<a href="http://www.halfwaytonormal.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/3703451696_6240e92bdf.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-431" title="3703451696_6240e92bdf" src="http://www.halfwaytonormal.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/3703451696_6240e92bdf.jpg" alt="" width="455" height="453" /></a>
<h5 style="padding-left: 330px;">Photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/robertopia/">Robert Kostin</a></h5>
There are so many ironic things about human nature, but here's one I've been pondering the past few days: <strong>We want to be completely understood by others and we long to find our "tribe," yet we want to believe we're unique, and maintain the image of being somewhat mysterious.</strong>

I admit it. This is true of me.

That's why I was cringing/laughing/squirming/nodding as Jason and I looked at one of the books he brought home from the library the other day: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stuff-White-People-Like-Millions/dp/0812979915/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1210035787&amp;sr=8-1">Stuff White People Like: The Definitive Guide to the Unique Taste of Millions</a>. According to Christian Lander, the book's author, I'm not so unique. I'm pretty much a stereotype. And I'm VERY white. Almost seventy percent, in fact, according to the little survey at the end of the book.

<strong>To be honest, these are not things I wanted to find out about myself. I'm really "white," <em>and</em> I'm a cliche? </strong>Ugh.

I have read the <a href="http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/">blog by the same name </a>from time to time before, but until Jason brought home the book, I had never fully absorbed how much of <em>me</em> could be wrapped up in a book written by someone who's never met me. Luckily, Jason and I had plenty of good laughs as we looked at the book together and saw such precise portraits of ourselves. That sort of softened the dismay. A bit.

So here's the deal. The book includes 150 things white people like, 97 of which I have an affinity for. <strong>Coffee</strong> and <strong>Wine</strong>? Goes without saying. The <strong>Toyota Prius</strong>? I drive one. <strong>Bicycles</strong>? That's how I get around when I'm not driving my Prius. <strong>Dinner Parties</strong>? We fed 12 people last night, although it was super casual...but we DID eat outside (see below). <strong>Hating Corporations</strong>? Man, this guy's got my number.
<h4>A bit of personal commentary on stuff I really like:</h4>
<strong>- Farmer's Markets (also Organic Food):</strong> As Lander rightly points out, "White people like farmer's markets for a number of reasons," and he has my reasons pretty much nailed: supporting local economies and small businesses, buying direct from the farmer, eating healthily, and the social opportunity to interact with lots of people like me. All while spending time outside! (See below.)

<strong>- Diversity (also Having Black Friends and Having Gay Friends):</strong> I love diversity in my food, in my community, in my daughters' classrooms, in my music and movies, and especially in my friends. Jason and I happen to have a very diverse group of friends. Let me be very clear that we are not friends with these people <em>because</em> they are not like us. We're friends with them for the many ways they are like us, but we're also very glad for the diversity and broadened perspective they bring to our lives. (Please tell me I'm not getting myself into trouble here.)

<strong>- Making You Feel Bad for Not Going Outside (also Eating Outside):</strong> This one made me laugh. I'm a sucker for camping, taking walks and hikes, eating meals on the patio, urging my kids to play outside, and setting my computer up on the front porch so I can work outside. And don't forget the Farmers' Market!

<strong>- Wes Anderson Movies (also The Daily Show with Jon Stewart):</strong> This is about my particular sense of humor, more than anything else. And apparently it's not just my sense of humor. As Lander says, "Wes Anderson movies have this way of being sort of funny and a little clever." And I would add "quirky," "dry" and "ironic." Jon Stewart is funny and clever and also political and smart, a perfect combination. (In my defense, though, I don't just <em>pretend</em> to laugh. This type of humor actually causes me to laugh.)

-<strong> Not Having a TV: </strong>I'm starting to feel sort of embarrassed here, but it's true. We don't have TV. Well, we have <em>a</em> TV, which is necessary for the Indy movies and Netflixed TV series (also included in Lander's list), but we don't get any channels on our TV. We're really not trying to make a "better than you" statement, though. I just haven't had TV in my home since I lived with my parents, so I've sort of forgotten what that whole thing is about.

<strong>- Apple Products: </strong>What can I say? I'm a big fan. My first computer was a Mac Classic, bought in 1992, and I've never looked back. (And now, because I've shared my personal history with Apple products, I'm even more of a cliche. Nice.)

<strong>- Public Radio:</strong> I remember hearing endless public radio as a kid, in the car on long car trips with my parents. Especially Prairie Home Companion. My parents would chuckle. I would think "This is the dumbest, most boring time-waster I've ever heard." But it made its way into my blood. Now there's nothing I love more while cooking dinner or driving in the car than a good public radio show.

<strong>- Irony:</strong> This is another one that really cracked me up—our love for turning things we hate into sweet, sweet irony. Ironic themed parties, ironic knickknacks around the house or on our desk, ironic conversations that run in circles until they turn themselves inside out. It's all our idea of clever fun.

<strong>- Divorce:</strong> I'm not sure how this makes me "white," and I don't know anyone who "likes" divorce, but it certainly fits my profile. So there you have it.

<strong>- Threatening to Move to Canada:</strong> This is another one that's in my DNA, like Public Radio. I can't help it. When Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980, my dad said we were moving to Canada. Then I married a Canadian (my first husband), so it was as much a possibility as a threat for a while. But those were mostly the Clinton years. By the time I reached desperation again, in the early 2000's, my marriage was ending and I was back to empty threats.

<strong>- Modern Furniture:</strong> Ah yes, the Danish mid-century modern sofa: I have it. And the Eames molded plastic armchair with a rocker base, too.

<strong>- The New Yorker:</strong> I got hooked on The New Yorker magazine as a college student, when I was the poetry editor for the college literary magazine <em>(aside: I can't believe literary magazines are not listed in this book)</em>. I quickly observed that the Much Cooler, older members of the editorial staff all read The New Yorker. So I admit: I subscribed and started reading it for the wrong reasons. But in my defense (once again), I've been reading it ever since. What I'm trying to say is that I actually <em>read</em> it, with great anticipation and pleasure, every week. It's not just there on my coffee table to make me fit the stereotype.

There are many more things on the list that fit the bill, like these random aesthetic preferences: <strong>Glasses, Hardwoood Floors and T-shirts</strong>. I not only <em>have</em> all of those things, I have strong feelings about them. Now I'm trying to decide which ones I can give up, to diversify my persona a bit.
<h4>My saving "not-so-white" graces</h4>
Luckily, there are several categories in the book that don't fit me at ALL, allowing me to retain some of my sense of individuality and uniqueness: <strong>Religions Their Parents Don't Belong To, Hating Their Parents, Marathons, Snowboarding, Veganism/Vegetarianism, Lawyers, Bottles of Water, St. Patrick's Day, Rugby, and Having Children in Their Late Thirties</strong>, among others. Those, I just don't get.

And Jason is even more white than me, by about ten percentage points (wait, is that a good thing?). OK, how about this: after dinner last night, we had three of our friends who were there take the survey, and they were all only in the 20-30 percent range (one of the friends who took it is black, but he's been accused before of not being "black enough"). Anyway, that means we have friends who aren't exactly like us. Which is a good thing, right?

Obviously, this post, like the book that inspired it, is all in good fun. But it does raise some interesting questions, beyond the hard-to-resist "how white are <em>you</em>?" question.

For instance, <strong>is it more important to be understood and part of a tribe, or to be unique?</strong> Is it funny or disconcerting (or both) when someone nails your type so perfectly? And if you're not actually white at all, do you find this whole concept troubling or a hoot?