I spent my middle school and high school years in a small town (population of town: 3600) in southwest Michigan after living in Ann Arbor for my elementary school years, so I've got some idea how that can be. I had the advantage of being cis, het, and white, but most kids thought I talked funny (clear enunciation was either snobbery or a British accent) and dressed weird.
My mother and stepfather still try to convince me that moving to that small town gave me advantages over staying in Ann Arbor. I'm not sure if it quite gets to gaslighting levels (because it almost never comes up) but-- seriously?
It was the sort of area where you could run a dead rat as the Republican candidate and have it win. Repeatedly.
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Date: 2018-01-01 11:08 pm (UTC)I spent my middle school and high school years in a small town (population of town: 3600) in southwest Michigan after living in Ann Arbor for my elementary school years, so I've got some idea how that can be. I had the advantage of being cis, het, and white, but most kids thought I talked funny (clear enunciation was either snobbery or a British accent) and dressed weird.
My mother and stepfather still try to convince me that moving to that small town gave me advantages over staying in Ann Arbor. I'm not sure if it quite gets to gaslighting levels (because it almost never comes up) but-- seriously?
It was the sort of area where you could run a dead rat as the Republican candidate and have it win. Repeatedly.