Column: Imaginary community
(10/17/02 4:00am)
An old lady from Sydney asked where I was from. I was in Sydney for the weekend, but was a study-abroad student in Townsville. She laughed and then apologized, asking if I had learned any choice words from the rough and tumble North Queenslanders. She was, along with all of her neighbors, according to the filthy-mouthed ruffians I live with, a pretentious, "cultured" Sydneyite. While these people never met, they knew enough about each other to pass judgment.