Here’s your ONE drop:
Three wildly different people. Three wildly different eras. One shared secret.
Margaret Thatcher hired voice coaches to scrub her working-class accent. Everyone knew she was a grocer’s daughter. The point wasn’t to fool anyone, just sound more... acceptable.
Ben Kingsley was born Krishna Banji. Changed his name so casting directors wouldn’t instantly slot him as “the ethnic role.” Then won an Oscar playing Gandhi. The universe likes irony.
FDR had polio. Not exactly classified information. But he kept photographers shooting him from the waist up and made sure he was seated before his cabinet entered. No one had to see him struggle into a chair.
None of them were lying about who they were. They were just... editing how visible it was.
Sociologist Erving Goffman called it covering. Being yourself, but quieter.
A recent study found 61% of people cover at work. Even 45% of straight white men, supposedly the default setting of corporate America, are hiding parts of themselves. Their age. Their anxiety. Their religion. The fact they grew up broke.
It works, until it doesn’t.
You can’t belong anywhere if the person who belongs isn’t you.
// Ann