Well, I'll at least give her credit for realizing that ideas are powerful, and that books are a good way to communicate them. Even if the idea she wanted to communicate was "racial purity."
As a person of color myself though, hearing your experience about a person actually saying she didn't want any books that mixed colored kids with white kids because it would give her kids the wrong idea is... blearrrgh... That leaves a REALLY bad taste in my mouth.
Not even racial exclusion (she did buy a book with and AA child in it, though her point was probably she wanted the white version), so much as the need to demonstrate that this is a value she and the family she was buying for live by, and I must capitulate to that totality. 'Social Justice', to her, is an injustice against her values, and she believes she is the offended party and is noble and good to fight against it, and to abuse and deride parties that might engage in it.
I was talking to some co-workers of mine who are more woke than me, and my only takeaway is to try and make this a learning experience and not get too worked up about times when I feel my own privilege being ruffled. I think of myself as someone who means well, but I know I have work to do on this.
Tell them you're pretty sure you've seen them in the remaindered book bin at the dollar store? No?
I've been out of retail for a long time, and probably would adjust poorly to going back to it.
Is it wrong of me to hope that this is a kneejerk reaction on her part to having been resoudingly called out on her attitudes over Thanksgiving dinner by all her way-less-racist family?
Hi all! So close to being done with the semester I can taste it. I got pretty excited during a weekend where I had some breathing room that I started to work on Psycat's 3rd entry (her big turning point one). I haven't been able to return to it yet because of classes, but I do plan on working on it over the winter break. I also got my final paper for my history class finished a week early so I wouldn't have to worry about it over the weekend.
Jeez, sorry you had to deal with that, Kjbartolotta. I worked in retail for years, too.
In related news, I RTed someone earlier who suggested that a good rule of thumb is to assume the customer ahead of you was a raging asshole and give as much extra kindness/patience that you can give. I thought it was great advice, and I wish more people would take it.
I had weird dreams as well. Mine involved daleks and pumpkin pie, as those are the two things I did before sleep... eat the last piece of my pumpkin pie, smothered in cool whip, and watched a classic Doctor Who episode with daleks. It was a messy dream.
However, as I woke, I came up with a new short story idea that fits into a contest that ends on 11/30. Good timing, eh? If anyone is interested, it's an anthology they do periodically around a theme. This time
it's ACOW - A Contract of Words. Each story has to have a contract as part of the story.
My story will involve an Irish woman who must create a steampunk-style Rube Goldberg machine for the fairies that makes cheese from milk (because they can't do it themselves) but it can't have any iron in it. In exchange, they bring her kitten back to life.
I had an art show this weekend (Fri and Sat). It was in Binghamton University, and I didn't have very high hopes for it, and it met my expectations. Indoors, and I had lots of compliments. The fee was $170 and I made $400, so at least there was profit, but it was a lot of work for $230. I did sell 5 copies of my new PRINT copies of Legacy of Hunger, which was gratifying. I did this show in the spring with even less results, so I think this show, despite it being close enough to home to drive home each night, is off my list for future.
Next weekend is a show in Syracuse that I did pretty well at last year. Also indoor, but a smaller space, 10X7. I normally get 10X10, so the squeezed space is a pain, but doable.
Zan, since I'm linking an external URL to a FB pic, how do I make the pic smaller? If it's an issue, I can just unlink it. Most of us have seen the pretty
My body is sore after the show. It's the first one I've done in a month-and-a-half and my muscles don't remember all this work! Especially as this show (and next weekend's) involve dollying all my stuff in from outside. And the doors are narrow enough that my gridwalls have to be carried, not dollied. Yay.
Finish the semester with flying colors!
