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[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Dunno if this thought is polite or not, but I thought "I would totally date this guy."
...Why? Brainy. Sad, kind eyes. Lots of hair to run my hands through-I bet when he undoes it it's a huge cloud of hair.

Is Portland not terribly diverse?  THAT sucks.
Houston has a magnificently diverse population and I LOVE it.
...Texas cities can be cool, but drive 5 miles outside the cities and you can appropriately cue up "dueling banjos."

Diversity is in the eye of the beholder.

Portland is about 80% white. Most of the White people in Portland are not from Portland. They come from all over the country, and there's also a large Ukrainian population. So that's one kind of diversity.

There are neighborhoods, like mine, that are roughly 50% Black. There are others that are roughly 50% Hispanic, and some that are heavily Asian. This whole neighborhood was German before it was Black.

Albina used to be very much mostly black, but it got gentrified, and now on any given night you can go into any bar on Mississippi and listen to white hipsters complain about the lack of diversity while they look right through the Black and Hispanic patrons.

100% of the people I have heard complaining about the lack of diversity here have been White. Maybe they thought they were going to get brownie points or something.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I have heard from a reputable source, though have not verified, that more than half of the children in Portland are nonwhite.

[Pope Pixie Pickle]

http://iliveinashed.tumblr.com/post/51396335576/privilege-theory-and-a-little-re-frame-of-the-shit-that

a blog I wrote that is maybe relevant

At first I thought "Aw hell, pixie's getting seriousness in our goofy thread!"

Then I was like, "Oh hey, pix gets what it's like to be genderqueer, whether pix is or not."
SQUEE! 

...I really like getting called "sir" by clerks, although then they act all afraid I'm gonna complain or something...Not that I mean to scare them, or anything.

One guy who owned his own business did say (quietly) to his buddy standing next to him: "Hey, is that a woman or a man?  Whatever, man..." 
And when my ears aren't congested I have really good hearing 

I am worried I'm going to get yelled at in a public restroom.
...I go by genitalia, but I sort of feel like I'm lying when I use either the mens' or the ladies'.

Online I will answer to either male or female pronouns and wonder what it tells me about the person who is addressing me...
This brings up the question...am I situationally male or female???
I think that would be genderfluid, and I'm not sure I'm that changeable.

(Genderfluid...is that something you can use to get your rust-locked male and female connectors loose? kind of like WD-40?)

I used to get bugged by stupid rednecks: "Is that a man or a woman? hurhurhurrr..." 
Funny, since I accepted I was metaphorically "intersexed between the ears"  nobody fucks with me. 
You just have to carry yourself like you can and will fuck back, which I absolutely can and will do now. 

...Body language is really important, I think, to not getting fucked with.

My ex-wife is actually way more likely to go explodey than myself.  I'm pretty sure she's an Aspie, and one thing (of many) she fails to do is make eye contact. 
That's typical for Asperger's people.
The thing is, it signals to most people she'll back down, is submissive, therefore a good target.
Except it's a false signal.

She sends out FALSE body-language signals all the time, like getting physically tense when she's really interested in something. 
I was constantly freaking out with her b/c I thought she was pissed-off...and no, she was just interested in something or other.
I have PTSD, and she had a way of triggering me all the freaking time.
I also felt like I was constantly trying to convey to her who I was and what I was about for the last ten years...and failed to do so.
...Leaving me to believe none of us ever really understand one another.
It took me ten years to figure out that just because she's a moral and brilliant person, with gender issues of her own, we're still not ANY good for each other.  Divorce was final in April.


Pix said this:

"hey, please don't discredit this experience I have on a regular basis just because you have never seen or experienced it, would be nice if you could listen and take my word for it."

  I'm white, and I honestly think that is part of what kept me from being charged with something some "buddies" of mine did. 
Racism is real, sexism is real, gender roles ARE enforced (sometimes violently).
http://jezebel.com/5840016/woman-sentenced-to-prison-for-beating-transgender-woman-in-mcdonalds

Ok, enough.
[/serious shit]

I have GQ and trans friends. I don't get it on a personal or experiential level (FAAB and cool with it), but I listen, god-damnnit. it was one example of Some of the Things I have learned, like, not touching Nigel's hair as a POC unless you be gettin down and frisky with someone consensual and sensual likes. Now if I could get all these white middle class feminists to see some sense with the class thing i'll be onto a winner.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

It can be really hard for people who have become really attached to their identity as oppressed to comprehend that you can be oppressed in one way and privileged in another.

[Pope Pixie Pickle]

It can be really hard for people who have become really attached to their identity as oppressed to comprehend that you can be oppressed in one way and privileged in another.

Yup. I get being white, being cisgendered, being mostly straight, and able in body, and being a smart motherfucker.

I got screwed on sanity, class, gender and not having that bit of paper that someone has verified my being a smart motherfucker...

The Irish thing used to be shitty back when but it's not much of a problem now.

[Left]

Now if I could get all these white middle class feminists to see some sense with the class thing i'll be onto a winner.

I quit attending this one meetup group, based around TED talks.
...I felt really alien there, because those people all come from a background of, like, actually having money. 
Not having their life put in danger from lack of medical access, actually getting results when they call the cops about getting robbed, not having to drive a car that's always falling apart, etc.

Then they started meeting at a place that had free valet parking.

...I immediately thought of some valet smacking my car into a wall because he's not used to proper hoopty driving technique...and I knew I'd feel REALLY alien in such a place if not there to work.
So I dropped out.

[Pope Pixie Pickle]

Now if I could get all these white middle class feminists to see some sense with the class thing i'll be onto a winner.

I quit attending this one meetup group, based around TED talks.
...I felt really alien there, because those people all come from a background of, like, actually having money. 
Not having their life put in danger from lack of medical access, actually getting results when they call the cops about getting robbed, not having to drive a car that's always falling apart, etc.

Then they started meeting at a place that had free valet parking.

...I immediately thought of some valet smacking my car into a wall because he's not used to proper hoopty driving technique...and I knew I'd feel REALLY alien in such a place if not there to work.
So I dropped out.

fuck, I wouldn't even be able to go to the meets for my activist group if it wasn't for having some awesome friends drive me there and back.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Now if I could get all these white middle class feminists to see some sense with the class thing i'll be onto a winner.

I quit attending this one meetup group, based around TED talks.
...I felt really alien there, because those people all come from a background of, like, actually having money. 
Not having their life put in danger from lack of medical access, actually getting results when they call the cops about getting robbed, not having to drive a car that's always falling apart, etc.

Then they started meeting at a place that had free valet parking.

...I immediately thought of some valet smacking my car into a wall because he's not used to proper hoopty driving technique...and I knew I'd feel REALLY alien in such a place if not there to work.
So I dropped out.

Yeah, a friend of mine went to a TEDx conference in Seattle and said it was really weird being surrounded by all these rich people. My psychology professor made a crack about it as well.

[Pope Pixie Pickle]

Now if I could get all these white middle class feminists to see some sense with the class thing i'll be onto a winner.

I quit attending this one meetup group, based around TED talks.
...I felt really alien there, because those people all come from a background of, like, actually having money. 
Not having their life put in danger from lack of medical access, actually getting results when they call the cops about getting robbed, not having to drive a car that's always falling apart, etc.

Then they started meeting at a place that had free valet parking.

...I immediately thought of some valet smacking my car into a wall because he's not used to proper hoopty driving technique...and I knew I'd feel REALLY alien in such a place if not there to work.
So I dropped out.

Yeah, a friend of mine went to a TEDx conference in Seattle and said it was really weird being surrounded by all these rich people. My psychology professor made a crack about it as well.

lady from my feminist group, whose parents live in a half-a million quid 5 bedroom house is not sure if she is middle class. IF YOU HAVE TO ASK IF YOU AREN'T WORKING CLASS, HON, THEN YOU PROBABLY AREN'T.

Sometimes, I want to slap her.

[East Coast Hustle]

Dunno if this thought is polite or not, but I thought "I would totally date this guy."
...Why? Brainy. Sad, kind eyes. Lots of hair to run my hands through-I bet when he undoes it it's a huge cloud of hair.

Is Portland not terribly diverse?  THAT sucks.
Houston has a magnificently diverse population and I LOVE it.
...Texas cities can be cool, but drive 5 miles outside the cities and you can appropriately cue up "dueling banjos."

Diversity is in the eye of the beholder.

Portland is about 80% white. Most of the White people in Portland are not from Portland. They come from all over the country, and there's also a large Ukrainian population. So that's one kind of diversity.

There are neighborhoods, like mine, that are roughly 50% Black. There are others that are roughly 50% Hispanic, and some that are heavily Asian. This whole neighborhood was German before it was Black.

Albina used to be very much mostly black, but it got gentrified, and now on any given night you can go into any bar on Mississippi and listen to white hipsters complain about the lack of diversity while they look right through the Black and Hispanic patrons.

100% of the people I have heard complaining about the lack of diversity here have been White. Maybe they thought they were going to get brownie points or something.

I thought my corner of Southeast was pretty diverse. Maybe not all that racially diverse (though more so than many parts of PDX) but very much ethnically diverse. And also in terms of socioeconomic class. I mean, you can just about chuck a stone from Woodstock/Eastmoreland to Foster-Powell and Felony Flats (never got the name myself, seems like a pretty nice 'hood to me).

[Left]

Now if I could get all these white middle class feminists to see some sense with the class thing i'll be onto a winner.

I quit attending this one meetup group, based around TED talks.
...I felt really alien there, because those people all come from a background of, like, actually having money. 
Not having their life put in danger from lack of medical access, actually getting results when they call the cops about getting robbed, not having to drive a car that's always falling apart, etc.

Then they started meeting at a place that had free valet parking.

...I immediately thought of some valet smacking my car into a wall because he's not used to proper hoopty driving technique...and I knew I'd feel REALLY alien in such a place if not there to work.
So I dropped out.

fuck, I wouldn't even be able to go to the meets for my activist group if it wasn't for having some awesome friends drive me there and back.

I'd be happy to throw you on top of all the dumpster-dived shiat in my car. 
In Houston no transportation very often=no job-my one ethically-carless friend had endless problems.
You can't get anywhere without a car here, not reliably...I had a friend who lost his job because the bus driver, on the first run of the morning, often parked at dunkin' donuts for 20 minutes, to have a nice breakfast.
My car has gotten to the "carry the toolbox" stage of devolution, but as long as I have at least $1000 to get another hoopty, all is cool.  Except the car, the a/c croaked some time ago.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Felony Flats ain't what it used to be. My dad lives right in the middle of it, and B lives out there too. There was a time when it was pretty icky, but like much of the rest of Portland, that time was heavily tied to low housing values.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Now if I could get all these white middle class feminists to see some sense with the class thing i'll be onto a winner.

I quit attending this one meetup group, based around TED talks.
...I felt really alien there, because those people all come from a background of, like, actually having money. 
Not having their life put in danger from lack of medical access, actually getting results when they call the cops about getting robbed, not having to drive a car that's always falling apart, etc.

Then they started meeting at a place that had free valet parking.

...I immediately thought of some valet smacking my car into a wall because he's not used to proper hoopty driving technique...and I knew I'd feel REALLY alien in such a place if not there to work.
So I dropped out.

Yeah, a friend of mine went to a TEDx conference in Seattle and said it was really weird being surrounded by all these rich people. My psychology professor made a crack about it as well.

lady from my feminist group, whose parents live in a half-a million quid 5 bedroom house is not sure if she is middle class. IF YOU HAVE TO ASK IF YOU AREN'T WORKING CLASS, HON, THEN YOU PROBABLY AREN'T.

Sometimes, I want to slap her.

A lady I know went to see Beasts of the Southern Wild at an art theater, and she said people were walking out because they were "repelled". 

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

Dunno if this thought is polite or not, but I thought "I would totally date this guy."
...Why? Brainy. Sad, kind eyes. Lots of hair to run my hands through-I bet when he undoes it it's a huge cloud of hair.

Is Portland not terribly diverse?  THAT sucks.
Houston has a magnificently diverse population and I LOVE it.
...Texas cities can be cool, but drive 5 miles outside the cities and you can appropriately cue up "dueling banjos."

Diversity is in the eye of the beholder.

Portland is about 80% white. Most of the White people in Portland are not from Portland. They come from all over the country, and there's also a large Ukrainian population. So that's one kind of diversity.

There are neighborhoods, like mine, that are roughly 50% Black. There are others that are roughly 50% Hispanic, and some that are heavily Asian. This whole neighborhood was German before it was Black.

Albina used to be very much mostly black, but it got gentrified, and now on any given night you can go into any bar on Mississippi and listen to white hipsters complain about the lack of diversity while they look right through the Black and Hispanic patrons.

100% of the people I have heard complaining about the lack of diversity here have been White. Maybe they thought they were going to get brownie points or something.

A friend of mine has been repeating for a year or two about how he hates Portland and wants to move to Oakland because white guys will go out of their way to fuck with him here. As in, cross the street, purposefully walk into him, and spew racial epithets to start a fight—apparently because he's a huge black dude in a hoodie that just wants to mind his own goddamn business. He just wants to be ignored in public, he's a quiet, sensitive guy.

He used to live in NW, which is not only predominantly white, but full of rich douches, as I'm sure you're well aware. But even then, he shouldn't have to put up with that shit. I've never witnessed any of this, and being an arrogant white guy, obviously never had to deal with it either. I've told him he needs to come chill in NE where people wouldn't dare pull that racist shit, but he had to move to Tigard to take care of his mom so now he's stuck even deeper in an even more ghastly white neighborhood only they're fatter there too.

I just can't write that off as no big deal.

[Left]

Dunno if this thought is polite or not, but I thought "I would totally date this guy."
...Why? Brainy. Sad, kind eyes. Lots of hair to run my hands through-I bet when he undoes it it's a huge cloud of hair.

Is Portland not terribly diverse?  THAT sucks.
Houston has a magnificently diverse population and I LOVE it.
...Texas cities can be cool, but drive 5 miles outside the cities and you can appropriately cue up "dueling banjos."

Diversity is in the eye of the beholder.

Portland is about 80% white. Most of the White people in Portland are not from Portland. They come from all over the country, and there's also a large Ukrainian population. So that's one kind of diversity.

There are neighborhoods, like mine, that are roughly 50% Black. There are others that are roughly 50% Hispanic, and some that are heavily Asian. This whole neighborhood was German before it was Black.

Albina used to be very much mostly black, but it got gentrified, and now on any given night you can go into any bar on Mississippi and listen to white hipsters complain about the lack of diversity while they look right through the Black and Hispanic patrons.

100% of the people I have heard complaining about the lack of diversity here have been White. Maybe they thought they were going to get brownie points or something.

A friend of mine has been repeating for a year or two about how he hates Portland and wants to move to Oakland because white guys will go out of their way to fuck with him here. As in, cross the street, purposefully walk into him, and spew racial epithets to start a fight—apparently because he's a huge black dude in a hoodie that just wants to mind his own goddamn business. He just wants to be ignored in public, he's a quiet, sensitive guy.

He used to live in NW, which is not only predominantly white, but full of rich douches, as I'm sure you're well aware. But even then, he shouldn't have to put up with that shit. I've never witnessed any of this, and being an arrogant white guy, obviously never had to deal with it either. I've told him he needs to come chill in NE where people wouldn't dare pull that racist shit, but he had to move to Tigard to take care of his mom so now he's stuck even deeper in an even more ghastly white neighborhood only they're fatter there too.

I just can't write that off as no big deal.

Neither can I.  He should NOT have to put up with that shit.
  I think he ought to get a semi-decent audio-video recording device if he doesn't have such, and upload the douchiness.