Todd inquired about my putting olives next to repression and unaccountability on the list of things I don't like. Seeing as how I am known to eat anything (take that as you will), it is odd that I don't appreciate a nice olive every now and then so here's the tale of how I came to have a gag reflex when it comes to olives:
It was Thanksgiving, 1976, or was it '77? It really doesn't matter anymore. I was a young and rambunctious girl, sporting pigtails, my sister's hand-me down Dittos, and my favorite Sean Cassidy shirt, running amuck at my grandparents' house with my other 28 cousins. We trailer types are, after all, breeders by nature. Grandpa had put out some olives in a bowl for a snack. Naturally, all of us with little fingers began sticking the olives on our fingertips. I had somehow managed to adorn every digit on both hands with black olives. Then my evil cousin Jacob started chasing me. I took off screaming and headed for the screened-in porch, olive-clad hands flailing. For some reason I thought I might get an energy burst if I ate an olive or two en route. I had just stuck my right hand, and all five olives, in my mouth when I ran smack dab into the sliding glass door at warp speed. Good old grandma had Windexed it just that morning. My right elbow hit the glass first, shoving the olives and my hand down my own throat. A few olives got caught, my fingernails dug into the roof of my mouth, and I began to choke. Someone heimliched me, or beat me, or something, and the olives were cleared but my mouth was bleeding profusely. I ended up having three stitches in the roof of my mouth and a dislocated shoulder from the impact. I haven't eaten an olive since.
Oh, and you should check out Todd's dissertation on Black People Love Us at his own site No Ordinary Place for info on the olive branch that white folks ought to be extending from birth.
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2 comments:
You've remarked that writing which makes folks think/converse about issues like race is important. You also possess a quick wit, and while they are at my expense, I can appreciate comments like, "for info on the olive branch that white folks ought to be extending from birth" read this site. I'm curious, where do you fall in all of this? What does KC think should happen?
Thanks for the comment, Todd. As for where I stand on all the -isms of the world, I say live and let live, be happy and people around you will be happy, play nice, and remember the only life you can control is your own so stop worrying about what other people are doing and thinking and focus on your own life. Oh, and if no one is dead or hurt, get over it - everything else can be fixed.
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