i am my own experience.

@t1nw0man-g3ner4lissim0 was telling me how their grandmother used Sweet Honesty and Exotic Waters, so this is for them and their grandmother :)

Avon Sweet Honesty Set

1999

Vogue UK, July 1984.

Photographed by Paul Lange.

I recently saw a tweet that went something like this:

Reading about anti-racism doesn’t make you an anti-racist.

My defensive response was immediate.

*Man looking at his phone with a thought bubble* Is this putting people down for reading about anti-racism?

Then:

*Man looking more curious* Wait a minute. What if I switched ‘anti-racism’ with ‘mountain climbing’?

Let’s try it out:

Reading about mountain climbing doesn’t make you a mountain climber.“

*Man reading a book about brain surgery* Right. You can read about something, but then there are a whole series of actions and experiences that lead to you doing that thing.

That takes: expert advice, trial and error, humility, setbacks, and regular practice.

Not to mention: racism is nuanced with hidden levers, built in secrets, unwritten rules, and over 400 years of social conditioning. *Man thinking with speech bubble: “Crap. The word ‘racism’ set me off.”*

*Man disappointed* The point here is upsetting: I almost missed the truth of that tweet because of my white defensie response.

As a white person in this culture, I need to question my defensive reactions constatnly, or I’m just repeating history.

Signed: BH 20

These are called Witches Stairs. Allegedly, witches can't climb up them.