susanbwrite

We’re living in a current state of if we racially offend, we will be outed.. If we do so today, or did so last week, a month ago, our infraction will become public. Thank you social media, theage of high tech where we carry devices every where we go which allows us the ability to document everything under the sun.

What if we’re a public official or figure and we say or do something offensive twenty, thirty, forty years ago?Should we be accountable for it or can we get a pass because we were of a certain age of ignorance , naivete, youth?. What if we did , or said these things before the Age of Civil Rights? Should we then be absolved ?

For me, some of these issues are not Black and White. I’ve decided grey is my favorite color. What brought this on is the most recent News story on the issue, that of Governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam. A photo of what is said to be him dressed in blackface, standing next to someone else dressed in a KKK costume appeared in his 1984 medical school yearbook. He denied it’s a photo of him but said he did appear in blackface when dressed as Michael Jackson. There has been an uproar from Black of note, Politicians, NAACP for him to resign

It was 30 some odd years ago that these pictures were taken.
 This is the same man who sits in Virginia’s Governor’s office? Northam says no. At first. The question continues , in my mind, is this the same man , from 1984, who thinks, feels the same as a young medical school student who believes it’s ok to dress in blackface and stand, smilin next to another young white man dressed as a member of the KKK? If so, how would he have been elected Democratic Governor  of a southern state, one that has a long and storied racial  history. The first documented slaves came to Virginia. Richmond was one of  the Union’s the busiest slave markets. There were concentrated legal efforts throughout ( Virginian) history to keep Blacks separate from Whites banning  interracial marriage in 1924  per the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, a law that again criminalized interracial marriage. Blacks were considered ‘less than’ and black blood was not to be mixed with white. Schools shut down, rather than integrate in 1956 and in one County schools were shut down until 1964 when the Supreme Court ordered them to re-open.And let’s not forget as recently as 2017 a young woman was killed in Charlottesville when White Supremacists marched and caused turbulence with protesters.

Upon googling Ralph Northam’s record on race issues and incidences I found nothing, only everything on this most recent uproar. He did receive a large percentage of the Black vote in Virginia in 2017 but those voters are now feeling betrayed.

While I read on and remind myself of Virginia’ past I am beginning to understand and feel less conflicted. But not completely , on  whether or not Northam should resign.
Why am I still feeling this way? I’m always first to say ‘ that’s not right, that’s racist’.when witnessing, watching online videos of, hearing of racist incidents, feeling I’m a victim of ingrained prejudices even in the liberal environment I live in. I’ve lived in this Liberal Mecca all my life, grown up in white neighborhoods, went to white schools, have had and still have mostly white friends, peers. I’m sure they all believe Northam should resign. I’m remain unsure.

All my life I’ve lived in this world, some parts love, some parts dislike, some hate.  All these feelings toward me people have established from getting to know me, working, socializing, whatever else.  I, as we all would, would love to say all the hateful feelings others have  toward come from misguided misperceptions, ignorance, irrationality, there’s definitely something wrong with someone if they don’t like me…

      What if someone decided they didn’t you, just from looking at you, first glance, they see something that makes them uneasy, threatened, complete disdain? What  would you do? God forbid you might actually take something from them? Is it the way you wear your hair, your outfit, the way you walk, the color of your skin?  We have discussed and confronted these issues of what we call prejudice, what we establish as our own preconcieved notions about someone before we’ve even met, spoken to or spent some time with a person.

    I’ve grown up in enviroments  where the majority of people I lived around, went to school with  socialized   did not share my ethnic background, skin color. I came up during a time when everything from perceptions to written law when through drastic changes. A few short years before my time there were public places people like me were not able to go, much less be seen.  What would you have done? Even once laws were in place to change this, those like me were not allowed on certain school buses, to attend certain schools a few short miles from where I was educated.  There was persistence, and violence. Children were called names a child’s ear shouldnt have to hear. What was there to do.

               I am an adult now and the  Country has progressed. I came about in an area of the world and country where we are known as ‘Liberals’, we celebrate with intensity our Black President, Governor, Democratic Liberal Leftist ways. I was birthed in what is known as ‘The People’s Republic’ and always remained in the area, drive through, socialize, shop, family friends still remain, a bastion of  the open-minded,educated,  some hippes, super-Liberals and tree-huggers. Despite all this, where ever I am, on a bus and train to work, shopping at Target, crossing a street, driving my car, it’s still there. Car doors suddenly lock when I pass, I hear someone say to their (shopping) companion, ‘watch your bag’, I see a woman gesture to her elderly mother on the train to do so as I stand between them. I see stares, some glances. Sometimes I’m completely ignored by sales people when they instantly approach others. Sometimes I’m followed around.Once or twice the door was opened up on me in a dressing room, trying on clothes, by a sales person. Several times in one store visit. What would you do? Sometimes I go to places away from the City I like to go because there’s good seafood, icecream, a place to swim, a grassy hill on a beautiful Summer evening to watch the moon rise, only to hear  ‘are all the doors locked in the car? Can you go check? Watch the stuff;’.What would you have said? Trust me, I have no interest in your ‘stuff’, Im not going to jump you and  beat on you, my color won’t rub off on to you or your children. I have my own ( you should be grateful if some of my color did rub off onto you) I’m only here to be outside on a nice night, with my friends and do the same thing you’re doing. I should have said the same thing aloud to my friends, was their car locked, etc and say I was asking because I heard someone else ask and make sure that someone else heard me. I’ve dont that before, put people in their place,  in such incidences. I wonder if those folks learned anything, their lesson and stop preconceiving and misperceiving once something said to them in response to their actions. I often say to myself, come on all you super Liberals, open minds and educated,so open, yet so closed.  You voted for a Black President but yet, you think I want to steal your wallet. I’ve often thought about making a sign and pinning it to whatever shirt I wear, or my bag saying this’  I don’t want your stuff, I have my own’, in neon and flashing. I mean..what would you do?

Ever add water to your recipes to expand them?  Sometimes I do this because I run out of a certain part of a recipes, ie for a sauce and the dish is almost finished and there isn’t enough sauce b/c it’s evaporated while cooking. And I’m cheap. I often do this with canned soup as I’m usually making it for more than one and I find that many of these cans don’t allow for more than one serving. But if you add water, you must add more flavoring. There’s nothing I  hate more than flavorless soups or meals…that I’ve cooked.

    I’m always trying to avoid the sodium thing, too and many of these canned soups come with alot of sodium. I try to find the ones that are labeled with less. Hence, in making more soup to soup that’s..already there one would think to add more soup base such as bouillon, which contains a lot of salt. So, I try to find the bouillon that’s again, labeled with less, or sodium free. The problem with these solutions is, these don’t taste so great in recipes you’re trying to make taste better.

       Sometimes I’ll find seasoning packets around from other meals or take-out we’ve ordered, Thai sauces, and the like. At least then, you know there’ll be a zing to it. But  I still haven’t found the ultimate solution to stretching soup iand making it taste good with out adding something too salty.

       I’ve done just about everything under-the-sun when improvising on canned soup, added leftover meat, vegetables, then throw in some fresh, usually celery, peppers, and leafy green I have at the time, add frozen veggies of I need more, leftover rice or pasta. 

 Yet I’m often left with, in the end , that there isn’t enough taste. I’ve tried Italian seasoning mixtures, not my favorite, Herbes en Provence, pretty much the same thing but a little better, sometimes I throw in seasonings I use to flavor meat. 

     Today I’m heating up some Progresso Chicken Gumbo ( lower sodium) and have added chopped celery, frozen oriental vegetable mix and some Uncle Ben’s Whole Grain Brown rice. Hope it comes it good, as it is warm and soothing for a day like this. In the meanwhile, I keep seeking that flavor…

 I spend alot of time of Facebook. We all do, but, am I really ..doing anything, at all in there?! What am I doing, in there?  I have way  too much time on my hands ( as some of you have realized) and Im too old for this. Well, it is where I communicate with friends, how we arrange our social activities, get together, see who’s doing what. I also, no matter what Im doing check back in there to see who on, who’s chatting, who do I really want  to chat with, who will actually chat, respond to me, basically, who can I harass. Who’s saying or posting something interesting, funny  that I can comment on, laugh at, steal. Who can I make an impression on.

    Am I really making an impression..anyone, at all? Sometimes I post things, thinking I’ll get all kinds of responses, comments,  people will laugh at, things I can comment back on, start something. And no one responds. What gives, I hate that. My poor, wounded ego. Sometimes I may even post something that might even slightly offend, even though I know ahead of time it may, something that gives people the wrong impression…

                Yet what am I sharing, what do I have to share,besides show off a little, brag about somewhere I went, took some pretty pictures, hung with the coolest people, attended an event.. I dont really go anyplace spectacular, travel far and wide to magnificient and exotic places, I dont go to many events,I dont have a high-end operating camera with which to take gorgeous pictures with. I love that people share their photos and their talents, as it is stimulating to mine eye, my senses. I just use my cell phone with its  very limited in features . I also have an old HP digital camera that I only save for, you know all those special events I attend. But, I really like some of my photos, and I will post them because of this, for I am proud. For this reason I post pictures of meals Ive cooked, because if Im sitting here eating it and its damn good, I want people to know.

   I dont have the many of the talents exhibited on Facebook, if any. I  do know, however know how to run my mouth.   I dont pull up interesting or insightful articles and post them, I mostly post current and breaking news, I rarely read the News, or anything because I watch it all on tv, especially as the local news junkie I am. Sometimes Ill post meteorological events as some of them fascinate me, or astrological ones.   If its the perfect day,weatherwise in my book, Ill post about it, and ask who wants to hang out, to which no one will respond. I post pictures of  my cats and things they do because theyre so damn adorable, funny, entertaining. Well, I think so.  I post what I see and how I perceive things.   I post something Ive heard I think is funny from someone I know, or on tv., a comedien. Maybe I shouldnt post when Im angry, or annoyed but we all need to let it out, sometimes, dont we?

    So what is this what Facebook, and all such social forums are about?  Bragging and showing off? I frankly, am quite turned off by  such, I try not to do it, but I know I have. I have so much to brag about, dont I. I work, sleep, , cook, eat,watch loads of tv ( and post about that)., excercise, go to bed, get up, go to work, come home, sit on the PC, play games -(post about the drive home as driving in Massachusetts in rush hour is worth posting about), start the cycle, again.  At some point I may actually break this cycle and start going on on weeknights, again, and post about that. A little buzz from a beer, or two and I get all excited about everything. Just wait til the weather’s nicer and Im out-and-about, more. You’ll all have too much of me and you wont be able to get enough. You Susan-Facebook Junkies, you.