Still not post-racial.
Apr. 28th, 2011 12:34![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ursamajorI have much to say about the Delicious acquisition, but I'll save that for later when I can finish the background research I want to. I've also got a huge backlog of food pictures to post, especially from Cupcake Camp, and Chocolate Madness, and I have a new favorite cookie (the chocolate macaroons from Lakota Bakery in Arlington). And I did mean to be better at blogging, especially during Three Weeks for Dreamwidth. But first things first.
Chocolate Madness is a fundraiser where several dozen local restaurants and bakeries make exquisitely divine little chocolate creations for donors to nosh. I came prepared, of course - dressed similarly to other attendees in a nice skirt and top, wielding a mostly-empty stomach and my camera. (I may have a long-established habit of taking pictures of food.)
So I've got my camera out, and I'm fiddling with the aperture trying to focus on a nearby chocolate bourbon caramel ganache confection, when a middle-aged white person, with a name badge approaches me.
Me, in the moment: Utter silence, because I've just glanced at that person's name badge and realized that as a local foodie, I most certainly recognize their name. I've been to their restaurant and enjoyed myself multiple times over the last decade. I know exactly how involved they are in social justice causes. (Very.) And they've just introduced themselves to me by asking me if I spokethe official language of our country* the same language everybody else surrounding them is speaking?
Me, five minutes later: "Dammit, I'm a California girl, I should've responded with, 'Like, omigod, totally!'"
Me, three hours later: "OMIGOD I HAD THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO USE 'CHING CHONG LING LONG TING TONG' AND I FAILED TO EXECUTE."
How do you even respond to that? Especially when you're anti-confrontational me? How am I still being blindsided by questions like these at a fundraiser for a liberal cause in a liberal city in 2011? How have I not developed the guts to call people on things like that when they happen? I recognize that they realized just how badly they screwed up and apologized immediately. But I'm still more than a little bewildered that it happened in the first place. I probably shouldn't be, given how Obama recently released his long-form birth certificate and that my first reaction was "Ugh, really, you gave into this absurdity?" I've since considered the words of people more versed in political strategy than myself, but even if it's meant to give Trump enough legitimacy to cause problems in the Republican party for the 2012 elections, it still feels wrong.
* I've been informed we don't actually have a legal 'official language' in the US! So I guess under the circumstances, English usage is more ... the lingua franca? De facto?
Chocolate Madness is a fundraiser where several dozen local restaurants and bakeries make exquisitely divine little chocolate creations for donors to nosh. I came prepared, of course - dressed similarly to other attendees in a nice skirt and top, wielding a mostly-empty stomach and my camera. (I may have a long-established habit of taking pictures of food.)
So I've got my camera out, and I'm fiddling with the aperture trying to focus on a nearby chocolate bourbon caramel ganache confection, when a middle-aged white person, with a name badge approaches me.
Middle-aged white person: "Excuse me, do you speak English?"
Me: "... I'm sorry, what did you say?"
MAWP: *gets look of "oh, shit, I just totally fucked up" on their face* *starts profusely apologizing*
Me, in the moment: Utter silence, because I've just glanced at that person's name badge and realized that as a local foodie, I most certainly recognize their name. I've been to their restaurant and enjoyed myself multiple times over the last decade. I know exactly how involved they are in social justice causes. (Very.) And they've just introduced themselves to me by asking me if I spoke
Me, five minutes later: "Dammit, I'm a California girl, I should've responded with, 'Like, omigod, totally!'"
Me, three hours later: "OMIGOD I HAD THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO USE 'CHING CHONG LING LONG TING TONG' AND I FAILED TO EXECUTE."
How do you even respond to that? Especially when you're anti-confrontational me? How am I still being blindsided by questions like these at a fundraiser for a liberal cause in a liberal city in 2011? How have I not developed the guts to call people on things like that when they happen? I recognize that they realized just how badly they screwed up and apologized immediately. But I'm still more than a little bewildered that it happened in the first place. I probably shouldn't be, given how Obama recently released his long-form birth certificate and that my first reaction was "Ugh, really, you gave into this absurdity?" I've since considered the words of people more versed in political strategy than myself, but even if it's meant to give Trump enough legitimacy to cause problems in the Republican party for the 2012 elections, it still feels wrong.
* I've been informed we don't actually have a legal 'official language' in the US! So I guess under the circumstances, English usage is more ... the lingua franca? De facto?
