It Gets Better
Today is apparently a national holiday for telling everyone that you're gay.*
Y'all know that about me already, so in support of the It Gets Better Project I thought about what I would say to little 17 year old Di Di if I could travel back in time.
If I could talk to myself from ten years ago, I would say: Di Di, you won't always live in a conservative little hick town where gay people are oppressed and the dance clubs in nearby cities are terrible.
Ten years from now, you will live in C------! A great big city with 3 million people, many thousands of gay people, and an entire district of awesome gay clubs. A city where diversity is celebrated -- where no matter who you are, or where you come from, there is a supportive community for you.
There is some bad news. You will still be in school because eventually, 22 year old Di Di decides that applying to Ph.D. programs is a good idea. And since the cost of living in the big awesome city is rather high, you will be desperately poor for the duration of your 20s. Meaning you won't have cable television or central AC or dental coverage.
Also, some stuff happens with the economy while you're in grad school -- it's kind of a long story --so you won't actually have any career prospects to show for your long years suffering and sacrifice.
But on the bright side, you won't get picked on for being gay. And living in an awesome city actually does make up for a lot of the crappy parts of your 20s... so cheer up, because life gets better.
And I'm sure that if 37 year old Di Di could talk to us, she would say that eventually our career prospects improve too! Um, right?
* It's also supposedly "Columbus Day" but I don't celebrate rape, theft, and genocide, and I think it's pretty fucking insulting that the United States government still honors Columbus with a holiday.
Y'all know that about me already, so in support of the It Gets Better Project I thought about what I would say to little 17 year old Di Di if I could travel back in time.
If I could talk to myself from ten years ago, I would say: Di Di, you won't always live in a conservative little hick town where gay people are oppressed and the dance clubs in nearby cities are terrible.
Ten years from now, you will live in C------! A great big city with 3 million people, many thousands of gay people, and an entire district of awesome gay clubs. A city where diversity is celebrated -- where no matter who you are, or where you come from, there is a supportive community for you.
There is some bad news. You will still be in school because eventually, 22 year old Di Di decides that applying to Ph.D. programs is a good idea. And since the cost of living in the big awesome city is rather high, you will be desperately poor for the duration of your 20s. Meaning you won't have cable television or central AC or dental coverage.
Also, some stuff happens with the economy while you're in grad school -- it's kind of a long story --so you won't actually have any career prospects to show for your long years suffering and sacrifice.
But on the bright side, you won't get picked on for being gay. And living in an awesome city actually does make up for a lot of the crappy parts of your 20s... so cheer up, because life gets better.
And I'm sure that if 37 year old Di Di could talk to us, she would say that eventually our career prospects improve too! Um, right?
* It's also supposedly "Columbus Day" but I don't celebrate rape, theft, and genocide, and I think it's pretty fucking insulting that the United States government still honors Columbus with a holiday.
-- Di Di at
7:36 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home