es without saying.

I think that it is kind of disappointing that we still put so much emphasis on appearance. If I am smart and do my job well it should not matter if I want to wear converse shoes. I should be praised for my individuality and refusal to conform to the constraining expectations of the business world.

I am a young professional who has had a difficult time fitting into the mold of the working professional. I am a creative, free-spirited twenty-something and I have felt like an alien in office environments. Everyone around me is a few decades older than I am and I see and feel the difference more easily between myself and the other women.

Most of the women I work with are from a completely different generation and it shows. I feel as though I am surrounded by cutouts from the nineteen-fifties. They look the part and speak with a softness that can only have come from a time that women were meant to be quiet. I am not like these women and there is an obvious disconnect between us.

I used to wear a pair of converse shoes every single day. I began wearing them in middle school and wore them all the way

through college. Wearing converse shoes was almost a personality trait of mine or at least they seemed to signal to others

what kind of personality I had.

I have worn my converse shoes to the office on more than a few occasions. I have gotten disapproving looks from the older women who must not appreciate what converse shoes stand for. I don’t think that I can really encapsulate what their symbolic

meaning is, but for those in the know, it goes without saying.

I think that it is kind of disappointing that we still put so much emphasis on appearance. If I am smart and do my job well it should not matter if I want to wear converse shoes. I should be praised for my individuality and refusal to conform to the constraining expectations of the business world.

d the other women.

Most of the women I work with are from a completely different generation and it shows. I feel as though I am surrounded by cutouts from the nineteen-fifties. They look the part and speak with a softness that can only have come from a time that women were meant to be quiet. I am not like these women and there is an obvious disconnect between us.

I used to wear a pair of converse shoes every single day. I began wearing them in middle school and wore them all the way

through college. Wearing converse shoes was almost a personality trait of mine or at least they seemed to signal to others

what kind of personality I had.

I have worn my converse shoes to the office on more than a few occasions. I have gotten disapproving looks from the older women who must not appreciate what converse shoes stand for. I don’t think that I can really encapsulate what their symbolic

meaning is, but for those in the know, it goes without saying.

I think that it is kind of disappointing that we still put so much emphasis on appearance. If I am smart and do my job well it should not matter if I want to wear converse shoes. I should be praised for my individuality and refusal to conform to the constraining expectations of the business world.

n and there is an obvious disconnect between us.

I used to wear a pair of converse shoes every single day. I began wearing them in middle school and wore them all the way

through college. Wearing converse shoes was almost a personality trait of mine or at least they seemed to signal to others

what kind of personality I had.

I have worn my converse shoes to the office on more than a few occasions. I have gotten disapproving looks from the older women who must not appreciate what converse shoes stand for. I don’t think that I can really encapsulate what their symbolic

meaning is, but for those in the know, it goes without saying.

I think that it is kind of disappointing that we still put so much emphasis on appearance. If I am smart and do my job well it should not matter if I want to wear converse shoes. I should be praised for my individuality and refusal to conform to the constraining expectations of the business world.

personality I had.

I have worn my converse shoes to the office on more than a few occasions. I have gotten disapproving looks from the older women who must not appreciate what converse shoes stand for. I don’t think that I can really encapsulate what their symbolic

meaning is, but for those in the know, it goes without saying.

I think that it is kind of disappointing that we still put so much emphasis on appearance. If I am smart and do my job well it should not matter if I want to wear converse shoes. I should be praised for my individuality and refusal to conform to the constraining expectations of the business world.

es without saying.

I think that it is kind of disappointing that we still put so much emphasis on appearance. If I am smart and do my job well it should not matter if I want to wear converse shoes. I should be praised for my individuality and refusal to conform to the constraining expectations of the business world. I think a big part of my problem is the fact that I live in the Midwest. It takes several years for social or cultural movements to make it out this far and when they do we often turn our backs on them.

I won’t give up on my converse shoes. When I have found a place where I can show up to work in them, I will have truly arrived. I hope that the kids of my generation will retain their sense of

self, whatever that means, and not let any job or paycheck talk them out of it. I, for one, am currently a hypocrite and unable to say goodbye to one of the few decent jobs in my area in an attempt to stand up for myself. Perhaps I too have become the subdued woman, just in a newer generation.