assignment 21-what’s a diving board?-emanuelle sippy

i’ve never gone swimming in a city fountain. the honorary streams of firefighters and horses don’t cool me down. but when i look at the mothers and children wading in the drip-drop down man o’ war’s neck, i don’t think of too cool for school spontaneity. they aren’t drawn to [il]legal waters as lawbreakers. their demeanor doesn’t remind teenage-risk-flaunting. they don’t seem like the type to worship white saviors. they don’t strike as the horse owner’s thanker. swimming in a city fountain not because there is a thrill to shallow water where you can’t dive or jump or cannonball, though no sign postage says so, a doctor might. not to say firefighters live a cushy life but the moms swimming aren’t commemorated for risking their lives, are at the door wading, while a loved one dies, aren’t owning the horses jockeys ride. they swim in the water, and i wonder how long, not why.

// reflecting on power and representation and race and positionality, i have more questions than answers. (but what's new? i'm jewish.) i'm not sure what it will take to combat these issues, but i know we need to listen and learn and reflect and have the hard conversations. and vote. vote for women esp. women of color. and as professor brittney cooper wrote, "folks are fine with women doing the custodial work of democracy...black women's issues matter specifically, not as an add on to other ppl's issues...we should ask why a revolution for women is never urgent enough to be a priority."