1) I didn't bother to apply to Harvard since they didn't have anyone doing what I was interested in for grad school.
Since I was offered (and turned down) grad fellowships (not TA positions) at two other Ivies, I'm not concerned. (Good thing I didn't go there, too, given what happened to Larry Summers.)
2) So if y'all are both Ha-vahd and Te-hey-ax-an, how do you handle having a simultaneous inferiority complex and superiority complex? Do alternate sneering at yourself and beating the crap out of yourself? :-)
It'd be really interesting to hear your accent.
However, I am sure that you know that your reasoning is a hasty generalization. Your opinion of the Harvardites and Texans YOU HAVE KNOWN or known of may be true or those opinions may be shaped by your predisposition to that view. I suspect the latter. Have you ever thought that perhaps your opinion of them influences their reaction to you?
No, because the ones I have known acted like that to me before I knew where they were from; and I have observed the same ones acting like that to other people.
I have some juicy examples but I cannot tell them because it would embarrass the people involved (too easy to figure out real-life identities if they were told).
Secondly, I have observed others (e.g. conservative party reptile P.J. O'Rourke, or Miami Herald columnist Dave Barrry) recounting their interactions with these people and describing much the same behaviour. True, it is a generalization, but generalizations only work in humour if they are based in fact. That's why many of the attacks on Sarah Palin fall flat.
Full Disclosure: the synapses just clicked on your FR handle. Are you by any chance a Limbaugh fan?
Cheers!
Just to ensure that you respect me even more, I am a Texas Limbaugh fan. :-)
I like O’Rourke and Barry. Have they been slamming us poor Texans?