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My Time Among the Whites
My Time Among the Whites: Notes from an Unfinished Education | Jennine Capo Crucet
19 posts | 15 read | 40 to read
From the author of Make Your Home Among Strangers, essays on being an accidental Americanan incisive look at the edges of identity for a woman of color in a society centered on whiteness In this sharp and candid collection of essays, critically acclaimed writer and first-generation American Jennine Cap Crucet explores the condition of finding herself a stranger in the country where she was born. Raised in Miami and the daughter of Cuban refugees, Crucet examines the political and personal contours of American identity and the physical places where those contours find themselves smashed: be it a rodeo town in Nebraska, a university campus in upstate New York, or Disney World in Florida. Crucet illuminates how she came to see her exclusion from aspects of the theoretical American Dream, despite her familys attempts to fit in with white American culturebeginning with their ill-fated plan to name her after the winner of the Miss America pageant. In prose that is both fearless and slyly humorous, My Time Among the Whites examines the sometimes hopeful, sometimes deeply flawed ways in which many Americans have learned to adapt, exist, andin the face of all signals saying otherwiseperhaps even thrive in a country that never imagined them here.
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review
rmaclean4
Pickpick

Glad I read this short biography. Wish it had been longer. I have not read Capo Crucet' s fiction but after reading this I am going to pick one up. Anyone have a recommendation for me! 3.5 🌟

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Cinfhen
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Pickpick

Jennine Capó Crucet is hilarious and at times this book felt like I was listening to a stand-up comedy routine. However, much to my surprise this short book turned out to be an impactful essay collection. Thanks @megabooks for the recommendation. ? #OwnVoices

Megabooks 😘😘 my dear! Glad you liked it! 4y
Cinfhen Waiting for more recs, my brilliant personal librarian @Megabooks (edited) 4y
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Megabooks There‘s a few 😉😉😊😊😘 4y
Cinfhen You‘re the best @Megabooks 😘😘😘are these audio recommendations or print too??? 4y
Crazeedi @Megabooks thanks from me too!! 4y
Megabooks @Cinfhen @Crazeedi I pulled these off my audible! I can‘t remember if teeth has great narration, but damn, I thought about it for weeks. The rest I‘m going to vouch for story and narration! 4y
Cinfhen Excellent ❤️🎧Thanks again @Megabooks 4y
Cinfhen Exciting titles, right @Crazeedi ❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️ 4y
Crazeedi @Cinfhen yes! I will be able to listen to all kinds of good books when I'm working in my garden this year @Megabooks 4y
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review
alisonrose
Pickpick

It‘s interesting that Crucet‘s talk at a college made a bunch of racists angry, b/c 1) everything she says about white privilege & how it has ALWAYS functioned in the US is true, & 2) they were basically proving that by getting all in their hurt feels and burning her book. I liked her discussion of passing, how it can be both a good & sad thing. Some stories of her life were fun, a couple less so, but overall an insightful & worthy read. 4/5 ⭐️

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alisonrose

White people who misread me as also white sometimes display the kind of pervasive racism usually reserved for white-only spaces. They inadvertently include me in these white power moments, ones that we aren‘t supposed to witness, which are perpetrated by the kind of well-meaning white folks—people who genuinely don‘t consider themselves racists—when they‘re sure we aren‘t around to hear them.

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alisonrose

Many white people I‘ve met often think of themselves as culture-less, as vanilla: plain, boring, American white. What they are revealing when they say this, which they often do in jest, is how little race impacts their lives, how whiteness is ubiquitous to them, and they mistake that ubiquitousness as a kind of neutrality or regularness that renders their race and culture invisible to themselves.

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alisonrose

...this is, after all, a story about the American Dream, right? Which means that many things will need to be unjustly eradicated.

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alisonrose
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I‘ve heard such good things about this essay collection, and had put it on my TBR when I first heard about it. Then it made a bunch of racist white kids mad and they burned the fucking book, so I was like “Okay, take my money and fuck those douchebags.” #nowreading

Megabooks I loved it! 4y
Tamra 👏🏾 Stacked! 4y
Reagan 🙌🏻 yep! I‘m looking forward to reading this. 4y
37 likes4 stack adds3 comments
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swynn
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Pickpick

This is a collection of personal essays from a Cuban-American woman living in a world designed for the comfort of European-American men. Among other things, Crucet discusses the first-generation college experience, wedding and funeral rituals, the Disney machine, racism in academia, and politics: Cuba, after all, buried a populist demagogue just as the U.S. elected one. Her voice is humorous, her prose liquid, her points sharp. Recommended.

Megabooks I enjoyed this as well. 4y
swynn @Megabooks Yay for a wide audience. So much here that needs hearing. 4y
Nute Nice review! Agreed - it deserves a wide readership! 4y
swynn Yay for more Capo Crucet love @Nute ! 4y
11 likes4 comments
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Megabooks
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Pickpick

My bff is Indian. Her college roomie was black. She said then, “I‘m so glad I had a minority roommate.” I didn‘t get it. But after reading this book & ones like over 20 years, I finally get how after a day of seeing people & profs who don‘t look like you, reading books by white people, etc., how comforting that must have been.

This book is a tight 200 pgs about being Latinx in academia. Other than a weird chapter about weddings, I loved it! 4.5⭐️

BarbaraBB Great post ❤️ 4y
Megabooks @BarbaraBB Thanks, friend! I hope you‘re doing well. 😊 4y
BarbaraBB I am. I hope you will be too very soon. Your day sounds harsh - if that‘s a correct word to use in this context 🙏💙 4y
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Megabooks @BarbaraBB Good! 👍🏻 It is and has been. I know it‘s all part of healing, but logically knowing that and physically dealing with pain can be two different things! 4y
BarbaraBB @Megabooks I can‘t imagine what you‘re going through and you are dealing so well with it. You deserve some relief now!! 4y
Megabooks @BarbaraBB Thank you! 💕💕 I hope my doctor will be able to help tomorrow. I‘ve been seeing her for 25 years, so we‘ve been through it together. I think part of the reason I‘m so frustrated is that I thought I would be able to read more easily. Reading engages me in a way that even the best TV doesn‘t, and when I don‘t have that escape, it‘s exponentially harder to deal with the pain. It‘s a frustrating cycle I‘ve been caught in. 👎🏻 4y
BarbaraBB I can understand that! Audiobooks are no option? 4y
Megabooks @BarbaraBB No. Not with the way the family dynamics are/house is. I listen in the shower and sometimes when I‘m home alone, but otherwise, it‘s difficult. 4y
k.reads.5 Great review! Been seeing this one around! 4y
Megabooks @k.reads.5 Thanks! I‘d definitely recommend it! 4y
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Megabooks
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Okay, my book-buying ban lasted a day. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️ I picked this one up because I loved her first book (tagged 👇🏻), and there has been so much controversy around this book, my library has not purchased it.

Definitely makes me think of a #borderline because Jennine is a first-generation Cuban-American. #movember @Cinfhen

(BTW, my favorite Madonna song!)

Cinfhen Will look into both of these books!!!!! Thanks for sharing. How are you feeling??? 4y
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Megabooks @Cinfhen Sleepy. I‘m having trouble reading fiction right now because I‘ll get like 100 pages into a book then sleep for 12 hours and be fuzzy on what I‘ve read. I‘m sleeping through the day and up all night right now. I think I‘m just in that post surgery mess/funk. I‘m just trying not to be hard on myself right now. That‘s the main thing because I am definitely my own worst critic!! Thank you so much for asking!! 😘😘😘 (edited) 4y
Cinfhen Post surgery haze can take weeks!!! Self care and self love 💕 4y
Megabooks @Cinfhen Thanks 💜💜 I‘m trying. I called my doctor‘s office Tuesday/Wednesday to see if my type of pain was normal, and they were basically like, “Two weeks after surgery, any type of pain may be normal.” (Subtext: quit worrying silly!) 4y
Texreader I was in pain at a least a month or more after similar surgery. (I cried a lot about the pain; it eventually subsided though so hang in there.) Please rest (and read). Take care of yourself. 😘 4y
Megabooks @Texreader Thank you 💙❤️💕 it‘s really helpful to hear that it will end. I know with most of my surgeries, there‘s a day where I just turn a corner and suddenly don‘t need pain medication or help with living as much. I think I‘ve gotten so caught up in that, and I‘ve forgotten that, like you said, it‘s generally a month or more after surgery. I‘m still not at 3 weeks. Patience grasshopper... 4y
rockpools 🌻🌻🌻 Wishing you a speedy recovery - take it easy 💐And wow, I hadn‘t heard of this controversy. 4y
Megabooks @RachelO The book had passed my radar, but something made me think of her last night. I looked deeper into the controversy and decided I wanted to read the essays. So far, they are excellent! And thank you! 💙💜❤️ 4y
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review
ReadingEnvy
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Pickpick

I wanted to read this after some students in Georgia burned the author's books after she spoke there. I'd say there's a bit of shared thematic content between this group of essays and her novel, Make Your Home Among Strangers, but this is a quick read and moves farther into the present. Not surprisingly, the Georgia incident is not the first time she's had to deal with white tears at a college when she has been brought there for the campus read.

ReadingEnvy I'm counting this the fifth memoir I've read for #nonfictionnovember 4y
Megabooks I need to read this. 4y
kspenmoll This is what I love about Litsy; hearing about books that I would have never known about. Thanks for posting & reviewing this book. A must read for me. 4y
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Cinfhen I love seeing your posts! Always something interesting and insightful xx 🙏🏻 4y
52 likes4 stack adds6 comments
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ReadingEnvy
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If I bought books for my sister for Christmas, does it matter if I read them before wrapping? 🙋👾🐎😁🤫

Hoopiefoot Just don‘t break the binding! 🤫 4y
AprilMae As long as it's in good shape, do it!!! 😂 4y
Sharpeipup Not at all, you‘re just ensuring it‘s a good gift, right? 4y
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Lchnessmnstr You should never gift a book you‘ve never read! 4y
Lcsmcat We always do that in my family! It “isn‘t done” to give a book you haven‘t read. 4y
ReadingEnvy @Hoopiefoot oh good point. I was very careful. 😁🤫 4y
ReadingEnvy @Sharpeipup yessss 🐎 4y
ReadingEnvy @Lchnessmnstr 😳 but the exact copy I'm sending? 4y
ReadingEnvy @Lcsmcat ahhh good 🏌️ 4y
Lcsmcat @ReadingEnvy Yep, that‘s what we do. 4y
kspenmoll We do it in my family too all the time! Read it!!! 4y
Lchnessmnstr @ReadingEnvy We do! We aren‘t particular about things like that. Assuming there‘s not major damage that prevents future reading. The gift really isn‘t about the paper, it‘s about the shared story! 💙 4y
Centique When I worked at a bookshop as a teen I would very carefully read the shelf stock during my breaks 😬 The manager didn‘t mind as long as I didn‘t fully open the book and crack the spine. What a book rebel I was. 😂😂 4y
Lindy I do that all the time. 😁 4y
46 likes15 comments
review
Well-ReadNeck
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Pickpick

OMG! I love this essay collection so hard!!! Another read for this year‘s Decatur Book Festival!! #netgalley #DBF2019

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Liberty
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Awesome book mail this morning! This one was near the top of my must-read list. I loved Jennine Capó Crucet‘s novel, MAKE YOUR HOME AMONG STRANGERS, which I will admit I 100% bought for the cover, but was delighted to find the inside was equally awesome. It‘s out September 3rd (along with a LOT of other amazing 2019 releases that day.) ???

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