loud bus-talkers

so.  8 or 9 in the morning.  on the early morning bus ride (okay it's not THAT early... but it's full of sleepy undergrad students...) from the saint paul campus into the east bank minneapolis campus.  and notta-one person on the bus is talking.  until we get to the last saint paul stop and pick up another group of students.  enter loud phone talker.

at first it was startling because i thought he was talking to himself.  then i realized his old-school headphones were actually some sort of blue tooth.  then, seeing as he was making the ONLY NOISE on the whole entire bus and speaking VERY loudly, i decided i might-as-well listen in.

at first he talked about different interviews he'd had around the country and how well he'd done at them.  then he talked about his son and how, since they'd probably stay in minnesota until he is 18, it might be interesting for him (the dad) to go to school (i'm guessing med school..?) in a very different place.

then things got really annoying.  he referenced a possible move to Starkville, Mississippi.  first he started off with a monologue about how in Starkville, they have this old-school mindset and put all their jails in the middle of the town so everyone can see who's in jail.  and you can just drive by and see who is in it!! (the horror!)  and can you believe there are places that still have that old southern mindset?! 

then he continued that they'd be able to find a nice home on 5-acres for $500 a month.  because that's what everyone in starkville, ms lives on because of the feral dogs. you can't go outside at night to walk your dog because feral dogs will attack.  so you have a nice fenced-in 5 acre lot that you can walk your dog on. 

okay, so i'm not from starkville... and i haven't lived there.  so maybe every person lives in a cheap, 5 acre lot to avoid feral dogs and drives by the open-air jail every morning to see who is in it.  but i seriously doubt that. 

there are old-school ideas alive and well in the south, yes.  but please, sir.  do not pretend like you know what it's like until you've lived there. or assume that giving inmates fresh air (usually on secluded highways) is to expose and embarrass them.  it's easy to pretend to know what other cultures and people are like.  these things take time. and patience.  and a willingness and receive and learn and adapt instead of assume.