What I'm thinking about today

Thinking about Clawdia

Would you call it "sun bathing" if she's sitting in the sunny open window bathing herself?  That shiny streak downward from her shoulder is where she turned to lick herself clean.  Now she's licking her paw and swiping it across her face to clean herself.  Cats groom themselves meticulously.

Word of the Day #1

swipe / swahyp / verb, when used without an object = to make a sweeping stroke.  Example:  "Clawdia swipes her paw across her face to clean herself, the way we swipe our cards through the slot in the machine when we buy things."

Thinking about voting

When you want more information about a proposition on the upcoming ballot, it helps to be able to think it through with friends.  One friend sent me information she had received from a reliable source, and I then forwarded her email to three other friends, inviting feedback.  All of these friends think it's very important to be informed and to vote.

Thinking about exercising

Five Simple Moves for Strong, Toned Arms

Exercise #1: Arm Circles
Exercise #2: Wall Pushup
Exercise #3: Bent-Over Row
Exercise #4: Biceps Curl
Exercise #5: Shoulder Raise

This is one of the links from the SilverSneakers Newsletter that came today in my email.

Thinking about racism

I'm on Day 4 about "white silence" as I work my way through Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad.

This video was sent to me by a friend today, serendipitously, since he doesn't know that I am contemplating white privilege this week.  I try not to be silent, but to share what I learn, like in this video, which can help us visualize — actually SEE — the advantages of having privilege, so I'm sharing it with you.  Take a look at Racing for a Hundred-Dollar Bill and notice who is out in front.  Also, notice the looks on the faces of those who are participating in this race.

Word of the Day #2

serendipitous / ser-uh n-dip-i-tuhs / adjective = come upon or found by accident; fortuitous.  Example:  "It was serendipitous that my friend sent me this video as I'm pondering white privilege."

I was surprised to learn how NEW this word is.  It was "first recorded in 1940–45 as serendipit(y) + -ous," using the earlier word serendipity to make the adjective:

"The word 'serendipity' was coined in 1754 by Horace Walpole.  He drew it from an English variation of the Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip, which was about three princes who always made discoveries that they were not looking for on their adventures."

Me and White Supremacy ~ by Layla F. Saad

Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor ~ by Layla F. Saad, 2020, race relations

This book challenges white people to do the essential work of unpacking our biases, and helps us dismantle the privilege within ourselves so that we can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on people of color.  And it shows us, in turn, how to help other white people do better, too.  It gives us the language to understand racism and to dismantle our own biases by walking step-by-step through the work of individually examining:

• My own white privilege
• What allyship really means
• Anti-blackness, racial stereotypes, and cultural appropriation
• How to change the way I view and respond to race
• How to continue the work to create social change

BIPOC

I've already discovered that BIPOC is used 285 times in this book.  (The book's on my Kindle, which tells me such stuff.)  Here's what it means:

The acronym BIPOC stands for "Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color."  Its aim is to emphasize historic oppression of all people of color.

POC stands for "People of Color" and is primarily used to describe any persons who are not considered white in the United States.  It emphasizes common experiences of systemic racism.  POC was in dictionaries as early as 1796 and, thus, is a much older term than BIPOC.

Many people prefer BIPOC over POC because they view the use of POC as lumping all people of color togther.  BIPOC acknowledges that people in Black and Indigenous communities face different, and often more severe, forms of oppression and erasure, especially when it comes to the racial oppression that permeates the history of the United States.

We have seen a massive surge of awareness of systemic. racial injustice recently.  As people all over the world protest, many are also working to educate themselves about the history and persistence of systemic racism.  Who's interested in reading this book with me?

Update:  Click here, and join me on my book discussion blog.