Friday, April 17, 2009

Things Heard Around The Office

A few moments ago, I decided it would be best to leave the office and read in the library.

The reason: well, if you must ask I will tell you. While sitting in my office reading, I heard the Administrative Assistant from another Department and a Graduate Student talk about children and race. First, it seems that the Grad. Student and his wife cannot have children for biological reasons. But rather than try all options, the male grad student decided against using an egg donor because, and I quote, "I told me wife if I wanted to do that I would just sleep around." A few moments later, the Secretary and the Grad Students decided it would best to get a puppy instead since if the grad student and his wife were to use an egg donor, it would not be "their" child. Besides, puppies are less aggravating and more rewarding than children.

From this conversation, the pair began to discuss race. Unfortunately, I did not hear the transition from the child- bearing conversation to the race conversation. Yet, all that I can remember about the race conversation is the Secretary's pronnouncement that "whites will be a minority soon. We probably already are."

It is unclear if she meant the country, the state, the city, or the university but does a qualification actually matter? After a few exchanges, she stated that the kids here are a "special group," which means that the minorities here are okay but it is the minorities elsewhere that are the problem. (And, yes, I work at a University where the minority population is very high.) But this is just a terrible statement to make as if this country needs to be a white nation. I though we were all Americans? I am sure that this woman would denounce other forms of identity politics (and she has) unless, of course, it is the politics of her identity.

It has been a charming morning. Just lovely really.

2 comments:

The Roof Almighty said...

Death and Texas, man. Our homebrewed racism can cross the Mason-Dixon / blood-brain barrier whenever it wants. In fact, maybe you brought it to Jew York yerdamnself.

Maybe it's you what is ate up with the dumbass.

Just be glad that your eye-tie wife, like myself, got grandfathered into the whiteness. Otherwise, you'd have Jim Henson's Miscengination Babies--"makin their dreams come true!!!" Oh sure, they can sing and dance, and Baby Miss Piggy may be a "vet-er-in-arian too" but they would never have made it in the country club without some generous relaxing of the rules.

paperweight said...

That is about as bad as the Canadian woman on the plane the other day that started bashing Baptists (which I snidely replied i was raised), and then proceeded to say its strange seeing all those blacks and mexicans in the southern U.S., and you have to be careful where you are down there. "But, I'm not racist or anything."