membership has its privileges...

...unfortunately (or not) the groups of which i am a member typically exclude me from said-perceived- privileges.


black
womyn
fat
queer
unmarried
lower-middle class...tonight i went to sign my children up for basketball at the YMCA. although it was passed the deadline to register, child support didn't arrive until today. so i go in, $120 in hand to learn that i must pay a $30 membership fee each just for them to be able to register and pay $60. also, this $30 doesn't allow them any other access to the Y...it just allows them to pay the higher fee to pay sports. i left feeling angry...angry at the rules...angry at the rules that feel deliberate and discriminatory...angry that i'd driven almost an hour trying to find the place...and angry that my partner and i-both with master's degrees-couldn't afford $180 for them to play basketball. something they were both excited to do. i then wondered...for whom are these sport set up? i began to think of chronic illnesses and the communities they impact the most. i thought about all the fat kids, not fat because of their natural build, but fat because they eat fast food and sit on the couch everyday after school. i thought about areas of the city smothered in gang violence and homicide as young adults never learned effective negotiation and social skills or had a group to which they belonged. i know-without a doubt- had i not been involved in sports as a child and teenager, my life would've taken an entirely different path. while i know this is my story, my experience is not one that is exclusive. what color are the majority of pregnant teenage girls? what is their families' yearly income? on whom are these 'community centers' focused?

there is the optimist club for the kids to play basketball, but girls under 2nd grade are only allowed to be cheerleaders. seriously. cheerleaders.only.

its sad that the systems of sexism, racism, and classism confront children at such a young age.

we fight so hard on current issues, the ones in our faces...marriage equality, health care, choice, but  i believe nothing will truly change until the very foundations of domination and oppression are shattered at their very core.

imperial­ist white-supremacist capitalist patriarchy


on a positive note:

the womyn at chipotle allowed me to use both 'buy on get on free' coupons tonight, even though the instructions said i could use just one. i appreciate her.