I had plenty to compare the LG gram against for the most solid comparison possible!
I’ve been a pretty heavy Mac user for the past decade, looking for a computer that’d last a lot longer than the PCs that came before them. But while I’ve had a good run with some MacBook Pros, iPads, and just about every Mac accessory you can imagine, PCs didn’t stop innovating, and the LG gram is an example of where technology can go in 2020!
Disclaimer: The team at Uncle Ray’s sent over a Ray’s Backyard Bud & BBQ Kit (minus the Bud) for the Palmers to review. But all thoughts and opinions remain my own, and when I eat meat down to the bone… you know it’s a good sign.
The night before everything went to hell, my friend Gabe and I were supposed to have dinner. With us living on opposite sides of the city, I usually try to find somewhere in the middle to meet up, and this time it was Uncle Ray’s Food & Liquor.
Or rather… we would’ve, but bowed out as the world grew dicier and everyone sent home. But if you’d told me then that our city would shut itself down and we wouldn’t sit in a restaurant proper for months to come, we might’ve reconsidered.
So for a long time, it was a remnant of the world before, one of the things on a long list that we wouldn’t get our hands on for who knows how long.
But in June 2020, that need not be the case, since Uncle Ray’s Food & Liquor has both takeout and delivery options that go perfect with this weather!
So—while it’s good that more of us are getting on board with the #BlackLivesMatter movement, though well-intentioned, not everything necessarily tells the stories they need to when it comes to the Black experience.
Take this meme, for example, which serves as a cry for others to recognise their white privilege and understand why Black people are fighting for their rights:
“I have privilege as a white person because I can do all of these things without thinking twice about it… I can go birding (#ChristianCooper). I can go jogging (#AmaudArbery). I can relax in the comfort of my own home (#BothemSean and #AtatianaJefferson). I can ask for help after being in a car crash (#JonathanFerrell and #RenishaMcBride). I can have a cellphone (#StephonClark). I can leave a party to get to safety (#JordanEdwards). I can play loud music (#JordanDavis). I can sell CD’s (#AltonSterling). I can sleep (#AiyanaJones) I can walk from the corner store (#MikeBrown). I can play cops and robbers (#TamirRice). I can go to church (#Charleston9). I can walk home with Skittles (#TrayvonMartin). I can hold a hair brush while leaving my own bachelor party (#SeanBell). I can party on New Years (#OscarGrant). I can get a normal traffic ticket (#SandraBland). I can lawfully carry a weapon (#PhilandoCastile). I can break down on a public road with car problems (#CoreyJones). I can shop at Walmart (#JohnCrawford) . I can have a disabled vehicle (#TerrenceCrutcher). I can read a book in my own car (#KeithScott). I can be a 10yr old walking with our grandfather (#CliffordGlover). I can decorate for a party (#ClaudeReese). I can ask a cop a question (#RandyEvans). I can cash a check in peace (#YvonneSmallwood). I can take out my wallet (#AmadouDiallo). I can run (#WalterScott). I can breathe (#EricGarner). I can live (#FreddieGray). I CAN BE ARRESTED WITHOUT THE FEAR OF BEING MURDERED. (#GeorgeFloyd) White privilege is real. Take a minute to consider a Black person’s experience today. EDUCATE YOURSELF AND USE YOUR PRIVILEGE TO BE AN EFFECTIVE ALLY. #BlackLivesMatter” *I copied and pasted this…please do the same. ?
…and that’s a good start. Yes, it gets Botham Jean’s name wrong and confuses parts of Sean Bell’s story with Khiel Coppin’s, but overall, it’s good to raise the awareness.
Except that what’s missing from this meme is the humanity. The stories that make you understand how heinous these killings were, often against Black people who died far too young, too often for no good reason at all. What was missing was context, so I wanted to put together a guide that’d give you a little more information on the names we keep throwing around.
Yesterday, thanks to the advice from a friend to save my Instagram story to my profile, I came up with a new hashtag #BlackDadWorries that spells out how I feel in the face of all this death. And death isn’t even calling it what it is—murder, with Black lives continually cut short, and the message made clear: there’s nowhere out there where Black people should reasonably expect to be safe from a world that’s trying to get them.
My boys are still young, but they’re growing up quick, developing worlds and lives of their own. And while I’d love just to sit back and let them develop on their own so they can build senses of self in the truest sense of the phrase… the world we live in won’t let me do it. Yes, they’re six and four, but they’re six- and four-year-olds who hear they look “dirty” because their skin is darker. Six- and four-year-olds who hear they’re not white enough to play with other kids. I’d love to take things slow, but their world’s developing quickly, and it makes me wonder when I’ll need to sit them down and tell them what the world’s really like.
Is this what the world’s end looks like? Credit to André Proulx.
What do you even write about when the whole world’s burning down? Multibillion-dollar sports empires ended their seasons early. The travel industry shut down in one fell swoop. I didn’t start talking about COVID-19 right away because it was all anyone could talk about, but as soon as we closed schools down for three weeks across Ontario, how could I not?
When I first published The Corona Chronicles on March 13th, though, I was so short-sighted. I called the three-week quarantine “March Br3ak”, thinking this would all somehow resolve itself by April. I didn’t jump on long-term prep right away, figuring I could do some catch-up once things calmed down a bit.
But then our businesses shut down on the 16th. Travel another four days later. We learned that this was no small thing—we needed to learn a “new normal” with a very uncertain future ahead. This was no three-week ordeal.
And as the days dragged on and I kept writing about the experience, it only grew clearer there was more going on than a single post could contain. I needed a full series.
So here, in week eight of The Great Quarantine, I’d like to welcome you to The Corona Chronicles: The Series, where we talk about life as a family in Toronto, trying to stay sane each day as we find new ways to adjust.
I, for one, look forward to returning to some semblance of normal soon, but until we do, you can expect me to keep writing about it.
Be well, everyone, and keep doing what you need to to make it in these times!
Until the next, I remain,
Tell your wife, tell your kids, tell your husbands:
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