Maximum Gay is cold @theycallmemo@witches.town

I love how as soon as I entered a relationship I opened up a ridiculous amount and the weirdest parts haven’t even come to light yet

... only heard a few things sprinkled into conversation. My main connection to my homeland was Mummum’s cooking.

I recently learned to make roti, as it’s become more difficult for mummum to do so. I’m very proud that I’ll be able to pass on the tradition- not because it’s tradition, but because it’s delicious!

It’s my hope that now that I’m old enough to have more control over the things I experience, I can do more to embrace my blackness in every way I can. :)

...them until the family reunion a few years back, and, more recently, Thanksgiving (which I told you all about before)

It makes me rather upset that I don’t get to see them more, because they are incredibly fun! (Given that the more religious parts of the family are not around or are preoccupied)

It wasn’t until recently that I really started to find out about where we came from. I recorded a StoryCorps with my mummum asking about life in Guyana about a year ago... prior to this I had..

Even family wise this applies. Although the main reason is because my mom’s side of the family is spread out across the US...

Most of the time when I mention extended family, I’m referring to my dad’s side. I usually end up hanging out with them; they live nearby, and it’s just more convenient.

But because of that, I don’t really know much about my black relatives. My mummum is the one person I have from my mom’s side who’s a reasonable driving distance.

I never really got to meet...

My mom once asked me if I had ever had a black teacher... the answer was (and still is) no.

The only black role model I had at school was my guidance counselor in 7th and 8th grade. (She was actually the last good counselor/therapist I’ve had, but that’s a conversation for another time)

My mom often talks about my sister and I only having white history teachers. She told us that we aren’t getting a full perspective of American history. The older I get, the more I see this in my classes

Now that I think about it, the Audrey Hepburn thing is pretty interesting...

From what I remember, most of my childhood (read: life prior to adolescence) I was surrounded by white role models. We watched a lot of old movies with all white casts. My favorite Disney princess was Sleeping Beauty. I would sometimes pretend I had little blonde ringlets like Shirley Temple.

None of these things are really anyone’s fault. My dad just wanted me to see good movies; it’s not his fault so many lacked POC

...assumed white (I was very pale when I was younger, and my dad used to compare me to Audrey Hepburn, which I think is all I really have to say.)

I’m now at least vocal enough that people KNOW I’m not white, but I’m sure that I still receive some privilege that I’m less than aware of. It is my hope, along other things, to realize that privilege and do what I can to make it better

So if nothing else, I will spend this year amplifying the voices of my black peers. And you should too.

In the past few years I’ve been very open about my gender, telling everyone my pronouns and calling people out on their queerphobia or bullshit assumptions.

But in that, talking about race has sort of disappeared in the mix. I want to fix that.

In particular, I want to find a community of mixed people like myself, as well as start to understand the issues of colorism (I’m light skin-ish, so in winter and for a lot of my early childhood I was pale enough that I was...

Martin Luther King Day has reminded me about one of my goals for this year- becoming more open and vocal about my race and the racial issues I see around me