• It’s all I have to wear •
[1 MIN READ]
Because I’ve anchored the Growlers Group Run since 2018, I get certain privileges. Me being the author of this weekly message has helped. It’s meant I get to drive more than one topic of conversation. The running club’s former anchor Chas was known for loving a good political conversation; the lefter the better. I appreciate one, too; the centerer the better. I also like conversations about diversity of all kinds. Having my feet in higher education since 2005 has also helped.
Chas (on the far left [facing out from the picture], appropriately, and up front wearing the knit hat and beard)
(From #200)
Growing up in the Southern Tier of NY (Endwell, to be precise) had me developing my identity in a space where there weren’t many Asians. I honestly wondered how I couldn’t be White if I behaved like all of my classmates; except for the fact that my parents cooked Chinese and attended Chinese-speaking events among those of my ethnic heritage that they always seemed to know.
Every so often, I’m struck by the realization that the face I wear looks a lot different from everyone else’s in the running club. Do people look at pictures like the one from last week’s run and think, ‘Whoa, Asian dude, front and center’?
Group selfie with me just means the most important person (IMHO) gets to be in focus. OTOH, Adelaide gets to be the pose influencer. Thumbs up!
With this piece as a prompt, I think I know what could be driving this week’s topic of conversation. More to come with credit to those who go there with me.
-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue
FINE PRINT
¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2023’08’23’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser. ¶This website posting: Cerebrun with added caption and image.
iCandybyWangC 
When I see you in those pictures, I see a guy wearing a hard hat, not an Asian guy wearing a hard hat. But then I wonder, why is a guy wearing a hard hat before he runs???
Bahahahaha! That’s ‘cuz you’re awesome and know me so well. But not well enough to know that I wear that hard hat for the light WHILE I run. GGR is a dark, post-fall-equinox effort. I’ll have to write more about that for another Cerebrun.