Tweet Happy

This post is a bit overdue since we talked about this in orientation yesterday morning, but the past few days have been incredibly packed.

Nevertheless, we've got our first American stereotype!

The tutors for our program are primarily from Oxford. So let's all just take a moment and imagine what an Oxford professor supposedly looks like.

Got it? Good. Now let me guess...

Old man, silver haired, glasses, smokes a pipe, tweed jacket with the elbow patches. He's not quite sure what "the internet" means. Perhaps he's like a British Harold Bloom and thinks every time a university student reads Toni Morrison instead of Herman Melville, it kills a bunny.

In addressing our stereotypes of Oxford professors, the director of the program decided to mention his own stereotype of an American professor.

First off, it's a woman. She's probably in her 40s, but looks much younger and drives a SmartCar or a VW Beetle or maybe a red convertible. She tweets her students.

So, there we have it. While I have yet to notice someone reacting to my personal American-ness, I'm definitely hearing some interesting generalizations. While we think of Oxford as the land of your traditional OMP, the British see America as the epitome of the YFP.

(PS--I imagine Dr. Gary Richards suddenly feels very pleased with himself and doesn't quite know why, thanks to that last sentence.)