Blog Days of August

As a freshman, I had some female friends who lived together in a nearby dorm. Their suite's bathroom, like all dormitory restrooms, was adorned with wipe-off messages and magazine clippings and PSA's about binge drinking and date rape and bulimia. I remember one of the stalls featured a printed copy of a forwarded email, taped right above the toilet paper dispenser. It contained an alphabetized list of boys' names, along with a pithy description of the person bearing that name. The tone of the descriptions could maybe be described as vaguely empowering, in that curious way that making fun of someone who hurt you can feel empowering.

Adams have weak handshakes. Bobbys only want you for your body. Calebs wet the bed.

I just made those up. The only one I remember for sure is D, and my memory is that D garnered the only positive description in the list: Daves are impossible to get over.

As an 18 year old with blossoming self-esteem issues, I found this extremely validating.