i'm a leper...

so i spend two days a week in a community north of seattle called mill creek. my daughter lives there and i pick her up from school and take the bus home with her wednesdays and thursdays, leaving her friday morning to be picked up by her mother. no big deal right? thursdays are spent at a local coffee house reading while she is in school. sounds innocent, right? well...it is innocent other than i feel as out of place as 1982 Richard Pryor in Coeur d'Alene on a getaway vacation! i should wear pleated (lightest shade!) beige khakis, a white three-button polo shirt with my corporate insignia, order a grande vanilla nonfat latte, and grow a moustache somewhere between Charles Barkley's and MagnumPI's. i also must flirt with every pleathery skinned woman above the age of 42 and wear white New Balance almost Orthopedic tennis shoes to designate my leisure if i am on vacation from work. i am scared to show the cover of my Che' book out there out of fear of a lecture or worse yet a beating. i mean it! the looks i received one ill-fated time i decided to leave the book on my table when i went to the washroom could have drilled holes in my head! it doesn't help that i'm not white either. i rant, because i care. i've grabbed my morning coffee at this establishment on wednesday and thursday for about a year now, and i sincerely feel pretty unique as far as dress, speech, and level of pigmentation, yet there has been NO acknowledgement of my repeat patronage even though this particular company prides itself on its ability to engage its customers and its desire to learn names and make it your "third place." i don't blame the company in particular. shoot, i worked for them for four years! the employees (partners) are also from this community, so i believe it is bred in all of them to distrust, ostricize, and at times mistreat folks who are different. i shouldn't be surprised. i wouldn't be out there if my daughter did not live there. yes, it is difficult for me that she is spending the majority of her time there. yes, i give every effort to show her different ways to think and live when she is with me. but i can't help but feel like an outsider when i am there. i know i can be overly conscious of my differences, but this place is ridiculous! in time, i hope i feel a little more comfortable in milky white suburban America. but deep down, i also know that milky white suburban America is holding on for its life. Caucasians will be the racial minority within three to four decades, and class will always be the lense through which i view my experiences. However, my time in Mill Creek has been eye-opening, and i swear to never make anyone feel like a leper in my community!