Eli Clare, in his novel, Exile and Pride, disputes the societal “norms” which he feels unjustly lead people to perceive themselves as abnormal or lesser than those around them.  These social constructs, Clare believes, create a falsified perception of not only what is normal, but unjustly align “normal” with “good” and “abnormal” with the word “freak.” Clare, in asserting that “freak” is a word that tears a rift between sects of society, and casts the differences in people in a negative light, challenges our preconceptions of what we deem “normal” and the consequences such word choice can have on those around us.

A hot topic at Haverford, and it seems at Bryn Mawr as well, is having a diverse student body that hails from a variety of backgrounds. To do this, selective schools such as BMC or HC accept certain high-achieving students from many different schools across the country and world. It is likely that students who are accepted to these schools have some kind of learner identity, as they must have done quite well in school to gain acceptance. Alternatively, they might not have performed amazingly in high school, but written some kind of essay that expressed what prevented them from achieving great grades, and why an education is important to them for the future. My question for this post comes from what happens after we have been accepted.

Here's the link to "A World Apart." I think it's especially interesting to look at the divide along City Ave in the Philly area. 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/local/2013/11/09/washington-a-world-apart/