Tuesday night my older brother, now a New York City resident, flew back to Iowa for a visit. While his stay promised to be brief, I was enthusiastic at the thought of him spending a night here in Ames.

After a few calls, I was able to coax some of my cronies to meet us at People’s Bar and Grill. Following drinks and polite introductions, my brother unexpectedly leaned over to me and said, “Almost all the guys here have short hair.”

The randomness of his comment initially caught me off guard. Further discussion led to his observation that everyone of us appeared to have the same exact style and carry ourselves in a similar manner. There was simply no diversity.

As a devoted ISU student, I was not prepared to accept this claim from an outsider, especially a University of Northern Iowa graduate (talk about lack of bar-life diversity). But there was no denying the fact that everyone in that bar looked as though they had just finished reading the latest Abercrombie and Fitch catalog. Even I had managed to blend into the crowd of flairless dressers.

I decided to call over a friend, a People’s regular, to aid in the defense of lost diversity in the bar on this particular night. The two of us built a case around the old clich‚, “birds of a feather flock together.” We discussed the various crowds at the bars in campustown. I was embarrassed to admit that I too had fallen into the trap of stereotyping each bar its regular crowd. I started probing each drinker around me. While responses varied, they all summed up to the basic childhood cry of “I wouldn’t fit in.”

The comments of one particular guy stuck out from all the others during our discussion. “I just wouldn’t have anything in common with the people that went there (there can represent just about any bar that differs from what he has deemed to be the norm).”

College to me is an endless learning process. One learns through classes, friends, professors, literature, social settings and so much more. If I had taken the same class every semester during my entire four (O.K. five) years here, I would be really confident in my knowledge of that subject. I would feel comfortable with my opinions, answers and general comments. I would never be an outsider. Yet, I would never grow or change or learn anything new.

As students, we need to apply a desire to learn in our lives, both in and out of the classroom. Comfort and stability can be wonderful things, but growth, change and adjustment are the steps that lead us to be individuals.

Iowa State is one of the most diversified centers in state; economically, racially, academically and culturally. Take advantage of the opportunity to try something new. The only way we can start to accept something different is to be a part of it. Don’t just be another bird in the flock.

Ellyn Peterson is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Algona.