Dear Schoolhouse Rock creators/artists/writers/musicians:
I grew up with your catchy songs that aid learning. (For Millennials and GenZ, it’s like the 1970s version of “Hamilton.”)
It should be no surprise that I’m partial to the grammar ones:
- “Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get your adverbs here.“
- “Conjunction Junction: What’s your function?“
- “He was a hairy bear. He was a scary bear. We beat a hasty retreat from his lair. And we unpacked our adjectives.“
I mean, just TRY to get those out of your head.
I’ve been thinking about one in specific lately: The Great American Melting Pot.
And, even more specifically, these lyrics:
It doesn’t matter what your skin.
It doesn’t matter where you’re from,
Or your religion, you jump right in
To the great American melting pot.
Yeah. A bit idealistic, no?
People are actively protesting because skin color DOES matter. (When people say, “I don’t see color,” my eyes nearly roll out of my head. Of course you see skin color just like you notice if someone has brown hair. The key is not attaching JUDGMENT.)
And immigration … well. It’s like people want to say, “That’s it: America is closed.”
Don’t even get me started on religious bias.
So. I’m writing this because I’d really love a revival where you tackle thorny issues such as redlining, Jim Crow laws, Operation Mockingbird, First Amendment rights, white privilege, etc.
I feel like storytelling via music could come in handy here.
I remember when I first truly understood the concept of white privilege. I had walked a couple of blocks in downtown Atlanta and overheard three separate conversations among black people where the subject was race.
I went home that night and asked Eddie if he thinks about being Hispanic on a regular basis. He said he did. He’s been pulled over and asked to prove he’s legal, for example. He’s Puerto Rican, FFS.
And that’s when it clicked: I rarely thought about being white. And that’s a privilege. Now, of course, I’m hyperaware.
Not everyone has that moment of clarity. So I think it’s time for some lessons in your trademark accessible way.
Can you help?
Thank you for your consideration,
Beth
Hey Y’all:
So many people who are TA. Join me to read/comment/marvel. @AITA_reddit #ThursdayThoughts #ThursdayTantrums
Posted in Advice, tagged Advice, AITA, Bright ideas, Comments, Complaints, Coronacation, Disorders, Family, Marriage, Media, Obsessions, Pandemic, Parenting, Peeves, Rage, Reddit, Twitter, White people on May 13, 2020| 3 Comments »
Hey Everybody!
Some days, the only thing keeping me going, joy-wise, is AITA on Reddit via Twitter.
Lingo to know:
AITA=Am I the Asshole?
OP=Original Poster
NTA=Not the Asshole
YTA=You’re the Asshole
TA=The Asshole (duh!)
ESH=Everyone Sucks Here
NAH=No Assholes Here
INFO=Not Enough Information
I go for the posts and stay for the comments. (Hats off to @WholeManDispose EVERY TIME!)
Anyway, let’s play a Coronacation game.
Here’s a multiple-choice quiz based on recent submissions. One rule: Make your guesses before checking out the feed. Answers below.
1. An OP complained about his wife sticking her hands down her pants at the dinner table. What was she doing?
A. Fixing her underwear.
B. Trying to be sexy.
C. Checking to see if it was her time of the month.
2. Are any of these appropriate at the dinner table?
A. Yes, OP is TA.
B. No, OP is NTA.
3. In a post just two days later, a different OP complained about his girlfriend bleeding all over their sheets during her time of the month. Why did this happen?
A. She didn’t realize she could still have periods.
B. He refused to buy her sanitary products at the store.
C. She didn’t feel like getting up to get a pad.
4. An OP complained about her husband refusing to name their soon-to-be-born son a family name (first-born son tradition for more than 100 years) so she wouldn’t be disinherited. What was the name?
A. Adolph
B. Gaylord
C. Stacey
5. In No. 4, the community determined what?
A. OP is TA and will scar her child for life.
B. OP is NTA and family traditions are important. Also, money.
C. ESH.
6. There is a follow-up post to No. 4 from the OP regarding the impending divorce.*
A. True
B. False
7. An OP, a nurse who leaves the house to work, complained that her husband, a lawyer who works from home, didn’t help her 8-year-old son find his dog while she was at work. What was he doing?
A. Cheating on her.
B. Taking care of their six-month-old daughter.
C. Playing Xbox.
8. An OP is mad that his girlfriend didn’t do what during the pandemic?
A. Organize her bedroom just like his.
B. Text him back after he texted her 31 times.
C. Come live with him instead of her parents.
9. An OP asked if he is TA for secretly getting a paternity test on his son. Why?
A. OP is white and his wife is black. His son is darker than his daughter.
B. OP thinks his wife cheated on him.
C. OP had a vasectomy, so therefore knows B.
10. An OP wants to know if she is TA for telling her stepdaughter not to switch out the food for OP’s cat, Mango, for what?
A. Human food.
B. Generic dry cat food.
C. A vegan diet.
Bonus point!
11. An OP is bewildered that the community determined that he is TA for what behavior?
A. Trashing his son and daughter-in-law on Facebook for lying about going to the in-laws’ house for Mother’s Day.
B. Being such a jerk that his son felt he had to lie about his whereabouts.
C. Doubling down on his actions in the post after the community weighed in.
D. All of the above
Answers:
1-C
2-B
3-C
4-B
5-A
6-A
7-C
8-A
9-A
10-C
11-D
* An update to the update: OP now claims it was all made up. Eh. Who cares? We’re all bored.
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