Friday, September 11, 2009

commemoration

So Anderson and I were talking about if Abe decided to make his debut on 9/11 whether that would be a good date. And I said that when he was older and someone asked him when his birthday was, he could turn to them and say, very deadpan, "9/11. Never forget."

And we both died laughing.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

I Am Not My Hair

So, someone linked to the Stuff White People Like website and got me started browsing it. I'm not going to comment at all on the potential racist/stereotype issues that the site (and corresponding book) raise, but rather, I want to respond to the list of "stuff" as a white person myself.

I was struck by this contrast - for me, the stuff on the list fall clearly into two categories: 1) "yes, very true, I like this" and 2) "people who like this wear abercrombie and fitch shirts and we would most likely not get along."

In the first category belong things like sushi, diversity, yoga, organic food, traveling, Arrested Development, irony, Toyota Prius, and recycling. (Do I sound pretentious? I hope not. I hope that mainly corresponds to the second category.)

In the second category are: awareness, hating their parents, microbreweries, expensive sandwiches*, gentrification, Oscar parties, having gay friends**, divorce***, and America. Granted, all white people are not the same, there are people who like things from both lists, including people who aren't white at all, blah blah blah. But seriously, is it just me, or is there a clear divide in the list where you are describing two very different types of people? Or am I over-analyzing a book written to be humorous? I guess I'm just annoyed that I can be all sheepishly like, "yeah, you got me" one second and then "um, no. not even close" the next.

*While often delicious, I don't enjoy the price of such sandwiches.

**I do not have anything against having gay friends, but for someone to "enjoy" having gay friends seems akin to using people as accessories, which I am not a fan of. Preposition end sentence with.

***What?!??


PS - NO I HAVE NOT HAD A BABY YET. THANK YOU FOR ASKING FIFTY MILLION TIMES!