This special episode of Backbox proved to be a great discussion. Even if you don't agree with everyone on the panel, it's still good to hear their perspectives and understand what's important to them. Regardless of the outcomes, I'm glad that discussions like this are happening. Because you don't know, what you don't know.

If anyone listened to this podcast and wanted more, last month I had the honor of hosting a roundtable discussion with Imoto Harney, Sarah Line (Mrs. Pin), Kaite Martin, and Stephanie Guida. We had a similar discussion, except the focus was more specifically on women's experiences in the pinball hobby. It was an entertaining and informative discussion. I was very surprised by some of their answers, and the ladies were also hilarious. The ladies had some great things to share, and they weren't afraid to get way off-topic. Hitler, Sonic the Hedgehog, Whoa Nelly, Anne Frank, and Pinball Dogs were all brought up and discussed at some point.

Give it a listen if you can find the time, it's well worth it, and the topics discussed are so varied that the time goes pretty quick. Thanks again to the ladies who participated, and thanks to everyone who's taking the time to think about and discuss these issues.

Podcatcher Link https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-fzej7-dcc277
Raw File Link https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nV6lqYYAHTVdyWcOTdjkl9LbK4o2ilgc/view?usp=sharing
Off_The_Record_Podbean_300x300 (resized).jpg

Hmm...it will download straight to your device if you use the podbean app, itunes, or similar podcatchers. I usually download them through one of those apps to my phone or pc. But let me see if I can figure something out.

EDIT: Here's a link to the raw podcast file. Anyone should be able to download the file from this link by clicking th download button in the corner. This is another option for people that don't want to use itunes or a podcatcher. I add the link to my original post as well.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nV6lqYYAHTVdyWcOTdjkl9LbK4o2ilgc/view?usp=sharing

Hmm...this is definitely veering into politics and social commentary, but I will say that my wife and I had a lengthy discussion on "privilege" and "white privilege" the other night. My wife is British, and didn't grow up learning about the history of slavery and racial discrimination within the United States, the way I did. So that made for an interesting discussion, as much of what has been happening in the news and the stories behind the news, is new information for her.

Historically, I've always found the term "White Privilege" to be a divisive one. As I've often heard it used to dismiss the opinions/perspectives of others, but I know that's not all that it means. One thing which I've been coming to grips with is that having "white privilege" doesn't actually mean that you've had a "privileged" life. It just means that generally speaking, you haven't had to worry about certain issues that a person of color may have had to. As a young child, I grew up in a divorced household, living in small apartments or trailers, sometimes we were even on food stamps, and I never got to go on a true family vacation ever. We couldn't afford to. There are many people of color who have had a much more financially or socially advantaged upbringing than me. But...I've never had to worry about interactions with the police, I've never had to worry about racists, and I've never had to worry about people treating me badly because of the color of my skin. That's what white privilege is.

And really, it's racial privilege, and it varies from country to country and region to region. My racial/white privilege growing up in SD, would be different to the racial privilege that a white person would have experienced growing up in apartheid South Africa, which would be different than what a white person growing up in Japan would deal with.

These are interesting things to think about, but I'm not entirely sure what they have to do with pinball, or what kind of change that those of us within the pinball hobby can affect. I think the main take away is just to try and be friendly and welcoming when people come to your pinball events. And you know, don't say racist or sexist stuff at pinball events / venues. But that should really go without saying.

Plenty of location-only players. Assuming that all the locations aren't closed, of course! A lot of people only play at bars and arcades precisely because they can't afford / don't have the space for a home machine.

Not trying to start anything, but in total fairness, these days race and gender actually CAN BE labels. Some people don't fit neatly into male or female genders, or transition/confirm to a different gender than they were born to. Also, I know of many people who might only have 25% African ancestry, but who still identify as Black. I also know lots of people who pass for, or appear to be, a different race than they actually. Not everything is cut and dry when it comes to race or gender. So those things ARE labels.