As an English major, I get a lot of stereotypes thrown at me. Some of them are accurate: introverted, reads all the time, actually enjoys writing. But some are just wrong. There are several things that people assume I love just because of my major, and I'm here to debunk their accusations.

I'll start with the biggest thing I think most people are surprised about. Everyone gather a collective breath here: I hate Shakespeare. You heard me. If I never have to read another painful line by The Bard again, I will be happy. Reading increases your capacity for empathy; as someone who frequently cries over fictional characters, I can attest to the validity of this. But I can soundly say that I have not once ever felt anything more than boredom and annoyance for a Shakespearean character or plot. And every time I hear someone call Romeo and Juliet a romance I want to shove the play down their throat until they understand the meaning of a tragedy.

Next up on my soapbox, I hate poetry. First of all, lines and lines of broken up sentences are terrible for someone with OCD tendencies. Also, fragments run rampant in poetry. And if you find yourself in the midst of nature poems you might as well just kiss your sanity goodbye. Every stepped-on leaf is a metaphor for something that makes no sense. Right now I can name only one poet that I genuinely like: Langston Hughes. He manages to talk about important issues without boring me to tears.

And lastly for this rant - theater. I'm convinced that my frequent insomnia could be cured by sitting me down in front of a play every night. I would like to say that it's the public setting that makes me uncomfortable and unable to focus on the scenes unfolding on the stage, but I've tried watching the same plays on television and online with the same results. It doesn't make much sense since I can read the same play and be thoroughly entertained, and I have no problem becoming engrossed in television shows and movies which are just modernized versions of plays. I've just resigned myself to the fact that it's a facet of my personality that I will never understand.

I could list a dozen other stereotypes that people have tried to attribute to me that are false, but then this rant would never end. So I'll end with this piece of advice: just because you are a part of something doesn't mean you have to agree with every single that is attributed to it.