Calling Card

This is an art piece called "Calling Card" created by Adrian Piper, a woman who I should have known about a long time ago.

I wish I had this piece of art last week at a friend's birthday party. Let me give you the details.

I generally assume my friends and acquaintances are educated, well-informed people with class, or at least smooth enough to make other people think they are. But I am starting to doubt. I will not use names, just to protect you people, but you know who you are.

Anyway, I was sitting, talking to a friend who is also a mother and who I admire, when a male acquaintance swooped down on us uttering "What up, dog?" I burst into laughter. The acquaintance, who is blond, started in with,"What? Is it because a white boy is talking black?" to which I was forced to reply, "Actually I still don't understand the term 'dog'. I went to private school. We didn't learn slang." Everyone around us immediately joined me in laughter as the sad ignorant fellow sort of slunk into himself, embarrassed. The thing that got me is that I've had conversations with that guy before. What made him do that? Was he trying to impress my friend? I should have passed him a calling card.

But it doesn't end there. Another acquaintance, who is involved in the creation of broadcast media on the national level, and who kind of knows me well, said to me as I was leaving the party with my son, who had acquired a nasty case of pink eye during the evening: "I didn't think black people got pink eye."

WHAT???!!!

My husband summed it up perfectly. He said, "That is the single stupidest thing I have ever heard you say." Here's a calling card.