“It was an amazing experience making what could be the finest record Jann has ever made…

it just happened to be a Christmas record,” exclaims Rock.

My Filipino ex-boyfriend was educated and articulate (except when it came to actually being in a relationship – but that’s another story); his status as a man was relatively high, but as a man of color he ranked lower.

I’m not sure if that’s allowed, since I have loads of time off already – my only job is to rest and get ready for the next doctor appointment.

When I moved back to the Twin Cities, I was not prepared for the greater diversity in the population, but my traveler’s heart is quite excited by it. Paul, where we pride ourselves on this appearance of being so tolerant but then have something so stupid/needless/heartbreaking/violating/sickening as the shooting of Philado Castile happen.

A lot of the cab drivers I have had for my medical transportation have immigrated from Somalia, some arriving the same year I left Minnesota, telling me stories about how they excitedly called their relatives back home to tell them that powdered ice was falling from the sky (snow), and their relatives always asked the same question: There are also now large Hispanic communities settled especially around the cities where living wages might be available. But it’s not just race that determines where you land in the land of privilege – there’s a lot of “ands” that are the deciding factors. Your average white dude is the ultimate king of the food chain, born with the silver spoon in the mouth. If shitty things happen to you, the system isn’t against you in “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.” You might want to feel sorry for yourselves, you might want to stomp and cry and try to convince us that you are being picked on and we should feel sorry for you, but I can’t. We can take it down a notch and look at white men who are physically handicapped by a chronic illness. On the tiers of privilege, white men who are in some way physically deemed “less valuable” by society are on a lower tier than ordinary white men.

What happens when two music icons collaborate on an age-old tradition?

Well, this may be one instance where history is re-written for the better.

and suddenly I felt super out of place in my Chanel shades and WWE New Day shirt with Big E as a unicorn on it. Come to think of it, unicorn Big E would fit right in at the Stampede.

This week on Twitter, @nattieskiddo asked me what I do on my days off. on the rare occasion that I do get time off, it's heavenly to say the least.

I usually fantasize about sleeping in my own bed, wearing old, over-sized sweatpants, and doing absolutely nothing except taking endless selfies with my cats. That said, there are exceptions, and the Calgary Stampede is one of them.

My cane and paralyzed face make me invisible to nearly everyone (and if you don’t believe me, you should walk through a store or down a sidewalk with oncoming foot traffic with me).

But yet…where do all of our friends and neighbors of color fit in?