Monday, March 14, 2016

Microblog Mondays - Between the World and Me

I am caucasian--or as my daughter says "peach".
I have privilege, and I am very much aware of it.

I did not rage like people with black skin at the death of Treyvon Martin, but I did indeed rage.
I did not weep the way my friends with black skin wept at the deaths of Eric Garner and people too numerous to name, but I did indeed rage.

So when a friend suggested I read Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, I bought it on Audible and waited.

Today I listened to it.

It blew my mind.

I felt so very many emotions.

Shame.
Discomfort.
Awe-struck.

This is a brilliant piece of work. It won numerous awards last year and deserved every one of them. It is not an easy read. It is not comfortable. But it is important.

I highly recommend it.

Now I ask--what books have you read that made you uncomfortable? Do you recommend them or not?

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Missing the belief, missing the drive

So today is Super Tuesday.

According to the pundits, who have been wrong before and likely will be again, the end of this day will further narrow the race for President of the United States.

I'm not as into this race as I have been previous ones.  First of all, there is no way in hell I would consider voting for the Republican candidate.

I know that Mr. Trump has a lot of backers, but he is a disgusting bully wrapped up in an attitude that will make the United States a laughing stock.  He is a misogynist, and wants to buy the presidency. He has no concrete plans that will actually work to help "Make America Great."

So, yeah, I'm voting Democrat.

I like Senator Sanders...but.

I admire Hillary Clinton...but.

I voted twice for President Obama and am still proud to have done so. Did he do everything? No. But if the Republican party hadn't lost their collective shit because a black man is running the country they wouldn't be looking at getting behind a possible President Trump. (I just threw up a little in my mouth by typing it out.)

I will vote for a democrat, but I'm not excited to. I don't think anyone can make things much much better--but I believe that Trump or Cruz will make it a hell of a lot worse.

Who are you voting for? Why?