In what-is-this-I-can't-even FB news of the day, a high school friend started a discussion about gender vs. racial self-identification and what's going on in the mind of someone like Rachel Dolezal. And another high school friend just commented:

It's how you're raised... People look at me and see valley girl- I am not comfortable around white culture- I was raised in a colored world, and that is where I am comfortable, the issues that confront the colored world are my issues- even if the colored ones do not accept me- that had been my experience. There are very few who are not transracial these days. Why don't we stop identifying as one or the other?? It seems to leave many of us out...

She is just one of the nicest people on the planet, a completely ingenuous free-range hippie chick who would totally be a devout freegan if she were still living in a big city with dumpsters instead of out in the middle of nowhere communing with the redwoods, but this post of hers is so blithely, fractally awful I can't even answer. I'm reduced to a Xanderesque, "How?!? What?!? How?!?"

eta: Not posting this to be mean -- I'm just gobsmacked, and not prepared to pick a fight with a deeply well-intentioned idiot of whom I have many fond and cherished memories, but I can't be alone in my gobsmackery. I need someone to bear this burden with me. Lucky all y'all.

Yes, I'm pretty gobsmacked too.

Next time you see her, pat her on the head for me.

JZ, is it possible she might be amenable to a gentle ""transracial' is a term used by people of color who were adopted by white families, because they have specific challenges and issues to deal with in life that are very different from the ones you have, let's find some other term for white people who identify with a diverse culture"? It doesn't solve all the problems in what she says but sometimes it is better to start small.

That's an excellent suggestion, WS. Thanks for finding a potential spot where she could look at one small piece of it from a different angle without feeling beleaguered or defensive.

Even though I can tell she's trying to use it differently, it might also be worth noting that her blithe use of "colored" will not fall easy on all ears.

it might also be worth noting that her blithe use of "colored" will not fall easy on all ears.

Cosigned times a billion.

Wow, jZ. That's some clueless stuff right there. Honey, you can feel whatever you want in your heart, but while some racism is a lingering systemic thing that doesn't actively require looking at someone's skin...no one is following your through a store or pulling you over because you look like a Valley girl. Eesh.

Aurelia, I don't think I have your number? You do seem to only be a couple blocks away! I just grabbed breakfast but have no plans until about 215-230 (at which point I need to figure out how to get to my work place by 3). My number is (now edited out!) I'll leave it here for a bit.

msbelle, I'm so sorry.

dcp, glad it wasn't more serious.

sarameg, that's a great steal. I know how much you love the Fluevogs. Having a backup pair is a sound plan.

I am so far behind right now, so if I've missed anything important, I'm sorry.

Presentation in Denver was OK, not spectacular. They had tech issues with internet and their computer, so no demo/PP presentation for the first 1/2 hour. Just a conversation that seemed to go well. We ended up staying almost an hour passed the scheduled meeting end time, so I think that's a good sign, but we'll see. I'm trying not to get my hopes up on this one.

I have no spoons to deal with the state of affairs in this country right now. No one wants to listen to an opposing viewpoint, and confirmation bias is the name of the game. Guns, good. People of color, bad. No, dipshits. Just no.

Oof, good luck Maria!

I just remembered I had the weirdest dream last night that I was at a small dinner party and Rick Santorum was there, and I was trying to figure out what to do and was posting here and on FB all "omg". Wtf was that about, brain???

I keep using the number sequence in Lost as test data in my code's unit tests just to see if anyone ever notices.