Daisy, I am definitely familiar with that embarrassed feeling, but I think the most important thing is to be who you are with added doses of compassion, awareness and understanding. You seem to have that down.

Meagan, the "hilarious and dismaying" response pretty much sums up my own. It's important to have a sense of humor about these things, isn't it? And you're completely right: wanting to be seen as unique is SUCH a thing that this certain brand of white people like. Too funny.

lbotp, very true. It more about class than race, but I would say it's probably a combination. My black friends who are in the same general socio-economic and educational class as me like *many* of these things (farmers markets, NPR, etc.) but there are also many things on the list they would say are distinctly "white." I guess the point is that I DO belong to some sort of generalized/stereotyped group, but "white" probably isn't the best way to describe it.

Dave, I like how you summed up this process: "subconsciously react, think, then consciously react." I want/need to think more about how I process and respond to people in social media settings. Very interesting.