College confab right there in the Chipotle patio. Naturally I blurted out, “Hey, are you Master’s College students and is this welcome week?”
“Yes” a few of them stated, grinning ear to hear, “How could you tell?”
So dear reader, to uninformed SCVers like you, maybe it’s not very obvious which college a 20-something youth in the SCV attends, but it is to me. When I worked as a bag boy at Lucky’s Grocer, I could totally tell the Master’s students apart from the CalArts student. The COC student, in contrast, looked like a high school student (I plead guilty), but Master’s students and CalArts student dressed the part and were easily identifiable by their behavior, dress, and mannerisms. Not that CalArts students weren’t well-behaved.
I think it’s really great that SCV has one of the most conservative Christian colleges in the USA (one or two steps left of Bob Jones U) and one of the most renowned, liberal art colleges in the USA too. It all adds to the spice of SCV life and makes me look forward to the fall season.
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