In this way then, perhaps.
Or see Tyler Cowen, who muses about "other means of signaling and concealing."
What does his being black have to do with the story, macaca?
Did you give him your number?
Oh, butcha are, Blanche, butcha are. One of the only good things about having a cold is sounding like that.
What does his being black have to do with the story, macaca?
Gives it color, duh.
"You're really earning your hat today, huh?"
One of the only good things about having a cold is sounding like that.
I've recently encountered a person who is too in love with sounding like that when ill, and talks much more than usual, and even accentuates the breathiness, when s/he has a cold. It is not pleasing.
Is it just me or is Ogged the internet reincarnation of Larry David? Between this post and the "objectively best skin color" post, one wonders.
What kind of hat qualifies as nice these days, anyway?
at work today with a handsome young black man,
That "darkie" comment really does still bother you, doesn't it?
I knew someone would ask that, but I don't know from hats, so I can't tell you, really. It had a brim, and was a dark charcoal color, I know that much.
It does, Timbot, it does; my guilt spans decades.
What kind of hat qualifies as nice these days, anyway?
An antihat. Also, yarmulkes and the old football helmets without facemasks, but only in an ironic hipster sort of way.
Also, I have no idea what an over-the-top tranny phone-sex worker sounds like. Can you recommend one, Ogged?
I wanted to get a leather Stetson (if I understand accurately the Naming of Hats) while I was down in Mexico, but I blew all my spending cash on a fancy necklace for my wife.
My favorite bit of hat-related trivia: The designer of the Stetson hat owned a shop in Orange, NJ, not far from my house.
I think you roomed with one in DC, apo.
Ok bitches, you want to know what really happened? I got into the elevator, and as the doors were closing, someone hit the button outside just in time to catch it. It was the handsome young black man. There had been several workers milling about and moving equipment in the lobby and I hadn't seen him coming, otherwise I would have held the elevator for him. So I thought, "Shit, I hope he doesn't think I didn't hold it for him because he's, you know, BLACK." I noticed that he was wearing a nice hat, and it seemed like a good way to re-establish any goodwill that might have been lost, so I complimented him on his hat. I might have done it anyway, but that's how it went. I hate you all.
Just another Berkeley morning, then?
Did he respond? Was he articulate?
19: So awesome. I really am going to have your baby one of these days, JoeD.
Anytime you think you're man enough, Tim.
I don't think Jesus had a hat head, leblanc.
I don't know what you're talking about. Men with long hair look particularly dashing in brimmed hats, if the hair is well-groomed.
I think these encounters are best intiated non-verbally. Eye-contact, look upwards, a firm nod and smile, maybe a slight shrug, break eye-contact and await response. But you don't say, so you may already have been thru something like that.
I'm torn between my desire to ridicule your bizarre neurosis and my recognition that I do stuff like this all the time.
27: Or just pat his ass. In a non-patronizing, anti-imperialistic way, of course.
26: If Jesus wore a hat, I suspect it would have been one of these.
Q: Are we not son of man?
A: We are divine!
I thought, "Shit, I hope he doesn't think I didn't hold it for him because he's, you know, BLACK."
White guilt's a bitch, isn't it?
32: What did you say, WhiteGuiltPhD?
Veering suddenly onto Non Sequitur Boulevard, I find this video strangely hypnotic.
Also, am I the last person on Earth to see the "My Box in a Box" video?
To be serious for a second, I don't think "guilt" has much to do with it. You don't have to feel bad about anything to care about how your actions will be interpreted.
To be serious for a second
You stop that right this minute, Ogged.
Veering suddenly onto Non Sequitur Boulevard
For a moment I thought apo was talking about a real street in LA.
Box in box...I lol'd.
When I see handome young black men on elevators, I'm always afraid they might think I'm gay because I compliment their hats, or, say, stare at their crotches.
You don't have to feel bad about anything to care about how your actions will be interpreted.
Agreed, but if your immediate reaction to being inadvertently rude to a black person is to emphasize their blackness and fear racism (as opposed to any other possible interpretation), isn't that kinda significant?
34: Of course, but not as much so as you seem to think, m'friend.
Whoa! Where do I go to catch that cold?
We all do things like this. We even do exactly what ogged has done: tell people the story full of good feeling while unobtrusively slipping in "black" or whatever. What's funny is that ogged tells the story to a readership made up of that tiny sliver of the American populace that is more neurotic than he is, in the vain hope that we won't recognize the story for what it is. And we, of course, see it as an opportunity to try and ramp up ogged's neuroses. Ah, Blue America, how I love thee.
not as much so as you seem to think
I was just moving words around, honky.
46: I thought white people weren't so good at that sort of thing.
I doubt Ogged's elevator-companion thought the compliment was in any way out of the ordinary.
I get compliments on my hats from black men all the time.
You should have appended the word "dawg" to your compliment. We love that sort of thing.
Wait, Slack, you're a man of color? But...you're Canadian! My brain is melting!
"Homie," perchance? There's nothing like letting slang age ten or twenty years to make sure you're really comfortable with it.
Fuck, now ogged's gonna act all awkward around Slack.
Both of us in the Canadian coloured community are big fans of Unfogged.
Wait: there are two members of unfogged's canadian coloured community, one of whom is named Doctor Slack and the other of whom is named DS? Something seems a little odd about that. I call bullshit on this whole charade.
So did the black man suck your cock, or what?
Aha! A sockpuppeting scandal! Officer, that man is the impostor!
(PS. At the risk of having to ban myself, I'll just make it clear that "DS" is "Doctor Slack" when he's too lazy to type out his whole 'nym.)
(PPS. When you do acquire another token, I think it's most correct to call them the "obligatory second.")
Jefferson Pinder's show (click "current show," wait for videos to load) would make for some good material from the Mineshaft. I had impassioned arguments about this show with no fewer than three other white people about his work.
Sweet, a token token black dude.
The correct term is African-American, you know.
It's funny how gender shows up (well, for most people) so clearly online, and race doesn't when not explicitly mentioned. We had a conversation about this ages ago, talking about bloggers of color, and I (being, admittedly, an idiot) mentioned that I'd been reading each of Jesse Whatsisface from Old-Pandagon, Steve Gilliard, and Oliver Willis, for months without figuring out that they were black. I don't know why anyone would expect ethnicity to be obvious online, but I think I did have that expectation. Don't anymore, though.
"African-American" is not used for Canadians; they prefer "Black-North-American".
Just don't call them Canukkers. That's offensive.
I find it hard to believe that you could read Steve Gilliard without figuring out he was black. Maybe it was different three years ago, but it seems like every other post has the word "News flash: Republicans won't vote for a black" or "News flash: Blacks won't vote for a Republican" or "Ha ha, and they wonder why blacks don't trust them".
Hey, what is the PC term in Canada for people with too much melanin?
Oh, how my Canadian relatives mocked me when I mentioned the local "Native Americans."
63: Also, "Afro-Canadian," "Blackanadian," "Africadian" (but only if you're from the East Coast) or "British North American of Colour."
Ned's right that Gilliard pretty strongly signifies as Black these days. But I don't think that was as true when he used to write for dKos (he did, right?).
I know about first nations, you maroon; I'm talking about people with African roots, not native North American populations.
65: I started reading blogs in the prewar and early war period, when most political blogs were much more foreign policy focussed. I don't actually remember if that describes Gilliard at the time, I just know I didn't pick up on his ethnicity for ages. I probably attributed any blogging on racial issues to generalized liberalism.
And for the natives, "First Nations" is okay but "Aboriginal" is better, because the term "First Nations" excludes Metis.
70: Seriously, Black is considered fine for most occasions, though occasionally people will stop awkwardly and ask if you prefer "Afro-" something.
I'd been reading each of Jesse Whatsisface from Old-Pandagon, Steve Gilliard, and Oliver Willis for months without figuring out that they were black.
I find that surprising.
Oh oh, I've got another question for you, Slack: what are the good/popular Canadian political blogs? What about non-political blogs?
I find that surprising.
*Some* people aren't as racist as you are, Tim.
75: Oblivious is my middle name. But seriously, for each of them I figured it out because they mentioned it -- while gender (again, for most people) seems to show up in writing style, ethnicity doesn't (at least not to me). Which is probably what I should have expected, but I found it surprising.
Hasn't Oliver Willis always had his picture at the top of his blog?
"Aboriginal" is better
Really? It's always seemed like such a coldly scientific sort of term to me.
76: My Canadian blog list is a little idiosyncratic, mostly consisting of people I know or who are connected to my industry. Oddly enough I don't read Canadian political blogs as regularly -- I don't feel I need them to stay on top of things as much as is the case with American politics. But I can post a few links later if you like. (I have to go and get some actual work done now.)
80: I think the clinical air is part of what recommends it -- less emotive. Trust me, you never want to be in a room with a Stoney guy trying to explain to a Metis guy why he's not really "First Nations."
77: I meant that I found it surprising that she'd read their blogs for months.
To be fair or accurate or whatever, I think I only started reading Gillard at a time when he was addressing racial issues, Jesse had the pic, as did, I think Willis. Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I recently found out that Jesse took a shot at Kwame on his blog, so he's dead to me.
82.--Well, I suppose my feelings aren't really relevant, when it comes down to it.
No one's yet made a joke about unfogged's token black reader saying he is too lazy to type out his own pseudonym?
This blog's gone soft.
82 -- is "Stoney guy" Canuck for "Stoner" or something else?
Apparently I'm also too lazy to work, so in answer to 86: "Stoney" is colloquial for someone from Tsuu T'ina First Nation.
I used to think that the polite thing to do would be to learn which tribe people belonged to and then use the more specific term rather than the general one. Of course, that works better when everyone is claiming to be Cherokee or Sioux.
Canadian politics are boring anyway.
89: Also if we bothered to actually teach that kind of thing in schools, rather than feel-good vague nostrums about how "the Indians" were there at the first thanksgiving. The Pilgrims are a specific, historically defined group (and we teach kids that)--but we don't do the same with the Wampanoag.
learn which tribe people belonged to
Christ, distinguishing between India Indians and woo-woo Indians isn't enough?
distinguishing between India Indians and woo-woo Indians isn't enough?
This reminded me that, as a child, my friends and I distinguished them as "Dot Indians" and "Feather Indians".
No, seriously, did you guys click through that Wikipedia "Stoney" link? There were about a billion names for tribes within the Yukon area alone. (And I'm completely incompetant at figuring out which are actual names people use and which are pure nerdly inclusions.)
distinguishing between India Indians and woo-woo Indians isn't enough?
I've been laughing for about five minutes over that one. I seem to recall nervously pantomiming the "woo woo" as a kid to make the distinction. Maybe it was the upraised palm "How" sign.
Oh, how my Canadian relatives mocked me when I mentioned the local "Native Americans."
Because they're Canadians or because they're Mormons?
90 is sort of true. Though at least we've got a piece of the colonial war pie in Afghanistan, so that's something.
You know what Canadian site more people should read is Stageleft. It's criminal that those embarrassing windbags at Winds of Change are better known than Stageleft.
Also, Matthew Good has a pretty good blog. So is Pogge.
And I'm quite fond of Elizabeth McClung's blog. And Bookninja is excellent. Basically, I could go on forever with litblogs.
Now I really have to go.
It would be easier to call 'em all Lamanites, now that you mention it, neil.
(No, the Canadian relatives are all atheists and think Mormons are hilarious.)
97 makes me wonder if being black *and* Canadian isn't really rather overdetermined of you, Slack. How many times can people say "I didn't know you were ___!"?
90 is sort of true.
Not always, though. The 1993 election, where the Progressive Conservatives went from 151 seats to just two? Nothing like that ever happens down here.
100: But what real difference did it make? None. B/c why? Because Canada is boring.
It occurs to me that I learned a great deal in school that was not being taught. History and Geography textbooks used to have maps of tribal distribution, for instance, that I can remember pouring over, learning the names, etc. And there used to be posters and pictures, full of memorable information that was never discussed, and that the teacher quite possibly didn't know.
In Junior High, study hall—an institution I never hear about now, that may have been abolished— often found me without anything I wanted to do. So I read my textbooks, and learned things I still remember that were never covered in class nor tested for, ever.
100: Boy, do I remember that day. I woke up in the morning and turned on the radio to hear "...only won two seats" and I was like, damn, the NDP went from 10 seats to two? And then I found out they were talking about the PCs. Yay!
Then again, I often say that the price Canadians pay for having a sane political culture is articles about the Ministry of Wildlife and Fisheries on the front page of the paper.
If I don't at least have to scrape my windshield once this winter, I'm giving Canada some serious consideration, boring or not. I'm really hating wearing short sleeves in January. We used to have winters down here, but I fear NC may have been moved out of the winter weather band altogether.
I'd say move up to NY, but this year it wouldn't have helped.
B, I know you grew up in California, but my people are used to the changing of the seasons being marked by more than wet and dry periods. Seven months of temperate followed by five months of brutally hot isn't getting the job done for me.
101: It's a masterful stroke of marketing that you along with so many other yanks believe this ---- keeps the riff raff out.
Because of my birth an upbringing there, I could move to Canada with my family anytime. A really good job in a really big city might tempt me, but otherwise I can't see myself doing that. I'm stuck between, psychologically, but at least I can see the barriers and differences. Many Usans can't, and seem to feel "How different can it be?" They're in for a shock.
Quiet, Apo, or you're going to bring another miniature ice storm on us that brings all traffic to a sliding-then-grinding halt, stranding thousands of commuters on the highways as our one lone salt truck makes its rounds of the city, whilst everyone north of the Mason-Dixon laughs and points, saying "what a bunch of sissies who can't handle one inch of snow!" I hated that one we had last year.
107: You people are crazy.
108: Yeah, yeah. Just keep believing that.
106: Winter is the best season, followed by fall, spring, and, in a surprise 5th place finish, summer. If I didn't love baseball, summer wouldn't even make the list.
Southern California is for people who find talking about the weather too taxing.
Anyway, 109 is why I love to visit Canada - it's so surreal, because you can't put your finger on why it feels different, but it does. It's as if you woke up one morning and the distribution of hair colors flipped - 60% redhead, 30% blonde, 10% brunette. It wouldn't seem like it should matter, but it would. Complete cultural dislocation, without so much as a different name for the currency.
See, JRoth, I don't even like baseball. All I can find to recommend summer is the lovely, lovely farmer's market.
Southern California is for people who find talking about the weather too taxing.
And/or for people who have more interesting things to talk about.
112: I visited BC a few years back and saw two sports I'd never seen before, lawn bowling and field hockey. My now-Canadian brother watches curling on TV and anticipates what the announcer will say, even if he sometimes violently disagrees. (Curling is intensely exciting, if you're Canadian). Hockey isn't quite strange to me, but almost. What a barbarous country. The sports are all wrong. Even the football is different.
99: I know what you mean.
115: "Even the football is different" s/b "Even the football is better." None of this four downs nonsense. Too bad the CFL doesn't have a larger market to draw on.
(Curling is intensely exciting, if you're Canadian.)
Or Scottish.
My brother5 says that there are far too many Scots in Canada.
So-and-so comments... Not In That Way.