The other day, I was getting on the subway to go to work in the morning when I spotted a guy who seemed like a walking stereotype. He was a big, tall guy, with the physique of a football player. He had a baseball cap on backwards, and was wearing a t-shirt, khaki shorts and sneakers. He was drinking out of a red plastic cup, which perfectly completed the image of a fraternity guy rolling home after the previous night’s keg party.
Not exactly in line with the typical image of a sensitive, introspective, notebook-scribbling artiste, right?
And yet, what did I spy peeking out of the back pocket of those khaki shorts but a Moleskine city notebook! (I swear I have some kind of built-in radar that hones in on any notebook being carried by strangers around me…)
Anyway, this may say more about my own prejudices than anything else– who knows, maybe that guy was a poet, not a football player… or a poet AND a football player– but as always, I am glad to be reminded that all kinds of people use notebooks.