A lovely dinner, kids running around the house playing and being loud, and us parents enjoying some sangria in the living room, trying to chill out despite the noise.  Chat chat, it’s nice to socialise once in a while and “oh so I’m going to dress up as a gypsy this Halloween I can’t wait”…

Oh damnit.  She just said that, didn’t she.  At a time when Roma are hightailing it across the US border in their cars to claim refugee status in Quebec and the whole issue of ‘what are these gypsies like, we’ve heard bad things from Europeans…’ is being raised. 

Does she know we’re native?  I think she does.  Okay so she probably wouldn’t have casually mentioned wearing a Pocahontas outfit…and do I break the good mood and bring up the issue of the word ‘gypsy’ and of the whole ‘dressing like a gypsy’ thing?  Would I say something if it were a native-themed costume?  Shit, yes, I’d have to.  I doubt I could contain myself.  Damn, I really like this woman, she’s been so down-to-earth and fun to hang around.  But this is a thing. Damn, I wish we were on the internet, and I didn’t know her…I could just say all the things I want to say about this, and I wouldn’t be risking destroying a developing relationship.  Fuck, I wish she were on the internet and someone ELSE made her understand why this isn’t okay.  We’re being social.  Do I always have to be political?  Well shit, yes I do.  Damn damn damn.  I wonder if she has an issue with homosexuality?  My partner’s kids have two mothers right now, that shit ain’t gonna fly here.  Damn, wonder if she’d be weirded out to know my sibling is trans?  Goddamn it, I wish there were some sort of way to background check this kind of thing before putting in the energy getting to know someone.

I wonder if I drank too much sangria to address this intelligently right now? Oh shit, my Cree friend keeps asking if Hungarian is like Russian, and I can tell that’s annoying this woman with the gypsy costume…damn, is that any better I wonder?  I remember how mad Ukrainians would get at having someone mistake them for Russians, and no wonder, given the history…are we all just stepping on toes being assholes without really knowing it?  Fuck.

————————————————————————————————

None of which you have to worry about when it’s online, hey.