Wide-Awoke: The Beginning

Hi friends! I'm the Weird White-Friendly Blerd Girl!  Just yesterday,  I decided yesterday to create this blog. Why do you ask? I created this blog to create a separate space from my very public Facebook where I can rant, rave, and be unapologetically black and nerdy (i.e, blerdy) without having to post the disclaimer TLDR.  Fuck that! My posts will be longer than the length of your favorite male pornstar's junk but a lot less hairy, I promise! Basically, I am tired of friends I haven't talked to since middle school and distant family members I haven't seen since I was an infant direct messaging me while asking the following series of questions: Are you okay? Wow, I didn't realize you were so angry about everything!  Could you please explain to me what you mean by colorblind racism? I thought we were supposed to be colorblind? As a black person, how do you feel about.....WAIT A FUCKING MINUTE! As a black woman who has gone to predominantly white institutions since Catholic Pre-K circa 1994 and was raised in the alabaster suburbs of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, I consider myself an expert on navigating white spaces. I have almost thirty years of experience in "speaking white, acting white, and eating white" In fact, a lot of old white people often feel moved to praise my very existence and frequently express the following sentiments : "You speak so well!" "You're exceptionally pretty and well-mannered"! My goodness, you remind me of a young Michelle Obama!" The fact is comrades and home-skillet biscuits, I have been cursed with the title of "White-Friendly Black Person. In the 1990s,  I was simply called the Oreo, but they have similar connotations. I have become so good at being around white families that I am already promised to marry into one! Haha! *evil laughter* (Darling, if you're reading this, you know I love you and your family. The people need to laugh, okay?) . It is 2016, and it is time the world know that I am black and have always been black. I may wear my hair relaxed or under an uber feminine cosplay wig,  I may get excited about eating grilled cheese sandwiches while reading first editions of Amazing Fantasy/Spider-Man comics, but I will always be black *pokes skin for effect*.  You got that, rich old ladies at the neighborhood grocery store? I am black, I am proud and I have major feels about the state of this little blue planet we live on right now. As a person of color, as a woman in the STEM field, and as a citizen of this country, I have a lot to be concerned with right now. As I sit in my office hunched over my macbook, I am avoiding going to my lab's main office because I don't want my fiance to be right about the alleged Neo-Nazi Propaganda posted in the hallways of my building or being ejected from my PI's printer. Like seriously, WTF?  It doesn't matter, how "white-friendly" you can be as a POC. Fact: Having an abundance of melanin puts you at risk of being attacked and killed. It doesn't matter if you live in San Francisco, California or in Jackson, Mississippi. Just look down at your phone and you'll see Twitter Tweets, Facebook posts and You Tube reaction videos reporting about another person getting killed for being POC, Muslim, Queer or even a lovely combination of all three. Of course, hate crimes, terrorist acts, and police brutality are nothing new under the sun. However, social media has decided it is a BIG FUCKING DEAL. Is this what George Orwell was yammering on about? Fear propaganda and the continual erosion of free speech and free thought? Could be. Take a look at the cell phone drones crossing the street. They are fine with inputting their bank information into an app on their phone but they'll be damned if they have to make eye contact with another human being who narrowly misses colliding into them because they are also on their phone. Oh, and by the way, I am not attacking these people because I do it everyday. I am black and female. That's a dangerous intersection to cross, my friend. Being constantly on my guard is already stressful, since I am trying to catch this damn Poliwrath on Pokemon Go. Shit! He disappeared after I walked five steps. Sigh. In any event, let me give you a few warnings about the contents of this blog: 1) You will not agree with everything I say. 2) You will probably be offended by most of what I have to say 3) You will either rejoice or revolt at my incessant fangirling about science, literature, history, comic-books, cosplay, anime and American pop culture. 4) You will probably read this when your old Uncle Archie is on the John muttering to himself about the damned coloreds. You have been warned. Cheers, The Weird White-Friendly Blerd Girl