And we didn't even have Cubans or Puerto Ricans !

I signed up.

The source of the discount, by the way, was this site: [link] . They're in a lot of other cities besides Chicago. The basic deal is you sign up and get not-quite-daily emails (which was almost a dealbreaker for me, to be honest) with a daily discount on something or other. As long as at least 100 people sign up, the deal is valid. (CC is charged at the end of the day if it passes that mark.) I got into it as a source for rooftop Cubs tix, but I've gotten crazy deals on local restaurants a smidge more high end than I can usually justify ($20 for a $50 coupon is typical), dry cleaning ($15 for a $35 credit at a "green" dry cleaner that happens to be right on my route home from work) and last week $30 for a year membership to the Art Institute and a couple of their singles/young professionals groups. It seriously rocks.

And we didn't even have Cubans or Puerto Ricans !

Which is another headache unto itself.

Ooh, that Groupon looks great! And today's NYC deal was for a restaurant I like, but which is a little pricey -- too bad it sold out.

Groupon does look very cool. I just signed up for the DC emails.

This Groupon gets new-to-Lillian customers an x-ray and cleaning from Dr. Lillian Obucina, a former Northwestern University dental professor who lectures for the American Dental Association and Comic Con.

THAT IS AWESOME.

That is all.

When did Hispanic start being considered non-white? During a discussion of historical race relations, I got curious and tried searching a few names like Lopez and Garcia in the ancestry.com databases, and at least through the thirties, "color" was recorded as white. (Figuring out what the terms actually meant on those older forms is interesting. "Color" and "race" are separate categories, and then there's another for "complexion." For my ancestors, Color was white, Race was Hebrew, and Complexion could be either fair, medium, olive, or swarthy, depending on who was recording it.)

Dunno, but I was always the gringa.

Dinner tonight was six frozen chicken nuggets. I'd actually thawed bison to make meatloaf, but seeing as how I just had a temper tantrum over knocking down some chess pieces, I was clearly in no mood to cook.

I also loathe the term colorblind because it mostly means that you're not interested in me. My color damned well matters and if you don't think so, then I'll be happy to live in your rosy world, but until I do, open your eyes. You better know I'm paying attention to your color, and I'd be a liar if I said I weren't.

The other thing I've been getting cranky about in meatspace is people being/acting surprised when I express something about racial prejudice I've experienced. I realize this is partly because I'm only now becoming more vocal about it. The comments themselves are innocuous enough, stuff like "I can't imagine" or "I'd never have thought" but the effect is subtly to undermine my statements.

Really? Really you don't think I have a fucking difficult time finding a church that doesn't openly object either to me directly or to my interracial marriage? Really you don't think people in your neighborhood or family have made directly racist statements to or about me? Really you don't understand that the reason I think about it so much is because it's happening to me all the time, in all aspects of my life?

But I'm tired of it. Part of white privilege continues because people are ignorant and that allows them to continue their indifference. Well, buck up, soldiers, because I'm done with your denial. I don't get the luxury of pretending it doesn't exist, and if you want to hang around me, then you don't get it either. What you wanna do at that point is your own deal.

I'd put an end cranky tag on, but it wouldn't be truthful.

I just friended my high school chem2 teacher on fb. OK, she was cool and all, but how weird?