Sitting up, sitting down, and how to stop all the racial tension.

It occurred to me while looking at my 8-month-old baby girl in her crib, that it’s possible, in English, to be both sitting up and sitting down at the same time.

Prepositions are the most idiomatic parts of speech in English and are especially difficult for adults learning English as a second language, since they have to be memorized.

(In this case, for my lovely Chinese wife, “sitting up” regards posture when in a seated position, and “sitting down” means “not standing up”)

[2013-08-27]

 

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Click to enlarge: Top: Trayvon Williams. Bottom: Chris Lane, from Melbourne, Australia.

How to stop the racial tension over tragic situations like Trayvon Williams and Chris Lane:

Step 2: Stop killing each other.

Step 1: Remove all guns (the operative word is all), but that’s a nonstarter for a lot of folks I know, so let’s just agree to stop pointing them at each other, then #2 would take care of itself.

Education and Opportunity

Actually, FWIW, the real solution is education and opportunity, but we have to stop killing each other first.

I’m sick and tired of seeing young people die, I’m sick and tired of people injecting race into every debate, and I’m sick and tired with a society that molded me to see things that way.

I have a story coming up tomorrow about a crummy experience at Krispy Kreme. I might be tempted to view the experience as a personal response. Fact is, Krispy Kreme managed to wreck an otherwise enjoyable Sunday morning without any regard to my color or age or girth or IQ or propensity to get excited when I don’t know what the heck I’m supposed to do and everyone else around me does.

Chances are you just injected your own race into this and think I’m talking to you. That’s just you talking to you. And that’s okay.

[2013-08-27]

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