AuDN4T

I think about where I came from – we’d go to the corner store and say we’re going to the Chinese store. Not that it was a Chinese store but run by a Chinese person. Or were they Chinese? I think part of it was stereotyping? Any corner store. I heard my neighbours talk about going to the corner store but mention going to the Slavic term – Chinese Store. This doesn’t come from a malice place. Kind of how I named my cat – Kitsya. Not sure if there is a term in Slavic languages about corner stores or convenience stores.

I think about our corner store and they’re owned by a Korean family. Super nice family that my other neighbour got to know better. You think of it kind of like Kim’s Convenience – amazing sitcom from CBC… should give it a rewatch. Some stereotypes… and that’s not a terrible thing? We can joke around with it when it’s meant in good intent. They don’t always have a suppressive meaning… right? We can poke fun at ourselves, right?

I think about my mom talking about one of our neighbours and referencing her hair colour. She’s blonde. Super lovely lady. I remember waiting at the bus stop with her as a teenager going to high school.

Not sure why we never get to learn each other’s names more. There’s so much more layer to being the person with blonde hair or the Greek, Venezuelan, Italian, Portuguese, etc. down the hallway. Though I like thinking adding that layer of identity makes that person cooler – it makes them so much more of the person behind their face or hair colour or age. There’s a story behind that person – I’m genuinely curious about our neighbours in our building. What are their stories. Where do they come from. What brought them here. Why did they choose this neighbourhood. What interests do they have. What are their dreams. What are their goals. I might end up spending 10 minutes or an hour talking to them. The small number of neighbours I know is always a pleasure to have a convo with. Seeing them grow as people, as kids, as parents…. is always… I don’t know, just makes your heart smile.

IDK – are we just lucky to live in Canada where multiculturalism is accepted*. To some extent. I know we have a lot of work to do… especially in certain places.

Do I use reverse racial slurs? Yeah – towards shithead politicians who do not give a fuck. I’d rather make them feel uncomfortable since they do not truly serve us as civil servants and only their overlord developers and billionaires. If they want to cry about it – let them cry about it. But an oppressor can’t cry about being oppressed when they oppress others.

Do I feel shitty that part of our building has power while the rest doesn’t? YEAH. It’s not fair. This can be seen as the injustices that this political world has set people up with… in a metaphorical way. Do I care too much? Yeah. Should I? Idk, but if I don’t, I feel like that would make me a shitty person. Have I thought about opening up my fridge to others? Yeah – but it’s a bit chaotic and I feel like it would make others feel weird. Should it be Toronto Hydro and Greenwin’s job figure out how to support tenants? YEAH. Should they give updates on the power outages…. 100%. But nada. We just sit here in the dark with no information. No update. And people’s food goes to waste. What could greenwin do? Maybe set up a mini fridge in the corridor for people to store their food temporarily? Just a thought. At least people are not losing their food that they worked hard for. But what does Toronto Hydro and Greenwin care, right? At least the Green family has food on the table… and more.

With climate change – I don’t think these billionaires and multi-millionaires have thought this through…. I don’t think they realize # of us vs # of them. Starve 98% of the population…. even their body guards won’t really be able to protect them. Just some food for thought.