Equal Rights
-
Book Reaction: So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
The thing is, I do not want to talk about race. I want to talk about culture and heritage. I want to learn about the people around me. I want to connect over little things like strict mothers and escaping into books and being obsessed with horses. I want to learn about different traditions and celebrations. I want my country, its people and institutions, to recognize the harm that was done to black people by slavery, to Native people by land grabs, to Japanese people in internment camps. I want us to admit this. I want us to own this, to teach it to our children in all its awfulness…
-
Pandemic Diary, Day 131
Today marks my 90th day (does not include weekends or holidays) working from home. Back in March, I commented that I expected to be working from home for roughly 3 months. We are now at almost 4 months, with no real end in sight. Maybe in September I will be back in the office a day or two a week? If campus opens even partially for classes, that is a possibility, but cases are on the rise again, so maybe campus will not open. I do not know. I do not think if anyone really knows, or will know, until September. At the start of this, I had a very…
-
I am Tired.
I am tired. I am a middle-class, middle-aged, white woman with all the privilege that entails, and I am tired. So I can only imagine how bone-deep exhausted people of color must be. I am struggling with how to be an ally, when to say something and when to shut up and amplify others’ voices. When should I step in front and bear the brunt for those who will not survive it as well as I, and when should I be stepping back and be the support structure for others? But that’s an easy struggle compared with trying to figure out if someone is going to kill me for going…
-
The Nationwide College Admissions Scam
I work in higher education, so naturally, I have been following the recent bombshell of the indictments in the nationwide college admissions scam. But let me be very clear, the bombshell, at least for me, is that people are actually being indicted and charged. The history of higher education in this country is not a history of meritocracy. It is a history of the haves over the have nots. College education is expensive, and not generally considered part of public education, because it originally was not something that most, or even many, people were expected to get, need, or even want. It was something for the idle rich, someplace for…
-
Rape Culture is still Comedy Gold, and it Shouldn’t Be
I have often said I am amazed at how many good men of my generation (and earlier generations) there are. How many of them truly get it, or at least try to get it, when we talk about rape culture. Because I know the pop culture they were raised with, because I was raised in the same popular culture. The whole Han, Leia, Luke dynamic is truly cringeworthy and actually a little creepy when watching it now. Toxic masculinity dominates all of their personal relationships, right down to Leia kissing Luke at in the first part of Empire just to make a point to Han. And yet, as a geek,…
-
He Only Does That Because He Likes You
In February of 2014, I hadn’t yet started this blog, so I didn’t really have a place to put long thoughts on things not specifically related to finance, pets, pop culture, or writing. So I made the following post on Facebook. Again, this post is 4.5 years old, and yet, it is still relevant. “He only does that because he likes you.” Pop Tart is 10. She just started a karate class that’s offered by a group working with the school district. On the first night (the only night parents are allowed to remain for the class), I noticed a boy kind of picking on her. I thought it might…
-
Tell Me Where To Stand
I do not wear a safety pin. I never put a green dot on my hand. The best way I know to show you I am a “safe person” is to be a safe person. To say “good morning” on the bus. To smile as we pass on the sidewalk. To compliment that really awesome sweater you are wearing, even though we have never seen each other before and will not again. To say something if I see something. To my family and friends who do not have the same privileges as me. To the people I have never met but may need that friendship. Tell me where to stand.…
-
Can We Take a Stand Against Murder?
I don’t have a whole lot of emotional energy to spare right now, so if this seems blunt, well, that’s because it is. A civilian killing a cop is not an inherently worse crime than a cop killing a civilian. A white man killing a black man is not inherently worse than a black man killing a white man. And those are not worse than a black person killing another black person, or a white person killing another white person, or a straight person killing an LGBTQ person, or an LGBTQ person killing a straight person, or a man killing a woman, or a woman killing a man, or…
-
Thoughts on Pride
I am a white, straight, cisgender female with an above average intelligence from a middle class family that valued education. I have more privilege than some white, straight, cisgender men out there. That does not mean I am not proud of who I am as a person. It does not mean I am not proud of my accomplishments. I have worked hard to get where I am. I have made some difficult decisions. I absolutely am proud of that. But am I proud of being white? Am I proud of being straight? Am I proud of being cisgender? No. I have done nothing to be those things. I was simply…
