As many of you know, I am a large white man. There are many aspects of these two identities that are incredibly beneficial. What I didn’t really realize today, though, was how important that first identity is.
While getting ready to leave for a theatre show that we were both seeing1, I mentioned that I thought I might walk there, since I had time. It was around a 2.5 mile walk2, so I thought there might be an objection due to the length. However, the person I was talking to, who was also a white man, said he wouldn’t feel safe walking there alone.
Now, I’m not sure whether it’s that living in a census-defined “rural” area makes me unafraid and trusting of my fellow person3, or whether he grew up in a far different place, which led him to his comment. Nonetheless, it struck me that maybe the most important of my three identities is, in fact, large. It goes first when I describe myself4, and maybe it belongs there. Where before I thought it was just the white man portion that made me feel safe, I’m reevaluating now to believe that it’s a combination of all three characteristics that lets me feel safe in any situation I find myself in.
But, since the goal of my blog is to be happy and cheerful5, I’ll mention the walk. It was a beautiful walk across and then along the River Thames. I got there at sunset, so the river looked amazing. The show was fabulous, with amazing sounds and a flawless set. The acting was of the highest caliber, as was to be expected from its cast.
huge shoutout to my study abroad program for making it so available. It was an absolutely amazing show, Julie by Polly Stenham, after the Strindberg show Miss Julie↩︎
4 km for those of you who believe in a different set of arbitrary units↩︎
probably and not really, respectively↩︎
as you can read in the opening↩︎
partially in opposition to one of my inspirations↩︎