She was blonde and ditzy. She openly expressed her confusion while others quietly rolled their eyes. Her hard courses and high test average came as a surprise to anyone that looked, it had been like that since she was a kid in grade school. She followed after her older brother who’s intelligence no one ever questioned. She tried her hardest to not notice the shock on peoples faces when she began to talk and more came out of her mouth than a fumbling mess. She worked quietly at home and sat silently in class as she got older. Teachers commented on her brothers aggressive participation and urged her to be more like that. She tried her best but no one took her opinions seriously so eventually she stopped sharing. She is not ditzy, but everytime she opens her mouth she quickly shuts it so not to be made fun of for her confusion. The struggle she has with physics comes as no surprise to anyone but the what really surprised people was her placement in the class in the first place.

I am blonde and ditzy, I have an older brother whole excels with no effort and I slowly learned that the comparisons would follow. I try my best to succeed in the classes I take but most importantly I try my best to help other succeed around me. My whole life my success has been compared to and measured against that of my brothers which consequently has discouraged me in school work or in other ways.  My brother is smart and somewhat successful yes but the comparisons are tiring and relentless. People look at me and assume that what I say will be irrelevant and not well thought out and I have grown accustomed to the looks of surprise when I have something genuinely intelligent to say. Maybe this is because I am blonde or because I openly express my confusion but the conclusions drawn about me before I even open my mouth are the ones that damage the most. I am blonde but I am not ditzy.