Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is that if you give the world a hint
Speaker 1: about your affiliations, you may be able to connect with
Speaker 1: other people who share those affiliations. That can be a
Speaker 1: very cool thing. Indeed, so of all the bumper stickers
Speaker 1: out there, I encountered a new one recently, Hank, if
Speaker 1: you passed PIKM. In case you haven't taken or passed PIKEM,
Speaker 1: and I definitely haven't, I can tell you that PIKM
Speaker 1: stands for physical chemistry. This tends to be a particularly
Speaker 1: demanding course and one that is less commonly taken and
Speaker 1: passed than say, organic chemistry, which prospective physicians to take.
Speaker 1: Hence the bumper sticker inviting you to honk if you've
Speaker 1: passed PEAKM, that means you are part of a small
Speaker 1: club of serious chemists. I love imagining a person who
Speaker 1: just passed PIKM seeing that bumper sticker and honking proudly.
Speaker 1: Maybe the person with the sticker on her car waves
Speaker 1: back into solidarity. It feels great to find our people.
Speaker 1: If there are affiliations or experiences that are important to you,
Speaker 1: especially ones that are less common in your particular town.
Speaker 1: Consider offering a hint of them so you can find
Speaker 1: people who share them. Bumper stickers like the piakam one
Speaker 1: are a way to do that. Lots of people have
Speaker 1: stickers from their alma maters, whether high school, college, or
Speaker 1: graduate or professional schools. Sports stickers are common too. They
Speaker 1: can help you find the other Eagles fans, for instance,
Speaker 1: which may be common near here in Philadelphia but perhaps
Speaker 1: not so common in say Boise vacation destination. Stickers can
Speaker 1: foster a sense of connection too. If you have an
Speaker 1: ac K sticker on your car, other people who love
Speaker 1: Nantucket may feel connected and say hello. Hanging a flag
Speaker 1: outside your home is another way to share your identity.
Speaker 1: Perhaps alongside an American flag, you could display a flag
Speaker 1: from your family's country of origin or from your favorite university.
Speaker 1: Maybe you are from ann Arbor but live in Nashville,
Speaker 1: if you want to meet more Michigan fans, even if
Speaker 1: you went to Vanderbilt yourself. I have a hunch that
Speaker 1: hanging a University of Michigan flag by your front door
Speaker 1: would help neighbors, dog walkers, joggers, and others who are
Speaker 1: from Michigan, attended the University of Michigan, or just root
Speaker 1: for the Wolverines will likely introduce themselves if they pass
Speaker 1: by and spot you working in the yard. Nashville doesn't
Speaker 1: feel so distant from ann Arbor, after all. If bumper
Speaker 1: stickers and flags aren't for you, consider T shirts, sweatshirts, hats,
Speaker 1: water bottles, coffee cups. We sport all sorts of logos
Speaker 1: all the time. Why not make them mean something. When
Speaker 1: you literally wear your affiliations on your sleeve, you are
Speaker 1: more likely to find people who share them. My husband
Speaker 1: is a Texas A and M alum, which is not
Speaker 1: especially common here in Pennsylvania. Anytime he wears A and
Speaker 1: M gear, it tends to turn up other Aggie fans.
Speaker 1: Have you met anybody or made new friends by announcing
Speaker 1: your identity, whether on a T shirt or a bumper
Speaker 1: sticker or something like that. I'd love to hear about it.
Speaker 1: You can read at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to before breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas or feedback.
Speaker 1: You can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
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