You can't deny local culture and values. And there's the rub, too, that we keep ironically whiffing on. Ib seeks acceptance. Let everyone with experience answer the following questions about acceptance.

1. By local customs, culture and values, who would be treated in a friendlier manner by everyday people on the streets?

A) A New Englander visiting someone in the south
B) A southerner visiting New England

2. An African-American is more likely to be middle-class in:

A) Utterly confirmed red state, Atlanta, GA
B) Utterly confirmed blue state, Boston, MA

3. Marlboro College says their mission "is best served when students experience a wide variety of ideas, opinions and cultural backgrounds." Do you expect that Marlboro College has a very wide variety of ideas, opinions, and cultural backgrounds?

A) Um maybe
B) Are you kidding me.

4. If Ibby goes to Marlboro, will he be permitted to turn his guitar up above 3?

A) Sure, why not? His dulcet tones will be heard throughout the wood-construction house-style living areas.
B) No, this chick will surely cast the deciding negative vote at the Town Meeting.

http://cellar.org/2007/woman-at-town-meeting.jpg

5. If Ibby goes to Marlboro, will he get laid?

A) No, these chicks have a lot of baggage; their sexual harrassment policy is 5000 words long and includes a compliance coordinator and a official board of six people
B) He'll probably get all 330 of the students, male and female, and two-thirds of the professors.

I can deny that they apply as a blanket characteristic of all people within a geographical region; and this is relevant because within each region, the poulation is so varied that everyone has plenty of like-minded people to interact with. So much so, that your very own circle of friends becomes, to you, what the "local" values are (considering the population density, and the very small number of people we actually encounter on a daily basis) ...

That doesn't help when dealing with the cops, the 7-11 counter guy, random shitholes at a local bar, etc.

I'll give you the cops (as a possibility), but the 7/11 guy can fuck himself - he has no power over you.
Don't like the bar you're at? You're at the wrong bar. People who don't like each other don't go to the same bars.

You'll have to give me an "etc." ...

Oh my god, flint. I'M NOT SAYING THAT SOUTHERNER = CONSERVATIVE. I don't think that your political beliefs would magically change, but guess what? Your NEIGHBORS would be different, and a lot more likely to be conservative.

If you uprooted your ass from a bar stool and moved to another bar, would your political beliefs, magically change because you were drinking somewhere different?

Or are you saying that some bars have more conservatives than others?

I don't have to guess. I live here.

I'm saying that there are different bars for different types of people. You didn't know that there are Biker Bars, Sports Bars, and Gay Bars, etc. ???

And if you feel that a certain bar may not be for you, due to a preponderance of one sort of attitude or another, you may have a preference for a different bar, I suppose.

Dude (or dudette), you've gone crazy. All this guy was trying to say is he doesn't want to go to school in the south because the south is conservative. That doesn't mean that everyone's more conservative, it just means the majority is.

I think maybe that's code for being gay friendly. Of course you are right, it is probably a very insular place. But I think that can be a good thing, depending on what you want from a school.

Ibram is artsy fartsy, liberal, and bi. He seems to be saying in this thread that he wants an artsy fartsy liberal school in Vermont. A place where he fits in. Insular can be good when you feel like you don't fit in with the real world. It's the same theory behind all black schools like Morehouse and all female schools like Smith. You have an easier time learning when you are in your comfort zone.

Marlboro seems to fit that well.

Isn't that Ibram?

Good advice glatt. I would hope that any sufficiently large school would provide a safe community for our guy, but with this one that seems assured.

Getting Dad to pony up may be an issue though...

I don't blame Ibram for wanting to go to school with a more liberal atmosphere because that is one of the biggest things about college. You can have a college that is mostly liberal and still have a conservative feel to it because of a lack of progressive action. Schools like Vermont (I'm assuming) and Minnesota have a lot of liberal action which gives it a much more liberal feel that I'm sure Ibram is looking for.

glatt I believe that the college folk, if they do not want to waste their money, should feel good about digging in with their own gender - and maybe nothing else.

College is a place to learn to think, not to dig in. It's a time to stretch and be stretched. To try on all kinds of ideas, including reaching to understand the ones you don't agree with.

B

B

A (probably)

A

B (chicks with baggage are easy :D )