Blog #1

 When reading This Book is Anti-Racist, I was reminded of my own identity struggles. I've never struggled with race, whether it's in terms of how it plays into my identity or how it causes me to be treated socially (something I understand that I am privileged to be able to say). But I have struggled time and time again with gender expression, and in the first pages of this book it's what was immediately brought to my mind as something I could relate the author's feelings to, and was compounded when the author began to explore these concepts themself. Overall, when reading This Book is Anti-Racist, I found a relatability that allowed me to empathize with the concepts around race explored in the book, and I was inspired by the confidence in identity the author demonstrates.

This is an odd connection, but confidence in identity is always something I admire, and so it always sticks out as something big to me when I come across it. An artist that I've identified this in, and has helped me grapple with my own gender identity significantly, is Ethel Cain. Ethel Cain is a transgender male-to-female who makes some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard, and I spent about six months engrossed with her works before even learning she was transgender. She's so confident in her identity that, although it would certainly be a welcome theme for her to explore in her music, she's never even touched on it. Her songs are about the experience of womanhood, and they are so genuine that I can't help but admire her confidence in her identity. I aspire to be as comfortable with myself as her one day, as I aspire to be as comfortable with myself as the writers of This Book is Anti-Racist. 

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