BackStage

I am so glad I am not teaching an inequality class next school year. Group dynamics and research methods. The reason for this celebration? Honestly… cause teaching all of this inequality starts to get damn depressing. Staying constantly updated on everything, dealing with students who tell me that I’m “playing the race card” and knowing they feel pleased cause they remember a term I taught them (and them failing to realize that they just proved the entire point of the semester)… it wears on me. And, yes, I realize that my ability to feel this way (predicated on some idea that I get some sort of escape from all of this) is a reflection of my many privileges (white, heterosexual, ambiguously religious…). But, I still feel that way. And, to drive it home, a great news story from Rachel Maddow:

This constant awareness about how much the world sucks… I doubt I can shut it off. I know I’ll still read, write, and discuss issues related to race, class, gender, and sexual inequalities. I can’t help but be happy that it won’t be my job to do so, at least for two semesters.