dale bridges

I don’t have a car, so I ride the bus a lot. I enjoy public transportation because it gives me the opportunity to shamelessly eavesdrop on other people’s conversations without them saying things like, “You’re creepy!” or, “I’m getting a restraining order!”

Yesterday I happened to jump on a bus filled with teenagers who must have been coming home from summer-school classes. Directly behind me, two girls were discussing a homework assignment, which involved the Civil Rights Movement.

Girl 1: I didn’t really understand the part about stereotypes. I mean, like, I know what “stereotypes” are, but I don’t understand what he [the teacher] really meant.

Girl 2: I know, it’s hard.

Girl 1: I know, right?

Girl 2: Totally.

Girl 1: Yeah.

Girl 2: I think it’s like when people label you.

Girl 1: Right… Totally… Right… Wait, what do you mean?

Girl 2: Well, it’s like, you know, when some people at school stereotype you as “pretty” and some people stereotype you as “smart.” It’s like that.

Girl 1: Oh, right. I get it.

Girl 2: Totally.

I thought about Rosa Parks getting on a similar bus in 1955. What courage it must have taken for her to stand up for all those people who had been unfairly labeled as “pretty” and “smart.” If she were alive today, I’m sure she would be happy to know that her legacy is being passed on to the youth of America.

And then I had a dream…

I had a dream that one day this nation would rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident that all popular girls are created equal.

I had a dream that one day on the white mountains of Boulder the daughters of former organic coffee-shop owners and the daughters of former llama farmers would be able to sit down together and watch “The Hills.”

I had a dream that one day even the state of Colorado, a dessert state, suffering from a lack of low-fat yogurt and non-dairy creamer, will be transformed into an oasis of thin people with nice tans.

I had a dream that these two Boulder girls would one day live in a nation where they would not be judged by the color of their lip gloss but by the contents of their Gucci bags.

I had a dream…

Abercrombie at last! Abercrombie at last! Abercrombie at last!