Society Inside You

My last post was about a racial problem at a school in Prescott, Arizona. People in the community who were against having dark-skinned kids on the school mural drove by yelling racist slurs at the artists and children. The principal asked the artists to lighten the skin color (of paintings of actual kids who go to the school) on the mural.

This is how discrimination perpetuates itself.

It's not just white kids who learn that white is good and black is bad, stupid, mean, etc. Black children learn it too, and they learn that society is against them. Black parents have to have discussions about race with their children all the time because it comes up again and again in their lives. White parents have the privilege of not doing that. They probably even think that not mentioning it is better, because then their children won't notice it in the first place. But that's not true.

Children learn what they see happening. They internalize the status quo, even when it is against them. A study by CNN replicating the doll study initially done at the time of Brown v. Board of Education showed that, sadly, nothing much has changed since the time of de jure segregation.

As a parent, I think you have a responsibility to society to actively teach your children to fight racism. Unless we do that, we're going to have this ugly discrimination that contributes to the cycle of poverty. If you've been told all your life that you're not worth as much as a white kid, and that you will always be poorer, dumber, and meaner, would you really believe that you could do better with your life?

Lost - The Season Begins!

Naw, I don't watch Lost. I tried, when my roommate tried to get me hooked. I almost got through the entire first season, but it just didn't hold my attention. But this post isn't about the show, it's about the last couple days

Yesterday, my roommates and I systematically searched the fridge for some lost (new) Brie cheese that nobody had eaten. The search was fruitless (apples and pomegranates not included).

Today I lost my keys sometime as I was dashing to my classes between 9 am and 12 pm, and only realized it at 5 when I left the lab. I retraced all my steps, went to the lost and found in each of the buildings that was still open. No luck.

In the lab, before my epiphany of keylessness, I lost a pen to the microscope table. I knocked it toward myself and it disappeared into a crevice at the table’s edge. When I told one of the grad students, she said, “Oh, it’s gone then. You’re never going to get that back.”

But then I obtained a pen from the office supplies cabinet. I accidentally dropped it on the ground near the microscope table, and this time, as if to make up for the loss of one of my favorite pens, the table offered me the twin of the one I had just dropped. I looked down there again later when I scoured the area for my keys, and found their triplet sibling.

So I suppose there was some “found” in my day.

The last thing I lost today, though, was my temper. It was a long and frustrating day for multiple reasons, not the least of which was that I haven’t had quite enough sleep the past couple nights. I know my mom was just trying to help, so I’m sorry Amma.

I think I found my (still-fragile) composure again, though. Konstantine by Something Corporate is the song I always turn to when I need comforting. The lyrics aren’t really that happy, but I think it’s the heartbeat bass beat that does it.