If you’ve worked at a college or university in America, you’ve likely been blessed by working with an intelligent but under-degreed Black woman administrative assistant, as they are actually the glue that has held together America’s higher education system for at least the past couple decades. And if you’re not an asshole and have been able to build a relationship with that woman, in conversation – if you are lucky to be expressing some solid shit and not just talking about tv shows or something – you might get a, “I know that’s right.” This is the cultural counterweight to the far more resigned “it is what it is.” I’ve mostly heard gruff under-degreed white dudes saying the “it is what it is,” but I’m sure it’s far more cultural than that; but even so, it’s a sad sort of giving up and accepting that everything is fucked. It’s not necessarily negative, because you’re practicing acceptance, but it does have a certain doomed feeling to it. On the other side, “I know that’s right!” is a usually joyful proclamation that, yeah, that shit is true. It has more hope to it. Anyways, I work from home now, so nobody says shit to me, except in Zoom meetings, and I always remember to keep pretending to smile until I’m sure the camera is completely cut off, because I don’t need to be breaking kayfabe with these people and have them know I’m losing my mind over here pretending to care about this shit. Oh well, it is what it is, I guess.
No comments:
Post a Comment