(no subject)

We're in the midst of doing interviews now, and I've been feeling the pressure to get mine done faster. So today I scheduled two to try and have a decent number done before Friday's meeting.

The first interview was actually a rescheduling from Monday; the participant called at the last minute to say that she couldn't do it because someone was sick. She did the same thing this morning, this time because she was sick. Unfortunately, she called to cancel after I had already left, and so I arrived in East York and received the cancellation in person. I would have happily head home after that, but I had another interview at 1:30. Luckily, there was a public library nearby, and so I was able to hang out and prep for the next interview, and even read a bit of fiction since I'd forgotten to pack any soc books. (I really, really love public libraries.)

The second interview went extremely well. For once, all of the questions were applicable and the participant had a lot of great stories to tell, and about ten minutes from the end of the two hour interview, I realized that I'd hit the wrong button on my mp3 player and hadn't recorded a word of it. Major oops. So I'm sitting up tonight, writing as notes as detailed as my memory allows, and hoping that the team doesn't kill me tomorrow. And that this is the worst and last mistake I make.

In other news, MasseyPrincess is still depressed, as she has been since she returned from Christmas in her hometown. And I still have no idea why. I've asked several times, and all I get are cryptic remarks. There probably isn't much I could do anyway, other than sympathize, but I feel bad for her.

The significance of heritage

The topic of last night's class was race in cyberspace, which led to some interesting discussion both online and face-to-face about the way the internet affords people the opportunity to avoid the topic of race, and how they can serve to reinforce existing power structures by allowing those who already have power to continue to deny power to a group while pretending that the group they deny power doesn't exist, and that it's all a question of individual merit. One of the issues that came up was the way that white is often treated as a homogeneous category. White is white, and differences in region and class and gender are often ignored, and to complain and demand attention as an individual is to be labeled a whiner or uncomprehending because, after all, white means power.

This point got me thinking, because while I believe that I acknowledge the role of region and class and gender in the formation of identity (I've never lived in a place very different from where I grew up--a rather sad limitation on my experience--but I've met enough people from other places to have some sense of the range of differences possible), I do think that I tend to ignore race if the individual in question is white. For me, being white really is background noise. And thinking about it more, I suspect part of the reason for that attitude is my own mostly-white heritage.

( I look very white. )