Not Your Place

Hayley Harris
Sep 5, 2018 · 2 min read

The first and only thing you should do if you find yourself in the predicament of whether to walk into an open art reception, if the doors are open wide in addition to the windows being ceiling to floor see-through glass, glance at the printed paper sign taped on the door which says — Gallery open between 11–7pm. While you’re accompanied party may feel this is not a clear enough statement, listen to them, but also step your leg inside and look around the room. If you feel out of place, say seeing no person of color inside or anyone under the age of 40, you may want to step back outside because this is in fact not your scene. You may look at the web page you found the event on the night before and read through again — as the first phrase stays “Join us.” That’s it. There’s no community of film lovers or upper class Caucasians or members of this society, just, “Join us.” You may also want to listen to your accompanied party’s reasoning when asking the question — who was this directed to? Why would they write it like they were sending out an email to a group of people?” You will ponder on this question and come to the conclusion that as clear as the page describes the event, it just wasn’t clear enough to understand. You’ll shrug your shoulders, say “Welp,” and walk away after looking around for the art space for five minutes. Noted: it also did not stick out, because almost every store next to, across the street and down the way have floor to glass windows and doors too. Note #2: If this event was for you, maybe the space would have stuck out, or your intuition would have told you “this is it” right away. Proceed to walk around the district like you “planned.” No one will know of your mistake. Think about going back to visit the space another day, then forget it. It wasn’t meant to be. The One Plus + You did not have to pay for your leg to enter the door. Money saved on any day is a good day.

Hayley Harris

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I write about anything that makes me feel.