The Glass Staircase is a game about mimesis.
The toughest realization to accept as an adult is that the world only wants parts of you. Specifically, the useful parts. Utility being the wildly subjective noun that it is, this leads to much confusion as to what a person should be doing at any given time.
The shitty part of the deal is that this info learned in older age confounds, like, every single thing adults tell a child. You are special, you can be anything you set out to be, life will be fair to you if you be kind and work hard, that sort of thing.
They tend to forget the important caveat, "As long as you are useful." It's an important distinction, I'm surprised they missed it.
It's easy to forgive a kid that eats all of that up, then enters the lord of the flies sim that is the adult world and says, "Well fuck me right to Hades, those adults pulled a shwoop and whoop on my impressionable ass. This place is a proper shitshow."
I guess I'm thinking of this because Nipsey passed. Shot dead in front of his own store for no good reason. So it goes. The man never lied about his life, he was a rollin 60 crip, a set of legend in the southern California area. He wore the title and the burden proudly.
Everyone knows how I feel about gang lifestyle. A short term solution to a long term problem. No need to say more, but Nipsey's tragedy was in my first sentence. He had so much to give but the world only wanted one part of him, and the world took all of him away because of one part.
Fun fact, Nipsey was bullish on tech, was working on launching STEM programs in inner-city zones across America. He believed the only way to steer youth away from gangs was to provide a better option. That part.
It seems like the world only wants one part of the black experience, shame that its the part that's literally killing us. When the entertaining is done and it's time to sit down for an actual conversation the world is like, "We like you just the way you are. Just be that." But that's entertainment for ya, Such is life.
Anyway, rest in peace Nip, rest in peace TB rest in peace TC, rest in peace Tall-T. Love is building with, hate is building on, get out there and do great things, you are almost there and we believe in you. Also JERBZ.
The Protoculture Mixtape : Issue : People : Pince-Nez
