How the hell was I supposed to know?

Forgive all my posting, I'm...bored. Bored! And I figured now was a great time to exorcise them demons.

I've been struggling with several ideas lately and some of them are a little scary and intimidating. I really think a lot of what I've been talking about (or trying to talk about) lately have mysteriously emerged since I've been thrown off into a whole different place AKA Johnson City, Tennessee, which I will never stop talking about despite being back in Nashville for the holidays.

I've mentioned that a lot of the folk on campus are obliviously racist, ignant, homophobic, sexist, and all sorts of intolerant. I usually blame this on living in the mountains but really only a portion of the people on the ETSU campus actually come from Johnson City. Actually, a lot of them come from Chattanooga, Knoxville, MEMPHIS...Virginia, North Carolina, just about all over TN and all over the East in general.

So I can't blame it on the "mountain air" anymore as much as I'd like to. There's clearly a lack of communication/education going on here.

When I bring these things up, I'm usually told that I chose the college, with the subtle meaning that I made my damn bed and I best lay in it.

Well, frankly, how the hell was I supposed to know I was going to have to encounter all this just because I decided to go in a college in the Appalachians?

All these wonderful -isms that exist on campus are out there in the real world, I have no delusions that I would have to face them--or rather, I've already faced them in various ways and will probably do so all my life. So why the hell does going to this university suddenly mean "well you knew where you were going..."

Yes, and I refused to stereotype a whole section of the state because that's just stupid. Because middle TN is no better and neither is west--as I've said and as people that actually live here will tell you, TN is so damn behind it's not even funny.

So this whole thing of I should have expected to be bombarded with racist, sexist and generally cruel remarks therefore it's my fault and I shouldn't complain, frankly I'm really struggling with it. I'm also annoyed that this is the same excuse used by many of the folks on campus to explain away some of their questionable choices--I saw this in a big way with the whole fiasco about blackface. And I still get people asking me what blackface is! DAMNIT!

So...I've been doing some low-level activism, I don't think I mentioned the big sign on my door declaring that I'm perfectly willing to explain to anyone who wishes what exactly "blackface" is. Sadly no one came to my door in askance (well, I did threaten to make them look ignorant, and no one wants to look ignorant *rolls eyes*) and that's alright because I know I'm going to have to explain it to every one of them eventually.

All this to say, I get reeeeally tired and bored with the slow pace of change and, you know, as soon as I get back on campus I would like to take my special brand of "making you look insane" to a new level. I think a few things have to change...and they should, and especially I'd like them to change on my glorious watch. Please get your bail money ready for me because I might have to do something illegal.