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They Said This Would Be Fun
They Said This Would Be Fun: Race, Campus Life, and Growing Up | Eternity Martis
7 posts | 8 read | 8 to read
From award-winning journalist Eternity Martis, a look at race and gender on campuses, and a personal tale of struggle and survival. The debut memoir from Eternity Martis, They Said This Would Be Fun captures the difficulty of navigating through white spaces as a student of colour. Eternity thought going away to university would help her discover who she really is. Hoping to escape her abusive boyfriend, her nerdy reputation, her doting Pakistani family, and her complicated feelings towards her absent Jamaican father, she heads out to the predominantly white college city of London, Ontario. At school, she discovers an entitled culture of racism and sexism: she encounters blackface at parties, hears racial slurs at the bar, and has teachers ask her permission to discuss race in classrooms where she's the only student of colour. Over the next four years, Eternity navigates her identity in her new surroundings while adjusting to student life: she bounces out the window of an inflatable castle after too much vodka, glares down drugstore cashiers who announce a price check for her pregnancy test for the whole store to hear, and dodges white girls who stroke her hair at parties. And as more and more classmates of colour feel driven out of the university, Eternity decides to stay. In doing so, she starts to uncover what she went away to find in the first place: who she is. They Said This Would Be Fun captures the work students of colour must do to fight for themselves in spaces where they are supposed to be safe to learn and grow.
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review
LibraryCin
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Mehso-so

I enjoyed her chapters about her family and relationships more than the partying/student life. The book read sort of like essays. Eternity brought in some stats to go along with her own experiences. I found the stats easier to swallow, and of course, she went through what she went through, but I questioned some of her generalizations about white people; many of the “stereotypes”, black or white, she mentioned were things I had never heard of.

review
Megabooks
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Pickpick

This is a memoir of race, rape culture, and campus life by a Black former student in Canada. Eternity attended Western University in London, ON and felt racially isolated from day one. She experienced many macro- and microaggressions in the mainly white city. She had the unfortunately common difficulties with relationships and sexual assault on campus that were magnified by her race and isolation. This is an unflinching look at her story. ⬇️

Megabooks ⬆️ This #audiobook is available through #hoopla. @cinfhen 3y
Cinfhen Ohhh, thanks for putting this on my #ReadersRadar 😘 3y
Cinfhen It‘s been downloaded 💕 3y
See All 16 Comments
Cinfhen Why are you awake?? 3y
Megabooks @Cinfhen I went to bed early and woke up in the middle of the night! 😂🤷🏻‍♀️ I‘m going to try to go back to sleep, but my stomach is upset. ☹️ (edited) 3y
Megabooks @Cinfhen I hope you like it, too 💜 (edited) 3y
Cinfhen Sorry 😢 do you think you ate something? I was having stomach issues too and I went off dairy the whole month of May and im feeling much better but my lab work still wasn‘t great so we‘re back to investing. But im continuing with the no dairy 3y
Megabooks @Cinfhen I‘m still getting over that gluten-contaminated lettuce wrap from last week. Unfortunately, it takes me about a week to get over that. I have celiac. I think I‘ve mentioned that before, but I‘m not sure. (edited) 3y
Megabooks @Cinfhen I‘m glad the no dairy is making you feel better. I hope you‘re able to figure out what‘s wrong! 💜 (edited) 3y
Cinfhen I know you have celiac but I didn‘t realize how long it takes for a flare up to settle back down in your digestive system. That‘s rough. Two years ago I cut dairy, sugar and wheat from my diet for about 90 days, but I couldn‘t sustain it. I did feel great though. I have severe blood loss anemia which leads to very low iron levels. Prior to Covid I was getting iron infusions, so it looks like that‘s the next step. 3y
Megabooks @Cinfhen I was getting iron infusions prior to my celiac diagnosis!! Celiac damage interferes with your small intestine‘s ability to absorb iron and store it as ferratin in the liver. I believe it is mediated by B12 (cobalamine). Have you had B12 or celiac antibody tests? Both (at least in the US) would have to be specifically ordered by your doctor and would not be on any regular panel (even typical ones testing for anemia). Maybe?? (edited) 3y
TrishB Not out here yet, wanting (f0 for hardback on Amazon ?‍♀️ 3y
Cinfhen I was tested for both celiac ( negative) and my B12 was boarder-line. I had one B12 injection but also before Covid. I‘m not sure if this last round of testing included B12. Thanks for reminding me!!! 3y
Megabooks @Cinfhen Even though you don‘t have celiac, there may be some other reason your B12 is low. B12 does facilitate iron absorption in the intestines whether or not you have celiac. 🤔 I‘d definitely get that tested. Getting regular B12 shots is certainly less involved than iron infusions and perhaps that would be enough until you know the root cause. 🤞🏻 (edited) 3y
Megabooks @TrishB Too bad! I‘m glad we got it here because unfortunately we don‘t get as many books from Canada as I‘d like. 3y
Cinfhen Thanks, Dr Meg!! I really hate those iron infusions and they only last about 6 months until I‘m depleted again 😔 3y
74 likes1 stack add16 comments
blurb
candority
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I forgot to take a picture of my #BookCupidSwap package even though I swore I would remember this morning before heading to the post office 😂

So instead, here is a stack of books that I have recently acquired from Facebook Marketplace. I‘ve sold some of my books on it before, but this was the first time I purchased any. I was a bit disappointed by the quality of some of them (it was impossible to tell from the pictures), but I‘ll get over it!📚

BooksCoffeeNurse 11/22/63 is amazing! ❤️ 3y
candority @BooksCoffeeNurse I can‘t wait to read it! I‘ve heard so many good things about it 💕 3y
AmyG Some excellent books!!! 3y
mcipher @BooksCoffeeNurse Agree! I was amazed by how quickly I read such a huge book!! Loved it 3y
103 likes1 stack add4 comments
review
Lindy
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Pickpick

I laughed, shook my head & cried while listening to this #audiobook memoir. Eternity Martis was one of the few Black students at Western University when she moved there from Toronto. Adventures with alcohol, drugs & casual sex—typical extracurricular activities for students—are more fraught when experienced along with racism & intimate partner violence. Interspersed throughout: tongue-in-cheek Necessary Survival Guides for Token Students.

42 likes1 stack add1 comment
blurb
Lindy
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Soubhiville I love that color! 4y
Lindy @Soubhiville Thanks! I‘m experimenting with alcohol extraction of dye instead of water extraction because I haven‘t been successful until now at getting a pretty shade of green. 4y
Suet624 You‘re so creative. I love seeing all the projects you are doing. (edited) 4y
See All 6 Comments
Lindy @Suet624 Thanks! I need immersive projects to keep myself from feeling restless. 4y
KathyR When I first looked at it I thought it was a head of butter lettuce 😋. 4y
Lindy @KathyR 😂 4y
36 likes6 comments
quote
Lindy
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When my mother spoke to people about my background, she never said I was Jamaican, but that my father was. I arrived at the intersection of two brown families from different castes and ethnicities.

24 likes1 stack add
review
Bookalong
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Pickpick

5🌟 Martis has written a smart, relevant, moving memoir. She writes of her experiences being a mixed-race Black female student at a predominantly white University. She shares about racism, sexual assault, and rape culture in Canadian College/Universities. This was tough reading at times, my heart ached. As a white female this book gave me so much insight into what POC go through everyday. Essential reading! #bookreview #bookstagram

7 likes1 stack add