i went to my roomie's house in Fredrick, Maryland. it is the second biggest are in Maryland so i thought people would be more informed and such but instead i see confederate flags every where (which isn't wrong but why represent a losing side). while we drove past an area, my roomate told me that the area also has an active KKK population(they dont hang people anymore but they have meeting and what not) which is pretty scary to think about, i mean its the North and i thought the KKK has pretty much disappeared. anyways didnt feel too comfy in that area.
I was in Tennessee near Vanderbilt and there were KKK posters here and there as well as a few confederate flags. Me and and my friend who was also there are both minorities and it was kind of strange. Outside of Vanderbilt U. It was hard to find any minorities but I didn't really have any issues overall. This stuff still exists all over the place. Try going through some of the small towns in Texas or Mississippi and you'll see the same type of stuff.
The other day I was driving towards midtown and I took a right off of West Dallas heading towards Gray. It was about halfway in between Montrose and downtown. That area is really the last vestige of what used to be a heavily ghetto'd out area. The surrounding areas have been developed with townhomes and businesses, but that one patch (the Freedman's town area) is still quite dangerous and home to many drug dealers and super-low income residents. Anyhow, to continue with my story, I'm in my luxurious SUV when the car in front of me stops to interact with a suspicious looking gentleman who is aimlessly walking around on foot. They make some type of trade (presumably drugs). Meanwhile, another car is coming up behind me. The street is pretty narrow and likely not wide enough for me to go around the guy in front. I'm thinking to myself, oh boy, this is a potential carjacking situation. I kiss my biceps and prepare to unleash the pythons on anyone wishing to be Conquered. Fortunately, the car in front of me kept going and I escaped without having to maim anyone.
I feel uncomfortable at my work. I recently found out (Friday afternoon at 5:30) that nobody at the school I work at wanted me to continue my employment there this school year. And that the governing body of the school was planning on stabbing me in the back and hiring someone to replace me while I was having my hip replacement so that when I when I was finally healthy and showed back up to work, I'd be humiliated. I found out that the one person I can't stand at the school is the one person that convinced everyone to keep me. And now I find myself having to psych myself up to show up for work for the rest of the school year. How the hell do you save face in a situation like that? I can't walk into the building and act like nothing happened. I don't play mind games like that. I'll just be miserable and humiliated anyway.
sorry meggo. I hate school politics. This happened to me last year, except that we have long contracts and basically I'm still there through this semester. I told them I was leaving on my own rather than fighting it. They quit giving me most of the science major classes, since those were the people who didn't like me, and gave me mostly the intro classes and those outside the field (where no one minds me anyway), and everyone was nicer knowing I wouldn't be here forever, but it got really uncomfortable last year going to work. I had to teach a small class of four upper-division students who got together and did this - which included people I thought I could trust and one who had been my research student. (he also stole my project & now they're working on it with another advisor... if I wasn't pretty much wanting out of the research science business, I would have been upset) I didn't like teaching them especially when all my efforts to improve things were met with hostility, nor dealing with my department colleagues. Good luck and hang in there. Be a better person than them. Find you a better situation for next school year.
Most people feel uncomfortable about 5 times per day. Most of them just don't want to admit it. Those that don't feel uncomfortable frequently are either: (a) not self-aware or (b) are part of the 10% of the population that really doesn't feel embarrassed frequently. Once you realize that most people are in the same boat as you - you'll feel better. There are some contexts where I feel embarrassed, and some where I do not - but, to put it crudely, "it don't make a ****." As long as you're comfortable with the people you care about - who cares how out of place you are elsewhere?
For some reason I always feel really uncomfortable at the mall. I'm not sure what it is, but it's like there's an intense stink of needless consumerism and conspicuous consumption there, and the people I see roaming around appear to be the most astonishing credit-whores. I honestly have to control my breathing everytime I need a new pair of ****ing jeans! Wow I'm weird. Another place: Jail. Nothing like being locked in a cell for a day or two with persons of varying degrees of hygene/sanity. Real easy to sleep, let me tell ya.
I was vacationing in Palermo,Sicily with the girlfriend last year. Well, being an american I made visting the town of Corleone my #1 toustist priority. Apparently Americans are the only ones who ever visit Corleone. Anyway, we took this 2hr bus ride and eventually made it. Since Palermo during the winter is very temperate my girlfriend thought it was appropriate to wear this orange shaw over this black sleaveless number that exposed major cleveage. I'm comfortable enough not to let dress attire become an issue so I just didn't pay it no mind. So once we get off we're both shocked by the dramatic dip in temperature. 40 degrees cold I tell you. The next bus isn't for another 21/2hrs so we start walking around what is relatively a small european town. We're making our way towards the Colrleone museum, were the ganster history tour is supposed to start, and a cop stops us. Know I'm a native spanish speaker (Southerncone Spanish), i've lived in Spain, France, and Argentina, and have communicated without incident in every latin country i've been in, but this cop came at me with some wierd Italian dialect. He asked us for our passports and the usual questions, only we're pantimining our answers and finishing them off with "we're AMMMERIICAAAANS." Finally the cop lets us go. We'll no sooner than we leave that we start noticing people looking out their windows, peeking out their balconies, turnig their heads, and then we decide to just give up the search for the museum (impossible to find during the winter) & head towards the bus stop. We'll the bus stop is a freaking bench and thier are no signs indicating it's a bus stop. Found this out from a group of elderly men sitting at another bench. We're both sitting down and men begin to slow thier cars in front of us, young men begin hissing at us, and one teen even starts wistleing at my girlfriend. Within a few seconds of this I start thinking that maybe they think my girlfriend because of her attire (conservative by US standards) is a prostitue and that I'm her pimp. Again my mind starts thinking about worst case senarios. How should I react if some man propositions us or worst- gropes my girlfiriend. Common decesnacy dictates that in such a scenario I must defend my womans honor, but this is feaking ground zero of all that is "Mafia." We go into this cafe/bar for a cappucino for some warming up. Big mistake. Apparently in Sicily women never congregate in public, only the men do. So this cafe/bar is filled to the brim with sleezy older Euro males and they start looking at us. Unblievably unconfortable. We sip our cappucino qucikly and head for the bus stop and proceed to endure another hour of glares, wistles and such untill this youg intailian girl sits next to us. Coincidently everything stoped once she sat down. Bus comes along and we head back. Denounment: One of my Italian friends gave us the down low on why we got stares. Nothing 2 do with them thinking my girlfriend was a prostitute. More of a small town euro way of life. Paticularly for Corleone. That was the most unfomfortable situation i've been in... recently.
The first 2 or 3 days I was in Athens, Greece (went around the beginning of 2006 to meet someone) - that was weird. It wasn't like I felt my life was threatened or anything like that, but I was definitely out of my "comfort zone". The funny thing is that Athens is really a beautiful city and I would love to go back some day (although I don't look forward to the 14 hour flight). However, there is no way in hell I go there again by myself. The next time (if there is a next time) it will be with my wife.
You have no idea how bizarre of a statement that is. Nashville is 33% minority, which is actually higher than the national average by 8%. While Nashville has its share of rednecks, by no means would I say that Vandy is the only place in Nashville to find minorities. While Vandy is making great strides to turn their white-bread image out (when I was there in the 90s it was lily-white), they have less than the national avg. I'm thinking about 20%. I felt very uncomfortable when I was on vacation in India in fall of 1984 and the whole place went crazy on me. Indira Ghandi has been killed and people started rioting. Worst Halloween ever.
