i have my blog backed up on my old ass wordpress account over at etherealeternity.wordpress.com just in case. I might change that url tho, because wow.
I forget sometimes that
I’m allowed to feel sad for Jews. The discourse in the School of Social
Work around anti-Semitism has dwindled in large part due to the
hyperbolic conflation of Jewishness with whiteness. I am therefore quick
to forget that Columbia often fails to treat anti-Semitism with the legitimacy it deserves. My mom’s simple acknowledgement allowing me to feel Jewish pain reminded me that it was ok to feel so deeply.
My
experience in the Columbia School of Social Work has often made me feel
hollow. It can seem like I have no role as a Jew in both the course
curriculum and in class discussions. “How Jews Became White Folks” is my
school’s single mandatory reading regarding Jewish people in
contemporary society. And, even though this piece takes a dive into
important assimilation markers of the American Jew, this is only a
20-page reading shoved in among the several books and 40 articles that
make up our curriculum. In discussions, fellow classmates have confessed
that they have become frustrated when Jewish people speak up about
their experiences. On one occasion, I tried to explain to a close peer
how my Jewishness guides my social justice work and she told me that I
needed to stop talking, since my white privilege dominated any authentic
form of solidarity I could claim as a Jewish person. During my time at
Columbia, I often wonder if I truly belong at the School of Social Work.
Why
do my peers dismiss my Jewish identity due to my white skin? Why do I
feel so disingenuous for being Jewish in social justice work?
This
message from my peers, that Jews are white, isolates the Jewish people
from the broader cultural context. It creates an assumption that renders
the dialogue around anti-Semitism obsolete and minimizes the Jewish
experience. Not only is this generalization detrimental to understanding
the nuances and diversity of Jewish identity, but it also inhibits an
honest conversation about the ways being Jewish has been contextualized
in discourses of race, ethnicity, and culture. Frankly, perceiving
Jewishness as a mere form of whiteness or as just a religion is
ignorant. Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel knew this, and cautioned us
against these toxic and reductive comparisons when he said, “No human
race is superior; no religious faith is inferior. All collective
judgments are wrong. Only racists make them.”
Intersectionality—the
interrelation between race, class, and gender—is a central theme in our
curriculum that promotes a solidarity-driven approach to social
justice. Unfortunately, it seems that this ideology is not being taught
to address issues pertaining to anti-Semitism. Social workers are often
so concerned about abiding by these pre-established intersectionality
guidelines that they unintentionally perpetuate the very kinds of
discrimination that they supposedly oppose. Thus, Jewish students
whisper to each other in the secrecy of dimly lit dive bars about our
shared experiences of anti-Semitism, but we don’t risk speaking out in
class. An intersectionality gap exists between engaging in discussions
of anti-Semitism and those pertaining to other forms of racism. Rather
than avoiding discussions of anti-Semitism, we must break the silence by
discussing solidarity.
I’m going to give you the best piece of Adult Life Is Hard advice I’ve ever learned:
Talk to people when things go to shit.
I don’t just mean get it off your chest, although that’s good. I mean: Something’s wrong with your paycheck/you lost your job/you had unexpected emergency car repairs and now you’re broke so your credit card payment is late. Like, not just 15 days late. We’re talking, shit got crazy and now you’re 90 days late with compounded interest and late fees and the Minimum Payment Due is, like, $390, and you’ve got about $3.90 in your bank account. Call the credit card company.
I know it’s scary. I know you feel like you’re going to get in trouble, like you’re gong to get yelled at or scolded for not having your life together. But the credit card company isn’t your parents; they’re just interested in getting money from you. And you can’t squeeze blood from a stone or money from someone who doesn’t have any. So what you do is you call them. You explain you’re experiencing temporary financial hardships, and you’re currently unable to bring your account up to date, but you don’t want to just let it get worse. Can you maybe talk to someone about a payment plan so you can work something out? Nine times out of ten you’ll be able to negotiate something so that at least it’s not just taking a constant, giant shit on your credit score.
– Can’t pay your power bill? Call the power company.
– Can’t pay your full rent? Talk to your landlord.
– Had to go to the hospital without insurance and have giant medical bills looming in your place? Call the hospital and ask if they have someone who helps people with financial hardships. Many do.
– Got super sick and missed half a semester of class because flu/pneumonia/auto-immune problems/depressive episode? Talk to your professor. If that doesn’t help, talk to your advisor.
You may not be able to fix everything, but you’ll likely be able to make improvements. At the very least, it’s possible that they have a list of people you can contact to help you with things. (Also, don’t be afraid to google things like, “I can’t pay my power bill [state you live in]” because you’d be surprised at what turns up on Google!) But the thing is, people in these positions gain nothing if you fail. There’s no emotional satisfaction for them if your attempts at having your life together completely bite the dust. In fact, they stand to benefit if things work out for you! And chances are, they’ll be completely happy to take $20 a month from you over getting $0 a month from you, your account will be considered current because you’ve talked to them and made an agreement, you won’t get reported to a collections agency, and your credit score won’t completely tank.
Here’s some helpful tips to keep in mind:
1. Be polite. Don’t demand things; request them. Let me tell you about how customer service people hold your life in their hands and how many extra miles they’ll go for someone who is nice to them.
2. Stick to the facts, and keep them minimal unless asked for them. Chances are they’re not really interested in the details. “We had several family emergencies in a row, and now I’m having trouble making the payments” is better than “Well, two months ago my husband wrecked his bike, and then he had a reaction to the muscle relaxer they gave him, and then our dog swallowed a shoestring and we had to take him to the emergency clinic, and just last week MY car broke down, and now my account’s in the negatives and I don’t know how I’m gonna get it back out.” The person you’re talking to is aware shit happens to everyone; they don’t need the details to prove you’re somehow “worthy” of being helped. They may ask you for details at a certain point if they have to fill out any kind of request form, but let them do that.
3. Ask questions. “Is there anything we can do about X?” “Would it be possible to move my payment date to Y day instead so it’s not coming out of the same paycheck as my rent?” The answer may be “no.” That’s not a failure on your part. But a good customer service person may have an alternate solution.
Anyway! I hope that helps! Don’t just assume the answer is “no” before you’ve even begun. There is more help out there than you ever imagined.
gw_kimmy
man i haven't used this shit since like 2007 
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