Mood On Monday, Other Voices, A Dash of Hollandaise In The Cupcake

Thoughts

 
Last week, I gave my reasons for not adding my hand-wringing to the general conversation, “When you bite into a cupcake, you don’t want Hollandaise sauce.” [Mood On Monday, Venturing Out]

Then, The Errant Moon reminded me that silence is not always a virtue. “Not saying something feels like complicity.” I don’t want that either. The Errant Moon: Untitled

I am not good at arguing my outrage. I have plenty, I’m just not quick on my feet in the face of conflict. That is one reason I stick to what I’m good at. [Speaking Out]

So, I found others who express themselves in difficult situations better than I do.

‘Fraidy Cat Eventing talks about herself as “Third generation Baltimore City right here.” The interesting part of one of her stories, to me, is that I have been in that traffic stop. Long, shaggy-dog story that ends with me being stopped by 4 cop cars. At the officer’s request, I stepped out of the car. I was teen-age, white, female, scrawny, and wearing what was obviously a food service uniform. I was as harmless looking as one can get and still be granted a driver’s license. The result was the officer getting heckled by his fellows, “Think you can handle this one?” I’ve told that story many times. My tagline is, “I got a $50 ticket for embarrassing a police officer.” It never occurred to me that the story might end any other way. FCE’s best friend felt differently. ‘Fraidy Cat Eventing: to Baltimore, with love

So now what? Viva Carlos is an African-American horse blogger. In a earlier post that I can’t dig up, she said that for many of her friends she is their one black friend. (If I am channeling this from a parallel universe, my apologies.) From this, I am making the assumption that she is used to the gormless, well-intentioned ignorance that surrounds those of us who lead insulated lives. “Even though I shouldn’t have to do this work explaining things to you – I also understand what it feels like to be confronted with a monolithic amount of work before you and feel a cascade of anxiety to the point it forces you to inaction.” She lists things to do, articles to read, and places to donate. Viva Carlos: So You Want To Be An Ally….

In case you aren’t overwhelmed yet, a reminder that old problems don’t go away when new problems erupt.

While we are on the subject of outrage, Contact has a well-researched defense of Safe Sport. You wouldn’t think a program to protect children from sexual predators would need defending, but here we are. Contact: Let’s chat about SafeSport shall we. As a follow up, Contact: … and another thing! *hiccups*

In closing, a classic from 2012. Whatever: Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is. What is instructive about this one is the hysteric counter-reaction the post provoked from folks who could not grasp “that ‘lowest difficulty’ is not the same as ‘easy’.” Whatever: The Lowest Difficulty Setting in Action. To go back to Viva Carlos, “Just because you are white doesn’t mean you didn’t struggle, no one is negating the fact that life is hard, but it means the color of your skin didn’t factor into why you struggled.” Ally

Ducks behind flame-retardant wall.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott