I don’t wanna hear SHIT from you or even see so much as a side eye coming from you about how I “still don’t have a car or license” if your family bought you your first car.
So many people are completely unwilling to acknowledge what a massive privilege it is to have a family that is willing and able to do this for you in teen years/early adulthood in particular, and it makes me feel like I’m losing my mind.
Here we have the Byers family (plus Nancy Wheeler) stripped down to their undershirts/bodysuits/long johns with Will in the hospital gown with the dreary print so often found in hospital gowns that make him stand out as the frail young child that everyone is trying to save and as the ill child whose life is on the line. Right now he is possessed by the Mind Flayer who has taken over his body and made it difficult for him to take hot baths (it’s also November in Indiana at that).
In contrast, but also tying in with the white gown he is wearing, are his older brother and mother in their white undershirts where they are helpless as they fight against their instincts to spare him the discomfort that they have to inflict on him for his own good. In Hindu religion, white is a color of grief and Western culture often associates white with purity and the supernatural.
Nancy stands out as a connection to the Byers fam (she is the sister of Will’s friend Mike, Jonathan’s new girlfriend, and the equal of Joyce in fighting the Upside Down and experiencing the trauma of losing a loved one to the Upside Down) in her pale pink, a color that isn’t a stranger to her wardrobe especially in the pastel shade. This color becomes important for a good reason, as unlike Will’s mother and brother, Nancy works up the nerve to put Will’s body under extreme discomfort to fight the monster inside him. It is a pastel version of the war-like Red.
Check her watch: unlike the Byers family, Nancy comes from a upper-middle class household that can afford the preppy, high-quality materials and items preferred by her family and the accessories that grace herself and her mother’s physical selves. With them she is stripped down to her jeans (scrubs in Joyce’s case) and undershirt while performing a physically and emotionally exhaustive task.
TL;DR, “perfect”, privileged Nancy Wheeler gets down and dirty at the Byers’ level and shed her non-sales rack layers to better connect with them.
This action helps the Byers rejoice and give a group hug, which Nancy later joins in when this happens.
Suddenly all is well and there is a glow of hope. Just a happy (and disheveled) family.
“This is a reality of working in publishing too. This is why I’m going say it, but it does require class privilege to be able to work in this industry. That’s one of the barriers with people of color entering into this industry.” --Jalissa Corrie
So I got this petition today: vow to boycott CVS until they agree to carry necessary cancer meds. I can't boycott CVS because it is the only place my health insurance will pay for my vital insulin prescription--I need this every day to remain alive, and without the health insurance coverage, it will cost me several hundred dollars a month that I cannot afford for long. I'm sure there are many of us out there who, due to financial or location limitations, cannot boycott this giant. This is a lesson that activism weighs more heavily on some than others, and it usually has to do with social or financial power. If you are in a position to boycott, please sign the petition. If you're not, please publicize it and do what else you can. (I, for one, am getting all my one-time scripts & other pharmacy stuff elsewhere.) Stay strong and healthy, friends.
I just want to make it clear that some of the more political stuff I post is not necessarily absolute. I am a firm believer that people can change and become more aware of issues and become more compassionate towards people they might not necessarily identify with. What does annoy me is when people get so defensive when they make a mistake, when they think that you are not criticizing their actions, but them as an individual, and become really belligerent.
Most of us have some kind of privilege or the other. The least we can do is listen to those who do not and become more aware. We all make mistakes, but we have to be willing to learn from them.
So my university is considered really good and actually seen as the ‘posh’ one in the area, and because of this there’s a bunch of people on my course who seem to have pretty privileged backgrounds. And sometimes listening to them, it’s like they’re from a different world. I mean don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that I’m privileged for being able to go there, but when you hear people talking about their gap years and Latin A levels and it’s like...I did an Access course. I was in special ed. I wasn’t even allowed to do the higher level GCSEs, except for the French I did in partial inclusion. I was eligible for free school meals, which was totally normal at my school. And it just feels like there’s such a wide gap...like these people could never understand my experiences, and I can’t understand theirs. And so many of them don’t seem to realise how privileged they actually are. I mean, I guess going from special ed to higher ed was going to be strange no matter what, but...this is extra strange.
