To the Editor:
Reading the column, "Are You High Maintenance?" by Katie Shutzer '96 [Jan. 19] gave me an unnerving feeling that someone was once again perpetuating a stereotype that people on this campus really espouse such skewed elitist views.
As a member of the low maintenance group, I have to say that just because I get my hair cut at Walt & Ernie's does not mean I am unhygienic. It means that I simply want to spend my money elsewhere, rather than in Hanover's overpriced attempt to introduce Vidal Sassoon to the woods.
When Ms. Shutzer says "showering is optional on Weekday mornings" in order to signify low maintenance, the ringing of elitism deafens my ears. I apologize if I am a bit too tired to coif myself when I come back from two hours of newspaper delivery at eight a.m., six days a week. Maybe she should try to get a low maintenance job like some of the rest of us.
Another thing. I am from Texas. Therefore I am glad she has total knowledge of our state, and that she can declare we are all high maintenance. Shocking though it may be, some of the 18 million people who live in my state don't blow their money on what they regard to be meaningless trinkets (i.e. hair care products, jewelry, and an Imelda Marcos war chest full of shoes). But I wouldn't expect Shutzer to shy away from even the most obvious stereotypes.
So suppose that we want to declare who is high maintenance. See, at Dartmouth, we do things differently. It is appalling that a senior has to be lectured to by a freshman, BUT Friday's column earned this. When people spend money, they allocate on certain aspects of their life, which eliminates the maintenance idea. For some cool hikers gortex boots and North Face clothes are high maintenance. For mountain bikers Nishiki carbon frame bikes are high maintenance. For a music major, an expensive instrument. Thus, people maintain certain aspects of their lives "high" and others "low." That is of course, unless they farm money trees for a living.
But the worst offense Ms. Shutzer commits in the editorial is to introduce the idea that we all have to date within our maintenance group (socioeconomic group). I wonder if she would advocate the same position if it related to race or ideology? To borrow a cliche, which is a crime in writing, variety is the spice of life. It is our differences that make us share experiences. Your idea of economic isolation is outlandish. People should date whomever they find interesting, not the people who they are most similar to.
Oh yeah ... and I have a truckload of underwear in my chest of drawers. Funny, I actually enjoy spending less time with the washers and more time doing things on campus. Maybe I'll see Shutzer in a dorm basement coifing herself in the window of the dryers as her four pairs of underwear dry on the delicate cycle. Oh, but alas ... I am low maintenance and she is high maintenance. The fault is not in us, but in our stars!
