Ciderpress' profoundly important essay on being someone else's "learning experience".
A comment from that post, on being thanked for your oppression.
A comment from that post, on the "Fail Better" quotation I used earlier.
Comparing these links with my previous posts only highlights how much I still have to learn. This iteration of the Cultural Appropriation Debate ended with a whole lot of hurting, and little of it mine, save for the sting of self-recognition when other White people were acting like jackasses. Not acknowledging others' hurt while leaving my last public statement on the matter essentially as oh wow I'm learning so much is a pretty lousy thing to do. Thank you, writers, for your bravery and honesty, and for taking the time and energy and personal risk in putting posts like these out there. Your work is so very important.