Daydreamer Diaries: 6/20/20

Musings

Wow, it’s been over 2 months since I posted anything on the blog. Back in April, I held out hope that we would all come together to get COVID under control. I thought maybe I would have a brief pause in my travels but that I would get to continue them in the summer. The pandemic is still going strong so obviously, that didn’t happen. It breaks my heart to see such an ugly side of humanity–how people can be so selfish and greedy to the point that they won’t wear a mask in public because it’s a slight inconvenience.

I feel for those who have lost so much this year, and I’m also saddened that my own dreams were canceled. I’ve had an amazing quarantine experience, but the wanderlust is back and it’s real. I can’t believe I’ll have to start working again without having seen the places I set out to see (Panama and Africa and Europe and Israel I’m looking at you). I’m hoping I can fit in another road trip or 2 around the US to satisfy my travel bug a bit.

Podcasts

I’ve spent the past few weeks educating myself about BIPOC, my privilege, and some of the history behind current racial events. I feel like this is a time that we need strong leadership more than ever in our country (between racial injustice and COVID there’s a lot going on), but we have possibly the worst person ever leading us right now. Sigh. Anyways, I wanted to share the podcasts I’ve listened to lately so that you can listen and learn too!

Girls Gotta Eat

Their episode Race and Relationships ft. Fred Smith (June 8, 2020) was open, honest, and thought-provoking. I especially loved learning about microaggressions and hearing how a Black male feels about all the current issues going on–George Floyd’s murder, Blackout Tuesday, the Amy Cooper incident, etc. It’s a sex-and-dating podcast so they talk about interracial relationships which was interesting as well.

1619

This podcast from The New York Times was getting a lot of mentions on social media, so I decided to check it out. It’s a 6 episode series that talks about how slavery has transformed America–from fighting for a true democracy to the economy of the cotton industry to music and healthcare to current land battles. I learned a lot about things I knew nothing about. It’s hard not to be frustrated at all the inequalities and injustices people of color face once you learn about them.

It made me think about the road trip through the South I took in 2015. People giving tours at former plantation homes would not discuss slavery at all. If we asked about it, they would say that the slaves liked being slaves… They also said that the North won the Civil War “for now.” When we were eating on campus at the University of Alabama, our server told us that the sororities and fraternities had been segregated until the year before! It was a very eye-opening trip for me.

Zero to Travel Podcast

I’ve had my eyes opened to many things in the past weeks, but one thing I never ever thought about before was traveling as a Black person. It had just never crossed my mind (hello privilege). As a female who has traveled solo, it can sometimes be annoying to listen to podcasts about men traveling. Because they just don’t have to worry about the same things women have to.

For instance, I was listening to this guy on a podcast talk about being in Papua New Guinea and how he got a random local to boat him down a remote river for a few days. It sounds like an adventure but one that’s out of reach for females because of safety concerns. Even if nothing sinister happened and you were with the best people in the world, would you, as a female alone in a third world country, risk getting into a riverboat with a local man who has never seen a tourist before? There’d be no wifi and no way of getting help if something bad happened. Men can take risks like that but most (or all) women can’t.

So think about how annoying it must be for Black people to listen to podcasts or read blogs dominated by white travelers. We just don’t have to worry about the same things as BIPOC because of the color of our skin. This Instagram post by @glographics says it better than I’d be able to, so please read her words! But essentially she talks about how Black travelers are assessed by people in foreign countries before being denied or allowed service. Are you black and therefore poor? Are you an African immigrant so not one of us? Are you a foreign/local sex worker? Down the list, until finally it’s determined you’re a tourist looking to spend money. As a white traveler, I don’t have to deal with any of those biases. I don’t have to worry about being denied service anywhere. I don’t have to worry about people shooing me away from nice hotels. I don’t have to worry about people thinking I’m poor and uneducated.

Travel is one of my favorite things in the world, and it shook me deeply to realize how blind I’d been to the racism in it. How racism infiltrates every aspect of life, even the really beautiful, sacred parts you think it doesn’t touch. I listened to a podcast called Solo Travel, Coffee, and Blackpacking w/ Jarika Johnson on Zero to Travel, and I loved getting to hear about travel from the perspective of a Black female. The content is out there, I just need to do a better job of seeking it out and following Black travelers!

It also made me think about the travel influencers I follow (who are mostly white). I feel like travelers appreciate diversity more than most people because they go off on journeys around the world purely to seek out different cultures and embrace new experiences. So it pained me to see so many American travel influencers not say a single thing about what’s going on in our country. Silence is a privilege and it’s just not acceptable anymore. I lost a lot of respect for those people and if they don’t say something soon, I won’t continue to follow them anymore.

Invisibilia

This show by NPR is an amazing conversation starter. Here’s how it’s described on their website: “Unseeable forces control human behavior and shape our ideas, beliefs, and assumptions. Invisibilia—Latin for invisible things—fuses narrative storytelling with science that will make you see your own life differently.”

The episode titled The Confrontation forced me to think about race and my privilege in ways I hadn’t before. Listen to this one with a friend and have a discussion during/after–I couldn’t recommend that more!

(I thought the one about racial preferences in dating was SUPER interesting as well.)

Armchair Expert

Dax Shepard talks to Ibram X. Kendi, author of 2019’s How To Be Antiracist, which so many people are reading right now in light of current events. He’s also a historian, researcher, and professor. I loved listening to a discussion with someone who has studied racism and has statistics and examples to share.

Triumphs

Getting to check something off my bucket list despite all the restrictions this year felt more amazing than I could have imagined. We really can’t ever take travel for granted again. That being said, it was a different experience due to most things being closed. It gives me an excuse to come back, but I’m so glad I got to see Monterey and Big Sur for the 1st time and Santa Barbara for the 2nd time. It’s definitely on my list of highlights for 2020! Face masks, hand sanitizer, and social distancing for the win.

Another recent triumph has been getting back into writing again. I spent this whole week in front of the computer for hours per day as words flowed out. I worked on actual blogs, perfecting SEO and everything, instead of just informal musing posts like this one. It’s been more than a year since I’ve done that! Stay tuned for those 🙂 I’m hoping this inspiration will continue and that I’ll keep writing. I do have a lot to write about still–India, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Liverpool, London, Edinburgh, Belfast, and Costa Rica.

What’s Next

My time in California is coming to an end. Leaving California is never easy! After taking some time to enjoy summer in Indiana, I’ll start looking for a job. Fingers crossed that it’s an easy process during a time with so much unemployment. If anyone in NWI needs a pharmacist let me know!

Words

Later, when I was living in New York, I would make the trip back to Sacramento four and five times a year (the more comfortable the flight, the more obscurely miserable I would be, for it weighs heavily upon my kind that we could not perhaps make it by wagon), trying to prove that I had not meant to leave at all, because in at least one respect California–the California we are talking about–resembles Eden: it is assumed that those who absent themselves from its blessings have been banished, exiled by some perversity of heart. Did not the Donner-Reed Party, after all, eat its own dead to reach Sacramento?

Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays by Joan Didion