Star Simpson, an MIT sophomore, was arrested after walking into Boston’s Logan Airport today after wearing a sweatshirt containing a circuit board with wiring and flashing lights. The press agrees on the facts, but they differ in how they refer to her. In their headlines, the Associated Press and ABC News her an “MIT Coed”, while InformationWeek calls her an “MIT Computer Whiz”. I didn’t know anyone still seriously used the word “coed”. (In any event, MIT graduated its first female student, Ellen Swallow Richards, 134 years ago.)
Other media outlets refer to Simpson as an “MIT Student”, “MIT Sophomore”, “Woman”, “Teen”, “Student”, and “Art Student”. On her web page, Simpson describes herself as “an inventor, artist, engineer, and student”.
Personally, I’d just refer to her as “stupid,’ or maybe “mentally disturbed,” if not “lucky to be alive” since any cop in any number of other places would have shot immediately and called the bomb squad afterwards.
What a stupid wench.
I wonder how many people who saw her and freaked out will think to find a lawyer quick and file their civil suits.
Last I checked, assault with a deadly weapon was valid regardless of whether or not there were bullets in the gun, or even if it was a squirt gun, let alone a bomb, real or otherwise.
THANK YOU. Seriously, just now when I saw her referred to as a “coed”, I came straight to this blog to see if anyone had picked up on that.
[...] The She’s Such a Geek blog questions the labeling of Star Johnson, the MIT student recently arrested for wearing an electronic art piece into an airport, by major media outlets by the antiquated term “coed,” and points out that MIT graduated its first woman 134 years ago. [...]