English Privilege
I live with a lot of privilege in my life. I always have. I know it's a taboo phrase - especially in the currently polarized political world - but I said what I said. My parents worked hard to help set me up in ways that I can't even articulate. I worked hard to get to this comfortable stage of life too. But I know there are barriers that I was privileged enough to not have to address let alone overcome. One of these privileges is learning English as my first, and currently only, language. Wow. I really had no idea until moving overseas that grasping English on a colloquial and professional level was a privilege. In southern Italy it is not common for the locals to speak English. I don't expect them to. We are in Italy. I expect them to speak Italian. The number of people who are appalled that locals don't speak English is mind boggling. Most days I am grateful that they don't speak a lot of English because it has pushed me out of my comfort zone and forced a lo...