In the Studio

It came from beneath the sheets

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It came from beneath the sheets

I am not quite sure what it was, all I know is one night while preparing to go to sleep I was caught off guard by a faint sound. The sound was somewhat familiar but I couldn’t be sure. It wasn’t until I noticed something creeping up though the sheeting fabrics that I begin to become suspicious. It trailed up through the bedding as if on a mission through an intricate maze following the patterns of folds and creases with precision. As it moved closer I began to detect its familiar characteristic, this was definitely something I had encountered before. As I glanced over at my husband my suspicions were confirmed for upon his face he wore a most exultant grin.

By Louise Cutler

How many Niggers are in your backyard?

Now a days we are in such a state of personal awareness that no one can say anything without someone’s feelings being affected. Case in point the removal of the word “nigger” from the book Tom Sawyer because it is considered offensive, never mind the fact that the book was written during a time when blacks didn’t really care. Oh I’m sorry African American folk. A women buys a sofa from a store that was imported from China arrives at her home with the words “nigger brown” on it and she almost faints from the assumed racial slur. Director Ron Howard makes a movie that contains what is perceived as a gay slur concerning a car and Glaad gets mad. Here's a thought, what if they were referring to the electric cars as being gay, as in happy? Why are we so eager to jump on the, “Why are you talking about me” bandwagon? Miley Cyrus pulls the corners of her eyes to resemble a Chinese person and there is an outcry. Off with her head! I’ll bet millions of little Asian people are still listening to her music today. Now I am no big fan of Miley, haven’t seen the movie Dilemma and I am as black as they come. I was once told “if you wear your feeling on your shoes they are bound to get stepped on”. My point is this, with all of the “you offended me” and “I want my mommy” going on how do we teach our children to cope, to just deal with it, let it go, move on, handle it, or kick some butt. In my opinion to say a word is responsible for what some fearful people are already feeling is wrong. And with the sofa, there were several different ways the women could have explained the word nigger brown to her daughter with out making it a racial case. The word is a part of history and our heritage as a nation and will be, even if it is removed form every book and every language. It is a word, and when used out side of your name should not be offensive. I feel the same way about fat, gay, skinny, and any of the terms we have decided to find offensive. Most of us need to check our own backyards to see what we are hiding, maybe these offenses are just reflections of how we view ourselves and is only amplified insecurities within our own past that were never dealt with. And now we are pining the blame as some one else. I believe words only apply to you if you claim them as true fact or are delivered with your name stamped on them. Example: When a few colorful words were said about Bristol Palin and her mother, while she was “Dancing with the Stars” she took it to the streets she hit her twitter page and handled it. With the Internet redefining the streets these days. She spoke up for herself. “The girl definitely got some ghetto in her”. Once again not a fan, but I like the fact that she didn’t let the media do her talking as they so often do. I mean really how many of us open the mail that comes to our home that just says current occupant? Most of us just throw it in the trash, why? because our name is not on it.

The problem isn’t what others are saying but how we are defining and viewing our selves; often we are merely pointing blame by not dealing with our own insecurities. The things we didn’t or couldn’t deal with in our childhood are resurfaces and now becoming the world’s problem. And in turn this is what we are teaching our children. We need to become more responsible for our own self-view and stop assuming others are insulting us unless they say our names, we are not that important.