Day 212 - "I Am Not A Stereotype"

May 5, 2011

Yes, my cultural identity is somewhat suspect.  I check "Hispanic" on standardized tests because my father is 100% Mexican.  But I've been told by several people that I might be the Whitest person they know.

Today is a great example.  It's Cinco De Mayo.  I didn't know this until my White friends told me.  My plan was to go to my local Starbucks and read "Super Sad True Love Story" on my kindle.  How gentrified.

Although, I did kind of doze off while I was reading my book.  I only napped for ten minutes, but the barista was giving me a pretty crazy look when I woke up.  I guess it's frowned upon to sleep at Starbucks.  

I was not reinforcing an ignorant stereotype.  

The coffee just hadn't kicked in yet.

Now that I'm awake (naps help with that), I will share with you an important message for recent college graduates.  Drew Magary drops some truth bombs wrapped in some very profane language in his advice to the class of 2011

"Worst of all, grad speakers usually give you one piece of advice that I personally can't stand, and here it is: Carpe Diem. Listen to any grad speech and you'll hear some variation of that. Seize the day. Live every second of life to the fullest. DON'T WASTE TIME.

This is the wrong advice. Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong. It's so wrong, I want to find any grad speaker who says it and kick them in the (redacted). But I'm not going to do that, because that would require research and travel and I don't like either of those things.
The fact of the matter is that wasting time is the single most important thing you can do as an American."

It sounds from the excerpt that Magary is only trying to be funny.  

But I think he makes a decent argument.  

It's definetely a fresh perspective.