Adrianna TanFeb 24

RE: https://mastodon.art/@petrikas/116125821528139989

Middle class kids like me can get one throw every decade maybe. I’m about to throw a dart again.

I’m aware lots of things had to have happened for me to even be able to do this. Primarily that my parents without college degrees experienced a once in a lifetime economic growth story in a country that suddenly became rich in their lifetimes. And that I have a passport that lets me go anywhere i want.

Show threadAdrianna TanFeb 24

And unlike many other middle class kids in my country with almost exactly the same life and financial situation, I also have more darts because

Not having to be financially responsible for my parents (because they are economically comfortable without me) is a huge gift they gave me. I give them money for fun but it’s not like many of my friends who have to keep their own family and their parents and siblings fed.

Show threadAdrianna TanFeb 24
I also went to schools surrounded by people with lots of darts and have learned that I can take theirs sometimes. Many of my classmates even owned dart factories.
Show threadAdrianna TanFeb 24
I also had parents who told me I deserve to have as many darts as I want, which is also exceptionally rare for an autistic and female presenting person in my society.
Show threadAdrianna TanFeb 24
Also I grew up Chinese in a society where that basically makes me white. In many ways. It would be very different somewhere else. I had no qualms asking people for money at any point in my life including when I was young and relatively inexperienced.
Show threadDaniel ReedersFeb 24
@skinnylatte Oh, super intrigued to hear you say that confidence in asking for money is a white people thing. Made me reflect on my upbringing which was 'aspiring middle class' i.e. educated but very poor. We didn't talk about money at all, and when I started to specialise in program design and funding applications I had to work through A LOT of yucky feelings about asking for money. I was 'working the fairground' to use your striking metaphor.
Show threadAdrianna TanFeb 24
@onekind oh not a specifically white person thing, more of a 'it's not out of the ordinary for someone like me to ask for money if i want to no matter what i feel about it'
Show threadDaniel ReedersFeb 24
@skinnylatte Ohh got it! So a level of familiarity with capital flows and mechanisms?
Show threadAdrianna Tan
@onekind that and people not questioning your competence because you are not a racial minority
Feb 24 at 7:56pmWeb
Show threadDaniel ReedersFeb 24
@skinnylatte Yep, got it. Without disagreeing with your overall take, I note that as recently as my mother's early career, her Irish Catholicism was seen as a marker of being not quite white. 'Micks' couldn't get jobs at the tax office, for example, because of the stereotype they are not good with money. I actually suspect it was racism towards non-white skilled migrants that finally consolidated the Micks and the Prods into one single 'white' category in the eyes of the employment market.
Show threadAdrianna TanFeb 24

@onekind yeah, I’m certain there are varying levels of whiteness, and also poor white people’s experiences are different.

But it is also hard for someone not Chinese in Singapore or any kind of white most other places to get a certain sort of competence ascribed to them by default