May I Please Cross the Street in Peace?

I am consistently puzzled by the fact that males believe it is ok to yell at females from car windows, construction sites, across the street, and numerous other public areas. Why is this an acceptable form of communication? Furthermore, why is this such an easy form of communication for them?

If you are a female living in Columbia, then you may have experienced this annoying phenomenon while crossing Gervais or Lady Street in the Vista or Harden Street in Five Points. It happens everyday around here. While some people may think it is flattering, it bothers me so much. All I am thinking when I cross the street, in addition to the soundtrack to my life that is continuously playing in my head, is “Please God, don’t let this be the day that I eat the pavement.” I think that thought is running through my head twice as fast when I am wearing my black stilettos and attempting to cross the street. When you hear something unexpectedly, it throws everything off.

I live downtown so I have the pleasure every morning and afternoon of risking my life crossing Assembly Street to get back to my apartment. One day last week, I parked my car and was waiting in the middle of Assembly Street to cross. I had just returned from meeting with a customer in North Carolina so I was more dressed up than usual. I was so excited that the fall weather had finally started to settle in Columbia so I was able to wear my brand new pink trench coat that I got in La Jolla a few months ago. So, I am patiently waiting to get the cross walk sign and minding my own business when I get completely thrown off. A guy drives by in his pick-up truck and yells out to me, “Hey, I like your coat!” Not the usual comments that one would expect but still annoying

Ok, there are two obvious things wrong with this situation and why I have considered it something that would happen “Only in Columbia”: 1) Yelling out of a car at a complete stranger and 2) Driving a pick-up truck and commenting on someone’s attire. Really? Let’s not forget I was wearing a bright, pink coat. It completely threw me off and I really just stood there asking myself if that just happened to me. For the record, I wore the same coat today and it did not happen again.

Apparently, only in Columbia, can you get a comment from someone in a pick-up truck about a bright pink coat.

Welcome to Only in Columbia

Welcome to my first blog, Only in Columbia! This has been in the works for a few months now and I have finally taken the steps to make it happen after some encouragement from a few friends. I would like to credit L. Leighton for the title of this blog. From time to time, I will have friends living in other cities (NYC, Charlotte, Charleston, Greenville) post observations of the random things they see in their towns.

First, some background about myself. I consider myself a fairly observant person. I can spend hours watching people walk by the window at a coffee shop or watching people hang out in a bar. My ability to be content with sitting still and observing social behavior has a lot to do with my experiences as a sociology major in undergrad. For example, I once spent an entire semester at a local park observing people walking their dogs on Sunday afternoons and seeing what social interactions occured from it. You would be surprised at the number of conversations that were sparked from someone walking their dog. I also spent another semester observing doctors and nurses in a local hospital and their interactions with fellow staff and families of patients. I will also never forget my first taste of qualitative research my sophomore year of college: traveling to the Little Five Points area of Atlanta every Saturday and observing the behavior of street vendors. I met some very interesting characters that I will never forget.

I really don't know what it is but I sometimes see the most random, amusing things around Columbia or those things end up happening to me. My first instinct after processing the event is to pick up my phone, share my news, and laugh about it with someone else. Of course, it's never the same as witnessing it first hand but it's somewhat close. So I began to think, why not start a blog where I can record the random things I see and experience and share it all at once. Brilliant!

I am not going to backtrack the random things I have seen recently but here is a quick run down that also gave inspiration to moving forward and starting this blog:

1. The family at Publix who were very concerned if the strawberries they were purchasing were organic or not which then caused a traffic jam in the produce section. Once I passed their cart, I peered in and discovered that not only were they purchasing Kashi, Amy's, and other whole grain/organic products but they also had a stack of Lunchables! Really!?

2. The student at Starbucks who left their laptop on a table unattended for an hour while he stood outside talking on the phone. I do have to admit, I had a bad habit in undergrad of leaving my personal belongings in the library while running to the DH for a meal but at a public, off campus business? Really!? Not too smart. He is lucky I am a nice person and watched his things.

3. Finally, we all know there are some random things going on in SC politics not to mention the random protests in front of the state house with large pictures of things you really don't care to see first thing in the morning (for all of you who drive down Gervais in the morning, you know what I am talking about). I am going to try to not bring politics into this blog but I can't promise anything if I see something random and off the wall.

That's all I have tonight. I hope you enjoyed my first post and stay tuned for more interesting things to come.