BACK IT UP | SLIDE TO THE FRONT
So Mom and I did make it to the rally in Cinci yesterday afternoon! We got there just after the gates opened to wait in line for shuttles to the park, and it was already packed, there was a huge line. One of the people behind us said that one of her friends was already at the park and it was packed as well. We waited in line for the shuttle buses from 1 PM to about 3 PM (there wasn't enough parking room at the park Obama was speaking at, so people were instructed to gather at a small airport nearby). The speaking was supposed to start at 3, but the event had drawn way more people than the organizers had expected so it was delayed a little bit until they could get most of the people there. The event started shortly after Mom and I arrived; the first speaker was Ohio's governor, Ted Strickland, and after that was some woman no one knew and who no one could hear anyway.
THEN IT WAS He came out and people went crazy. From where we were, he was only a tiny speck who stood out because of his shining white shirt (it was shining with the purity of his soul). Fortunately Mom bummed binoculars off of a kid nearby and we got to see him much better, although it was only for a moment. That was all we needed though, and after that we switched to a location where we could hear him instead of see him, since there was a band of teenagers right beside us that wouldn't shut the fuck up, and we were far away from the sound system.
The speech itself contained a lot of the stuff we've all heard Obama saying since he accepted the candidacy, and especially during the last couple weeks re: the economy, but it was really cool to hear it in person, to hear that he's just as good a speaker every day of the week as he is at these events they show on television. I had heard some of the speech on NPR the day before so the end of it was a little anti-climatic, but the part of the end I hadn't heard was really wonderful. More than anything else, it was a great feeling to be around so many other people who were there for the same reason and who wanted the same things, especially since in this part of Ohio a lot of us can often feel like we're alone or in the minority next to conservatives or those who are very apathetic.
The downside was that after the rally, we had to wait another hour and a half for the shuttle back to the airport, and the wait was in the boiling sun with no water. One older man got heat stroke or something and the medics and an ambulance had to come. The transportation was pretty poorly organized overall, and it was hot and there was lots of waiting before and after, and most people didn't get anywhere near Obama, but the fact that a shit ton of people were willing to come anyway made it feel really good and special. I'm glad I went, it'll definitely be something to remember.
We didn't get very many photos, since we found out once we got there that we weren't allowed to take in cameras with telephoto or removable lenses (which is what Mom has, and I didn't bring my camera), but Mom did get a couple photos of me in the line waiting for the shuttles. They aren't very good ones, but
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vejiicakes said PICS OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN, so [ here is a pic of me looking grumpy and chubby ] while I dream of ---
In other news, when I tried to get a ride to the Dayton rally yesterday morning from someone in my class, all the kids in there looked at me with faces that said, "Why would we ever do something political? Are you kidding yourself...?" At first I felt like the biggest tool ever, but then I was like, oh, right. It's the other way around. Ha ha.
One kid in my class is constantly calling things gay. I still can't bring myself to say something to him and make a spectacle, but I think one of these days it's going to happen before I can stop myself. Also, I never mentioned this, but during one of our first projects I was paired up with this guy named Eric (who happens to be 20) and we had to brainstorm and come up with lists of things that matched up with certain adjectives. Well, one of them was "bubbly" and he wanted to put "gay guys." I said that was stupid and I was not going to put it. He asked why, and I pointed to the rainbow triangle on my purse, and he was like "So? Gay guys are bubbly and happy and stuff, it's not an insult or something." Was it dumb of me to be all serious-business about it? It just struck me in an unpleasant way and made me upset. Like, if there was an "ugly" category, would he have wanted to put "dykes?" I know many stereotypes stem from some amount of truth, but jesus christ. You have to... know how to deal with them. It's a complicated game, and he was playing it clumsily.
This school is definitely no better for queers than Miami. In fact, it might be worse since it's so small. OH WELL.
- FEELING:
awake - HEARING:Imogen Heap | Come Here Boy
Comments
And as far as those things go, my boss unknowingly says some offensive ass stuff from time to time, without trying to. But I personally just let it slide, because you can't change how people think or act about things by being srs bsns.
SO. IN CONCLUSION. YOu probably should've told that kid no because that was retarded, not because it was offensive.
After all, what would he think about a gay guy who wasn't all bubbly and happy? Is that guy not really gay, then? Or is he somehow less gay? Does he for some reason not count?
Yeah, I don't think you were wrong. Attempting to say that all gay guys are bubbly and happy is a massive generalization, and not correcting him on his thinking will only serve to reinforce the stereotype. People need to stop looking at pieces of a person--gender, age, race, sexuality--and assuming that this means thy know a person. No one is that simple, that they can be so clearly defined by one aspect of their personality. So no, you're not wrong. HE is. Would he object if someone said that all jocks were steroid-using bullies? That all white guys were beer-guzzling fans of NASCAR?
Ugh. People.
Hahaha, I shoulda said that.
Wow, doing something political, how unheard of for students. (Surely your campus has student organized political activist groups, right?) Just so weird hearing stuff like that among young people in college. We had an Obama rally on our campus not long ago, and satiric posters of Pitbull4President were tacked up AAAAAAAAALL over the art building (might've been in more, but I.. never go anywhere but the art building).
Totally not stupid for calling the guy out. I can see where you might've felt weird for making something of it when the guy seemed so laid back, but I think it's important to air out one's concerns like that in a classroom setting, ESPECIALLY if it's with someone who seems 1) otherwise reasonable and 2) likely to repeat their behavior.
As for the one who keeps calling things gay, I've found that if you draw it back to the point that "gay" is still the most widely used term for "homosexual", it tends to put a stop to, or lessen, its use. (I hate that people do that. They argue that they don't mean "homosexual" when they say "gay", and I CAN appreciate language shift, particularly in colloquialisms. But the FACT is the word "gay" hasn't moved beyond its current homosexual ties, as opposed to how "lame" actually HAS moved beyond its original use to refer to the impaired, and is therefore now a completely reasonable colloquialism to use for something that's, well, lame. Srsly, don't use the word until it's no longer circulating use and ESPECIALLY when its most common use is reference to a GROUP OF PEOPLE.)
Speaking of which, I try not to say "retarded" to mean moronic but sometimes I slip up and become a hypocrite. :T
Also, I love your icon!
Also, go you, being all rally-attending! I didn't even know rallies were happening, but I also don't get the news here. Been stuck in the archives looking up campus construction and budgets....
I was talking to someone about Tegan and Sara in my French class the other day, and someone else asked who they were. I told her they're a band - a Canadian Lesbian Twin band. She says, "Wow... that's..." I could see her starting to form the word "disgusting." Then she looked at me for a second, and decided it would be wise to change it to "awesome."
Sarcastic or not, at least she shut up.