This is a story about allies. Once upon a time, there were two men. Bartholomew and Winston worked at the same office, in different departments. Every day for months, when Winston passed in the hallway, Bartholomew held his hand out. Some days, Winston would sneer. Others, he’d just ignore it. Once in a while, when…
Author: Clio
A Mathematician’s Sonnet
So algebra is not aligned to taste: A bunch of letters dancing without need. You find the dancers nothing but a waste? My friend, some words on this you ought to heed: We start with adding, just as shepherds did To count their flocks when sent to fields by day. Subtraction’s just some adding being…
villanelles
A student spoke of writing a sonnet, and I mentioned that I’d written some once, once upon a time. She sounded like she didn’t believe me, like this wasn’t something that she’d expect a math teacher to do. I said I’d written some villanelles, once, too. But I couldn’t tell her if I still had…
White Dusk
fate’s fickle finger is cold gray steel filled with hot white pus angry and impotent: it is its impotence that makes it angry makes it flash across the sky makes it rain down blood like hot lava in the fading day this is the sunset tonight, the white man in the moon will gaze down…
Meandering
Mindful of the road, I Make my way forward, still Melancholy, still quiet… Muddied in still waters, Muddled with clarity. Might another false step Matter? I cannot say. — ptkh 06.03.18
Take a Knee, America
It’s Memorial Day. A day for Americans to sit around eating BBQ, waving American flags, and taking the day off. Historically, it’s about making peace with your enemies. Memorial Day started in the South, in the wake of the Civil War, as a way for the losing side to reach out to the winning side…
Breaking the White Programming
A white man’s rant against people speaking Spanish in his presence recently went viral. He was later identified as Aaron Schlossberg, a lawyer who “has a history of being racist.” This is just one of an ever-increasing list of white people being publicly racist. Another high-profile example was a white woman identified as Jennifer Schulte,…
This Happened at Waffle House
This happened at Waffle House: Police were called on two black women who were confused about why they had to pay for plastic cutlery they’d gotten for free the day before. Two white male officers wrestled one of the women to the ground, exposing her breasts. This happened at Waffle House: A white male police…
Yellow Is the New White
Late last year, Hari Kondabolu’s excellent documentary, “The Problem with Apu,” premiered on truTV. In it, he talked about his experiences as an Indian-American growing up in the shadow of Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, the Indian convenience store owner on The Simpsons. He spoke to a variety of other Indian-American celebrities. He discussed blackface and minstrels with…
Punching Up, Punching Down
A tradition in comedy says: Always punch up, never punch down. That is to say, don’t attack people who are already marginalized. Right now, we’re in the middle of two controversies involving humorists. ◊♦◊ One involves punching up. Some people are upset over Michelle Wolf’s routine at the White House correspondents’ dinner, where she attacked…