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Defying societal norms and asserting her right to use any age she likes, Kate Dorelle '12 officially changed her age last Thursday from 19 to 21 years old.
"It's about independence. It's about being yourself," said Dorelle. "I didn't choose my age. My parents did, and I'm not going to let them or anyone tell me how to live my life."
Dorelle said other children used to make fun of her for her age and that she never managed to fit in at school. She claimed the age change will release her from the stereotypes unfairly ascribed to people who happen to be arbitrarily branded with a low age.
"People just assume that people who are 12 are younger than people who are 21, and it's just not fair to make those kinds of sweeping generalizations"
The age change is the second for Dorelle, who was born in 1998.
Dorelle's decision is a sign of the times. Although it was historically customary for women to increase their age on each birthday, recently more and more are opting to keep it the same.
"My 30th birthday was one of the happiest days of my life, but as an independent-minded adult I chose again to stick with my maiden age of eighteen" said thirteenth-year senior Rebecca Halloway '10. "My husband and I have agreed that our children's age will be the average of ours."
But the age-impaired are not the only group beginning to break free from the status quo. From people who want to be tall enough to ride the best roller coasters to Utahans who wish they were born literally anywhere else, change is on the horizon.
Jeremiah Mercer '11 was often ridiculed for his weight until he had it legally lowered from 240 to 160.
"It just goes to show you don't need one of the scientists' fancy diets to feel good about yourself," said Mercer. "Now when people try to call me fat I just shout right back 'I'm 160 pounds, bitch!' and then quiet enough so they don't hear, I whisper 'technically'"
Nor is the fad limited to notoriously progressive Brown students.
"I wanted to meet new people, but I thought something was putting people off, so I went down to the courthouse and changed my sex-offender status," said Drake Kellenhan, who is training to become a priest, "to Sex Offender. It's a great ice breaker, you know? I had to walk around the neighborhood and tell everyone I was a sex offender now. Met a few cool people in the process."
Providence resident Gene Mayfield was not deterred when her eye doctor told her she was "almost too blind to walk unaccompanied, let alone drive a car." Now she is getting ready for her first flight as a commercial airline pilot after a Providence judge officially granted her impeccable vision and changed her status to "Has a pilot's license."
And now we may reconsider Dorelle, whose decision to change her age hardly seems out of place in such a rapidly changing world and who, at 21, is just hitting her growth spurt.
Asked whether she would also change her name, in further rebellion against society, Dorelle said she saw no need.
"You can just use a fake ID for that. No one will be able to tell."
