A fertility clinic and a Chinese restaurant stood side by side in the plaza across from a bus stop. Sounds like the start of a weird joke, but this story isn't funny.
All tagged racism
You're a Jackass, not a Joker: Why Some Topics are Never Comedy Fodder
This week I was having a conversation with a coworker and in the midst of our chat he made a rather sexist joke. Now it wasn't a "women belong in the kitchen" type thing. It was a little more subtle than that but it was a sexist comment nevertheless and I didn't like it. So I didn't laugh. And then I told him why I didn't laugh. After all, I have to work with this guy every day and there's no way I was going to be dealing with that crap more than once. Anyway, we had a calm exchange about it which basically boiled down to me saying I don't find sexism funny, and him declaring it was just a joke and suggesting that perhaps I should be a little less uptight. Ah, of course, the problem is that I'm too high strung, not that you think sexism is funny. Of course!
Well the whole situation got me thinking about jokes and where the line is drawn between funny and rude, appropriate and out of line, offense and sensitivity.
Dear White People: Thoughts on Ferguson
[It's been a long time since I've penned a blog post. I've been bogged down with school and work and generally too busy to get on here. But some things are so important you have to make time to talk about them. In my gender and women's studies class this week, after the decision was made by the Grand Jury to not indict Darren Wilson for the murder of Mike Brown, my professor asked us how we felt. What I intended to be a short response turned into a long outpouring of grief and frustration. Answering his questions helped me to gather my thoughts on the situation. Here they are.]
While I was disappointed and hurt by the decision, I was not surprised. That was the part that hurt me the most. I wanted so badly to be surprised. But I knew better than to raise my expectations. The US "justice" system had failed so many times before, I knew better than get my hopes up. Still I had a hard time breathing, just as I had when the Zimmerman verdict was read. My heart still sunk and tears still sprang to my eyes.