What Whitney Wants to Say #15

I am now 28 and already this feels more natural and exciting than 27. I have no explanation as to why.

• I have been trying to write about Taylor Swift for a little bit now but I can’t bring myself to. As a cultural commentator I should have a lot to say and while I have a lot of opinions, I just do not have any desire to state them here. It’s really how I feel about her music in general. I have nothing particularly nice to say but anything decidedly negative would feel forced. Maybe one day I’ll get around to it.

• Hair has always come with a lot of strife for me. As a black woman, the presentation of my hair directly affects how I’m going to be treated. For example, people are generally nicer to me when my hair is in braids as opposed to in it’s natural state. However, people also tend to treat me as if I’m younger when my hair is completely natural. It’s a weird dynamic that leaves me feeling that the decisions I make about my hair aren’t entirely my own. Even now, I’m wrestling with the decision to loc my hair or not. No one in my family has them and I have no idea how my life will change with them. In a perfect world I could just do whatever I want but our world is far from perfect.

• Instead of addressing the myriad of issues affecting DC, Muriel Bowser and her administration are pushing through a bill that is reminiscent of the failed “tough on crime” policies that plagued our country in the 90s. The “Secure DC” bill aims to criminalize gatherings, giving police the authority to arrest people who they “reasonably believe” are going to commit a crime (that isn’t vague at all). The bill also focuses on retail theft as a more serious offense after a string of thefts from high end stores in DC (gasp, they hit the Chanel across from where the tent city used to be before they displaced those people to build the Chanel). As you very well know, crime doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The cost of living in DC has far outpaced DC wages. There are nowhere near enough free activities left for children and teens to do afterschool. People can hardly even afford to live comfortably in DC, a city with a median rent of $2105 (apartmentlist.com). It’s obvious to me that a lot of issues could be solved with some sort of widespread rent relief but no, they went with “Stop and Frisk” lite instead.

• Not harp on the election again but… why does Nikki Haley think she can be president? I’m seriously asking. How does the delusion run this deep?