Intimidation

A few years ago, when I was in college, I was very intimidated by a woman named K.

K. was beautiful, smart and rich. She was scary as hell. Everyone in the department was scared of her, even some of the professors.

It's hard to pinpoint exactly what made her so intimidating. It wasn't that she was attractive, she was not a model or someone you would stop and stare at on the street. She was pretty smart, but she actually did not seem to be incredibly intelligent, she just studied her ass off. She did not flaunt her wealth, but it was clear she had a lot of money.

What made K. intimidating was that she was incredibly tenacious. She did not have to work outside of school. She did not have a family to take care of, all she did was study and work on her projects. K. dominated all her classes, and was a TA for several. Everyone knew who she was based on her aggressive nature. K. intimidated people by having an attitude that she was better than other people and because she worked hard, she did do very well, but she was not necessarily the brightest and best of the department.

But then I realized something and I was no longer intimidated by her. We were in the same freakin' place.

We were in the same department, we were getting A's in the same classes, we were TA's for the same classes. And oncemore, I was working toward a degree in another major from the one we had in common.

I bring this up because I have been confronted by a few people, both in and out of the scene, who have this same intimidating attitude. I just don't get it. We're in the same place. I'm on the same guest list as you. I'm in the same room at the private party as you.

I'm not intimidated by you. I just think you are a tool and look foolish.

So please don't try to out latex me or out intellectualize me. Chances are you may be more fetish than me or even smarter than me, but maybe you are not. And considering we are in the same place, that must mean we have similiar interests and have similar friends--we probably have something in common.

So let's have a conversation. I really look forward to it.