In case you haven’t noticed, our media and national narrative are full of (very emotion-driven and polarized) discussions of racism, ethnic disparities, marginalization, and white privilege. As a white woman raised in predominantly white spaces, I have had the luxury of not having to engage in these conversations if I don’t want to. But some … More 19 Tweets on Processing White Privilege
Today I almost walked out of a digital technology conference. Seattle, I love us. But more and more, I’m surrounded by disparities between wealth and poverty … and nobody outside of society’s margins seems to notice. Last night, I slept at a women’s shelter as an overnight volunteer. This morning, I listened as a well-known … More Seattle’s Tech Industry: Poverty and Income Disparities We All Ignore
Over the past few years, TV has become more diverse. Not shockingly so: most lead characters on primetime shows are still white. But there’s no doubt that the number of black (or Asian) friends and supporting characters is increasing. It’s a small step, but still progress. And a larger number of shows, like Scandal and … More Race on CW’s Riverdale: What’s Different from the Archie Comics?
I’m taking a (very much needed) break from social media, which means I don’t have any place to post this photo of musubi I made this morning for a work party. So I’m sharing it here. Because I love sushi, and this is the first time I’ve actually made musubi. むすびを食べて？ I haven’t been posting … More Today, I Made Musubi
Timeless premiered on Monday! Know how I knew that? Because it feels like NBC has been advertising nothing but Timeless for weeks. TV ads, giant webpage displays, you name it. For some reason, NBC seems very invested in me watching Timeless… Mondays at 10pm on NBC. So I figured, why not? I love history. I’m a … More Timeless Premiere: Is NBC’s (Sorta-Diverse) Time Travel Drama Worth the Hype?
Sunday morning, I woke up — as many of us did — to the news that 50 people had been killed, and 53 more people injured, in Orlando, Florida. It’s the most casualties in any mass shooting in U.S. history. The shooter is believed to have ties to Islamic extremism. The victims were at a Pulse, a gay nightclub. A religious … More Instead of Tithing at Church, I Donated to the Orlando Shooting & LGBT Causes
This past weekend, I attended the graduation ceremony of a private university. And parents sitting in the row behind me made repeated racially-motivated comments over the course of the ceremony. This wasn’t anything I expected to hear. Coming from Seattle, I don’t encounter much undisguised, in-your-face racism. In a stereotypically liberal city like mine, racially-based prejudice … More I’m Sure You’re Not Racist or Anything, But…
Yesterday, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis released “White Privilege II”–a song about the reality of white privilege and racism in the U.S. It’s a song about how white pop culture loves to use the music, clothes, dances and culture of African Americans … but dismisses the #BlackLivesMatter movement and don’t seem to care about injustice against people … More Let’s NOT Talk About Race: How Pop Culture is Minimizing Macklemore’s White Privilege II
Macklemore’s new song, White Privilege II. If you’ve heard it, you probably have a very strong opinion about it. That’s okay. You were meant to. This song is designed to make people talk about racism in America. It’s not perfect. But it’s meant to get people talking. In short, the Seattle rapper’s argument is: We take all we want … More Macklemore’s White Privilege II: Will We Finally Listen?
$65.85. I winced as the cashier read my total. I was about to spend $65.85 on a bunch of things I didn’t even get to keep. Cringing slightly, I swiped my credit card. Was I really spending that much? I knew it was for a good cause. But spending $65.85 really didn’t feel fair. Right now, my church is collecting household supplies … More The Refugee Crisis: I Want to Help! (If It’s Easy…)
