Boricua on Sabbatical: March 2010

Friday, March 26, 2010

Who's White?

Book Review of Nell Irvin Painter’s, The History of White People
By LINDA GORDON
Published: March 25, 2010
NYT

Nell Irvin Painter’s accessible study shows that deciding who is white has always been heavily influenced by class and culture.

click for complete book review

Monday, March 22, 2010

Next Event : April 5

Need a ride from Wells College or surrounding communities? Email me at vmunoz@wells.edu

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Just Sayin'

English is my jet lag

One word

Per time zone.

Spanish is peanut butter

Stuck to the top of my mouth.

Spanglish criollo mix

¿Que, que? No way.

¿Vihte? I told you so.

OMG. Ay, dio' mio.

This is my language.

A language that is not

my mother’s tongue

Or my grandmother’s

It's the craaaazy mix of dis place ment.

Ven pa' ca' que tengo platano y una hamaca

Vamo pa' la barbacoa, you know, the bar-b-q

Bring something sweet.

No te preocupes. Just bring yourself.

Talk some of that mezcla. It's easy.

¿You going back?

¿Cuando vienes?

Las cosas estan bien malas.

And when I talk in English

And when I talk in Spanish

¡Ja! I’m flying through the time zones

I’m chewing down the ground up nuts

I’m choking it out como agua sala’

Gone down the wrong way.

Talk with me in this third tongue

Mix it up with me

Llora. Cry. Mira como todo cambia.

Oh, well. Bendito. Nevermind

Porque de tripas corazones

And sure I’ll do that.

Mañana.

Just as soon as I get home.

Un dia de estos. Okay.

"White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack"

"I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group... I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets which I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was 'meant' to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, assurances, tools, maps, guides, codebooks, passports, visas, clothes, compass, emergency gear, and blank checks... In proportion as my racial group was being made confident, comfortable, and oblivious, other groups were likely being made inconfident, uncomfortable, and alienated. Whiteness protected me from many kinds of hostility, distress, and violence, which I was being subtly trained to visit in turn upon people of color."
Peggy McIntosh

Boricua on Sabbatical

Friday, March 26, 2010

Who's White?

Monday, March 22, 2010

Next Event : April 5

Henry James

But, really, enough about me