It started out as a regular trip to the mailbox. I opened it up and saw a large manila envelope addressed to me. It was from the U.S. Chess Federation. I love to play chess, but I didn’t know I enjoyed it enough to attract the attention of the USCF. I opened it up and saw that they were offering me membership into their group. My immediate reaction was one of sarcasm. I pictured the nerds on the TV show “Saved By The Bell,” and immediately related them to the kind of people that would be federation members.

This kind of stereotyping is terrible. Actually, any type of stereotyping is terrible, why limit the terror? But I must admit I am guilty of this crime on more than one count. For instance, it seems perfectly natural for me to see a guy with perfectly cropped hair wearing a polo, and assume he has to be a member of a fraternity. As is well known, this is not always true.

This practice is common, and it ends up limiting the way people think and act. I would love to crash down some of the stereotypes that I get put into, especially the ones that are way off the mark.

I am from Iowa. I was born here. I’ve lived in this state for 19 of my 21 years. However, I do not farm. I do not have a pet pig. I do not own a single pair of cowboy boots nor do I have a ten-gallon hat. But when I tell somebody from another state or region that I am from Iowa, that is the picture they form of me.

People can’t learn anything about me after they hear I am from Iowa, due to this fuzzy mental image they have created. This picture has killed any chance of seeing the individualism within myself. People who think this way would never believe that I play bass guitar.

My mind is open enough to realize that geographical locations don’t necessarily dictate the way people are. True, Iowa is one of the richest farm states in the nation, but people that live here do have other interests besides reaping benefits from the soil. Just like every person from California isn’t a really bitchin’ surfer, a stereotype that I realize is false and one that California residents probably can’t stand.

Although I am not a farmer, I understand that they also share my pains about being stereotyped. They have been dubbed with the name “hicks.” Now according to the dictionary that rests on my desk, the definition of hick is “an awkward provincial person,” and it can also be used as a nickname for Richard. So either every single farmer was given the name Richard, or else they are considered awkward. What a wonderful way to think of the people that provide the nation with the food that keeps it going. Sure, there are some people in the farming profession that have some very different ideals, but most of the people that harvest the earth are just hard-working people.

Our individuality has been sacrificed by these stereotypes for years. Won’t you please help us get it back? The next time you decide to judge someone, open your mind, not your mouth.

Christopher Clair is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Waukon.