Mi hermano es trabajador de la industria de servicios. Trabaja en un restaurante de comida rápida y hace todo tipo de tareas, desde recibir pedidos de clientes testarudos que piden cosas que no están en el menú hasta limpiar los enchastres que la gente deja en sus mesas al retirarse, limpiar baños y sacar la basura con un enjambre de moscas zumbándole en la cara. Todo por diez … [Read more...]
What Do We Do When We Can’t Afford to Boycott?: The Challenges of Ethical Consumption
Ever heard of Buycott? I can’t exactly remember how I stumbled across this smartphone app, but it was simultaneously one of the most exciting and exhausting downloads I have ever made. The basic premise is that you sign up for campaigns you care about, ranging from BDS of Israel to products containing palm oil to companies that lobby for animal testing and union busting. Then … [Read more...]
“Need Help, Hon?”: Why I’m Tired of Ageism (And How You Might Perpetuate It)
“How are we doing today, Barbara? What can we do for you?” “Now don’t you worry, dear, someone will be with you right away.” “Are you sure you don’t need any help, hon? Here, let me get that for you...“ “You’re how old? No you’re not! I would never have guessed!” “You are so brave! I could never do what you’re doing at your age.” Ageism is so common, and so ingrained in our … [Read more...]
Waiting Tables Ain’t Easy: Why Service Workers’ Treatment Is Unacceptable
“Hi, how’s it going?” “I want the soup. Wait, what is polenta?” “Well -- ” “Is that that corn based thing?” “So, it’s -- ” “No I don’t think I’d like that. Give me the soup.” This is the conversation I have been having for eight years. Eight years of people speaking at me as if I don’t exist except to service their needs. On days when it is particularly bad, I joke with … [Read more...]
Rethinking Beauty, Ableism, and My Own Self-Loathing: What Raising My Disabled Daughter Teaches Me
“Mama, a little girl said Jude has an ugly face,” my six-year-old told me tearfully. Tears stung my own eyes as I lead us through the lobby to the van. Looking down at my youngest daughter, Jude, who has Down syndrome, I felt my chest contract. You know these things are coming, but still, when they arrive? It feels like it’s with the force of a trailer truck. And I knew that … [Read more...]
The Crisis of State-Enabled Violence: 4 Ways Homelessness Is Body Terrorism
“The idea of freedom is inspiring. But what does it mean? If you are free in a political sense but have no food, what's that? The freedom to starve?” -- Angela Davis Where I live, in the Bay Area, we are in the thick of a homelessness crisis affecting thousands of people. In San Francisco in 2015, close to one in every hundred residents was homeless. It's similar in … [Read more...]
10 Ways To Check Your Privilege With Fast Food and Other Service Workers
My brother is a service industry worker. He works at a hamburger restaurant doing all sorts of tasks, from taking orders from testy customers who want to order items that don’t exist on the menu, to cleaning up the messes people leave behind on their tables, to cleaning bathrooms and taking out garbage as swarms of flies buzz around his face. All for ten dollars an hour. Many … [Read more...]
El Amor Romantico Nos Mata: Quien Cuida De Nosotros Cuando Somos Solteros?
Soy una persona deprimida, pero deprimida es un verbo. Considero mi depresión como el resultado de una posición social y de la inevitable historia de colonización, racismo, del estigma de la gordura y de la discriminación. Estoy tomando antidepresivos, pero éstos solo pueden reprogramar la química de mi cerebro y no la realidad social y material en la que vivo. No puede … [Read more...]
To Understand Puerto Rico’s Troubles, We Must Understand Colonialism
With all that has been impacting Puerto Rico in recent years, from defaulting on debt payments to Hurricane Maria to the mass protests against our now-former governor, it makes me wonder why more people aren't talking about the state of the Island. Many simply do not know, for instance, that Puerto Rico is on the brink of bankruptcy much like Detroit, Michigan was in 2014. I … [Read more...]
Tú no existes para ser usada. Desmantelando conceptos de productividad como propósito vital
Mi infancia fue marcada por mi discapacidad. A edad muy temprana fui diagnosticada con ADHD, pérdida de audición, enfermedad neuromuscular que más tarde fue identificada como miastenia gravis. Desde luego fue especialmente en la escuela donde experimenté las mayores dificultades, porque precisamente era el centro de productividad. Aunque yo era todavía capaz de asistir a clase, … [Read more...]
“You Do Not Exist To Be Used”: Why Your Life Purpose Is Bigger Than Capitalist Productivity
My childhood was colored by my experiences navigating my disabilities. At an early age I was diagnosed with ADHD, hearing loss, and dealt with a neuromuscular disease that was later in life diagnosed as myasthenia gravis. Ever since the age I was able to attend school, academia has been a primary source of stress and poor self-worth for me. The school system was by far the … [Read more...]
Smiling Under Capitalism: 14 Ways LGBTQ+ Workers Face Discrimination in the Service Industry
Lately I’ve been puzzled by the number of people who seem to think it’s possible to have a conversation about gender equality and transgender liberation without discussing economic injustice and racialized experiences. One reason this thought is so common is because of mainstream media. While media engaging with certain transgender bodies and experiences has become more … [Read more...]
Both Ends of the Candle: How Our Culture Privileges and Shames Insomnia
The night before I began the second grade, I huddled onto my bed, a nervous mass of jumbled anxiety. I didn’t toss or turn. Quite the opposite, I held myself rigid atop my comforter, attempting to quiet all of the fears and worries over what the next day would be like, the next year, even the rest of my life—even then, I was a bit of an over-thinker. I had a new … [Read more...]
How Being a Black Child of Immigrants Complicates Your Relationship With America
I’m not Black. I remember being very young and my mother telling me this. She wasn’t defensive or upset that I had asked her the question. She was simply stating a fact. I’m not Black. I’m Jamaican. She had never even considered herself Black until moving to this country as a teenager and encountering the term on immigration papers and then soon after, encountering the reality … [Read more...]
