The Charlottes swarming Harvard are most likely the pretty pearl girls who flock to the Bee. The club has certain standards which prevent the hive from collapsing, namely that the members are beautiful, exclusive and obsessed with twin sets (last year one member boasted that she owned more than 30 of them). Girls tend to resent them but the guys all love them--and the same goes for Charlotte on the show.

Miranda Hobbes, played by Cynthia Nixon, is a spirited and successful lawyer. She fits into a crowd without ever trying and has the strength and self-confidence to say and do whatever she wants. At the same time, she admits her fears about how she has chosen to live her life. This last season, for example, Miranda sacrificed her romantic partner to make partner at the law firm. Afterwards, she feared becoming an old maid for prizing her career over her love.

In truth, we 20-something undergraduates may only possess a morsel of Carrie, Samantha and Charlotte in each of us. Miranda, however, complete with her self-reflection, strength, and sense of balance, is pumping through our veins like I.V. fluid. Or at least she should be. It's too difficult to compare Miranda to any one subset of undergraduates because there are traces of her in all of us. We all, at some level, try to balance our learning with our lust, our curiosity with our composure and our senses with our sensibility.

It's not by coincidence that Miranda graduated from Harvard Law School. She no doubt carries the Harvard burden--that of career ambition complicated by the desire to be risqu, sexy and fun--but she also wears it exceptionally well. Miranda's feisty, self-confident and independent spirit helps justify our obsessions with sex, smoking, shoes or success. Choose your vice--or, as is the case with most of us--your combination of them.

Jordana R. Lewis '02 is a history and literature concentrator in Eliot House. Her column appears on alternate Thursdays.