electroconnectorpersonalshazambam

one of the things i like least about new england, or it may be just new england college towns and campuses, or maybe even only this specific new england college town and campus...anyway, sometimes i feel wildly deprived of stranger interactions, especially eye contact and small-talk. walking around middlebury, you can tell when someone approaching you has resolved to interact with you as little as possible. there is the fifteen feet away look at the ground, the fiddle with the ipod, the initiation of a phone conversation...all hints that this person thinks it'll be better for all involved, and certainly less awkward, if you don't even look each other in the eye. sometimes i want to shake these people. i want to hug them, and say "HEY! i'm a person! you're a person! isn't it cool that we have that in common! plus, say, ain't we walking down the same street together on the very same day? there's that, too!" (i may have borrowed a few words from my husband, paul simon, there...hopefully he'll forgive me, the peach. seriously. i just feel like if i had the chance to, i could connect with, on some level, every person i ever see. i'd love to sit down with them and ask them whether they like to wish on eyelashes too, whether they floss their teeth, and if they do, do they do it before or after they brush, whether they love gmail, whether they hate mustard, until we find something that we feel the same about. i don't think it'd take very long. with anyone! ANYONE! but, i can't even get some eye contact.

the worst part is that i'm totally socialized into it, myself. today is a strong day of resistance to the avoiding way. sad.