Quiz on Until Told Otherwise

Name___________
How Skin Tone Affects You_____________

#ifyourememberinfirstgradetheysaid, “When you assume, you make an a$$ out of you and me!” People assume you’re ______________, when you’re really ___________
                                  a. One day going to be.
                                  b. Doesn’t everybody get assumed to be a fish when they’re really a bird? I mean, when I was a kid, they called me,                                                 “Dorkus,” and that wasn't my name at all.
                                  c. Go, Joe! Great American Hero! (um, I was in ‘Nam in ’67 and those motherfuckers didn’t give me a parade, called me,                                           “Killer,” and I had no job, and I ended up here, in the Big House)
                                  d. Not all people are racist or non-racist. Isn’t there a spectrum of racism Red people and yellow people and black people                                        and brown people and white people and people people.

#makemeanofferican’trefuse: “What do you mean, I can’t go there, Officer?” Your history proves:     
                                 a. Mickey Mouse featured blackface. Anglicans mocked Catholics. Chinese hated Mongols. Jews despised Gentiles.
                                 b. My story and your story are like a river made of many tributaries, which also bends and branches into many tributaries,                                       which feeds the fish, the livestock, the settlers, the lands, the nations with our bloods.
                                 c. In just seven days, oh baby, I can make you a ma-a-a-a-an.
                                 d. Where did our love go?

#whenisaygayimean, “Not like gay as in gay is bad, but, you know, gay as in, I don’t know, I just kind of say it.” We surveyed 100 people of undisclosed sexuality, and the top 100 answers are
                                 a. Everybody needs a handbag. Everybody needs a GBFF. Everybody knows lesbians aren’t real because all girls secretly                                         kiss their girlfriends. But, eww, who wants to see two black guys kissing on NATIONAL TELEVISION! I MEAN, MY .                                                 DAUGHTER WAS WATCHING THAT!
                                 b. Everybody knows ALL Christians everywhere, even at Target, think God Hates Fags, and they only want to throw the .                                         Bible at us, I mean, it’s not like we did anything to them, and who do they think they are?
                                  c. What’s your damage?
                                  d. (because I’m in prison, that means I’m guilty?) Butterflies are real.

#PaulCezanneandHiroshigeandGeorgiaOKeefeforPresident: “Artists are all freaks anyway. I’m not that talented.” If you mix a person with little self-awareness with a person who always wants to buy new shoes, then add a person who believes they understand, you put how many people in prison?
                                 a. Black isn’t a color. White isn’t a color. They aren’t hot or cold. We classify them as such. Many hues of white range from                                       pink to brown to yellow. Many hues of black range from green to blue to orange. How beautiful to listen in the world!
                                 b. People grow up and try being crows instead of butterflies. Or, if they were crows, they try to be merfolk. They fondly                                           remember crawling up the legs of a flower, or working to get a drink from a jar with their blue-black beaks, then look                                           into the sun and cry. Why aren’t you being the crow you are?
                                 c. I see your true colors shining through. I see your true colors and that’s why I love you. So, don’t be afraid to let them                                            show, your true colors, your true colors are beautiful, like a rainbow.
                                 d. Beethoven was blond. Sherman Alexie doesn’t wear underwear. Esther loved vacations. Basho wanted to date a                                                   ballerina. All of these are a lie. So?

Many days, J. Marcus Weekley dislikes being human, though he does enjoy horror movies and sci fi. His writing is forthcoming (or newly published) in Cake, Hawai'i Review, Inflectionist, and The Curator, among others. Marcus' collection of ekphrastic prose poems, Singing in the Merman Cemetery, is forthcoming in late 2018 from CW Books (preorders for fifteen bucks). He's single and also paints, photographs, and writes screenplays: www.flickr.com/photos/whynottryitagain2 or www.whynottryitagain.wixsite.com/photo.