It’s not yet October and I’ve already purchased pumpkin spice creamer, pretzels, tea, cookies, bread, candles, granola, several the pumpkin spice lattes, and even a new pumpkin friend I’ve named Penelope.

Fall is undoubtedly the most wonderful time of the year and if allowing it to come a little earlier is wrong, then I don’t want to be right. Although, wearing a sweater and toting around a pumpkin spice latte in 90 degree weather has caused society to deem myself and a multitude of others “basic”.

Ever since I was a mere “ocho”, I would show up to school with a Starbucks cup practically every morning. You can’t maintain my sunshine and rainbows attitude without lots of caffeine, and Starbucks is conveniently located 3 minutes away from my bedroom. After showing up with Starbucks one too many times, I was first given the title “Basic White Girl”. For a while, I held the title with pride chugging down my white chocolate mochas (my order has since then matured) shamelessly, but as time went on, I realized how the title “basic” was a mold I didn’t fit.

According to the trusty dusty Urban Dictionary, basic is defined as, “only interested in things mainstream, popular, and trending”. To even further infuriate me, they used pumpkin spice lattes in the example by stating, “Omg BAE is so basic. All she wants to do is drink pumpkin spice lattes and play candy crush.”  

First of all, bae is so 2014. Urban Dictionary, get it together, you’re embarrassing yourself. Second of all, my mom plays Candy Crush, and I can almost guarantee that she doesn’t even know what the term basic means. Lastly, let me point out the fact that pumpkins have been “trending” since the pilgrims came to America, so by those terms were defining some of our earliest settlers basic because they can appreciate a good pumpkin — the audacity.

So, at this point you’re probably curious as to why I care so much about this made up terminology. Well, it’s mainly because it pains me to think that I live in a world where something as minuscule as a coffee order can cause society to stereotype me.

I am not basic. Sure, I may indulge in a pumpkin spice latte every once and while, and, sure, I may be a bit too obsessed with Instagram, but trendy things aren’t all I’m interested in. Unknown to the outside world, I’m jamming to show tunes in the Starbucks drive thru, and, even though I think it should be, Singin’ in the Rain isn’t exactly trending on Twitter. My lame example aside, we all have qualities that make us unique and make us, us. 

We shouldn’t be put in a box for liking certain things that others love; we really have so many unique differences making it impossible for anyone to be considered basic.

Starbucks barista and my personal friend, Julien LeBlanc, spoke up on the issue. “So kids and teenagers I see get it [Pumpkin Spice] in the form of frappuccino, middle aged men and women alike get it in the hot latte form and surprisingly enough I see a lot of men getting PSL and I never know if it’s for their wives, but even if it is, they are definitely drinking it before they give it to them”. So there you have it folks, grown men ordering pumpkin spice lattes, unabashedly. We need to rid the world of negative connotations associated with arguably the greatest beverage known to mankind.

A coffee order should not determine our personalities and interests. What makes a cappuccino so much better than my PSL (besides the calorie count of course)? While both are different, both are wonderful and possess great qualities, and the same person that orders a PSL one day can order a cappuccino the next. The drinks aren’t reserved for “hipsters” or girls wearing yoga pants and Ugg boots, they are accessible to  everyone. Don’t allow society to put you in a box because you enjoy pumpkin spice–buy the latte, put on the Ugg boots, and take over the world.