Although my romantic entanglements to this day remain a short list, I cannot deny that race invariably becomes a factor in each relationship that I have. With my untraditional racial identity – part Jewish and Asian – I find that I am always in an interracial relationship, no matter what race my partner is. From the start of college with my first prolonged fling, race has played the passenger, a sort of haunting that has followed all of my romantic decisions since. Shortly after declining my first fling’s request for a more serious and exclusive relationship, I noticed him jaunting with a young woman, who – like me – was petite, nose-ringed, and most perturbingly half-asian. Abjectly, my mind wandered to a question that I think many women of color face when involved interracial relationships: am I a desired “type?”
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Archive for the ‘Reflection’ Category
Race-ing Desire
Posted in Analysis, Identity, Mixed, opinion, Race, Reflection, tagged Asian, interracial, mixed, relationships on August 9, 2012| 2 Comments »
#SwirlChat Transcript – “Looks and the Mixed Race Community”
Posted in #swirlchat, Analysis, Community, Dialogue, Identity, Mixed, opinion, Race, Reflection, Swirl, Transcript, tagged dialogue, identity, mixed, physical-appearance, tweetchat on January 17, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Here is the transcript from our first TweetChat of the new year, on Friday, January 13, 2012: Looks and the Mixed Race Community. If you didn’t get to participate and want to weigh in on this topic now, please leave a comment below and share your thoughts!
You can find the transcript here, in a pdf. Sorry that the tweets read most recent to earliest. We are using a new transcript-pulling system and are still working out the kinks!
*Note that this chat was held on Friday, from 3pm-4pm EDT. The times you see in the transcript are indicative of the fact that the person who captured this transcript is located in Germany. Thanks Kim!
Please join our next live every-other-week TweetChat on Friday, January 27th at 3pm EDT. We will be talking with author Heidi Durrow about her book, The Girl Who Fell from the Sky!
#SwirlChat Transcript – “The Language of Race”
Posted in #swirlchat, Analysis, Community, Dialogue, Identity, Mixed, opinion, Race, Reflection, Swirl, Transcript, tagged dialogue, identity, mixed, tweetchat on December 5, 2011| 1 Comment »
Here is the transcript from our TweetChat on Friday, December 2, 2011: The Language of Race. If you didn’t get to participate and want to weigh in on this topic now, please leave a comment below and share your thoughts!
You can find the transcript here, in a pdf.
*Note that this chat was held on Friday, from 3pm-4pm EDT. The times you see in the transcript are indicative of the fact that the person who captured this transcript is located in Germany. Thanks Kim!
Please join our next live every-other-week Tweet chat on Tuesday, December 13th at 8pm EDT. Stay tuned for more info on the topic!
#SwirlChat Transcript – “What’s in a name – specifically, an ethnic one?”
Posted in #swirlchat, Community, Dialogue, Identity, Mixed, opinion, Race, Reflection, Swirl, Transcript, tagged dialogue, identity, mixed, tweetchat on November 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Here is the transcript from our TweetChat on Friday, November 4, 2011: What’s in a name – specifically an ethnic one? If you didn’t get to participate and want to weigh in on this topic now, please leave a comment below and share your thoughts!
You can find the transcript here, in a pdf.
*Note that this chat was held on Friday, from 3pm-4pm EDT. The times you see in the transcript are indicative of the fact that the person who captured this transcript is located in Germany. Thanks Kim!
Please join our next live every-other-week Tweet chat on Tuesday, November 15th at 8pm EDT. Stay tuned for more info on the topic!
Questions about MLK Jr…
Posted in Dialogue, Family, Identity, Mixed, Race, Reflection, tagged children, mixed, MLK, race on October 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Originally published at Caramels on Maple Street
Lately, my 3-year-old daughter has been asking the same question over and over. I thought I’d run clean out of answers when she was 2, and she would ask, “Mama, why?” Now, I’ve got real problems, because here’s what my little girl wants to know: “Mama, why did Martin Luther King die?” (more…)
Let Us Not Forget About Them
Posted in Community, opinion, Reflection, tagged 9/11, peace, remember on September 16, 2011| 2 Comments »
Originally published at El Alma Esta Escribiendo
by Francia Rocio Benson
Large clouds of smoke were darkening the sky and screams of pain, fear and helplessness were deafening the big apple. It was chaos: Nobody knew what was happening. A cold intense fear spread across the city and on the faces of the people when they realized they were under attack; terrorists had infiltrated the country. That heartbreaking tragedy had awakened the world on September 11, 2001. (more…)
Practice makes progress
Posted in Activism, Community, Identity, Race, Reflection, tagged dialogue, fear, practice, race on August 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Originally published at The Time Is Always Right
In my years of diversity work, I am pretty sure about one thing. The people who are “good” at talking about race issues are those who have practiced.
As a participant in discussions about race, I have heard certain white individuals (not all) lament, “I just don’t know how to talk about this stuff.” And then I have heard some people of color (not all) in turn, say, “I am tired of talking about this stuff every day.”
10 Ways to Be an Ally
Posted in Activism, Advocacy, Community, Race, Reflection, tagged activism, race, reflection on July 19, 2011| 2 Comments »
As I have gotten deeper into anti-oppression work I find that I am discovering more and more subtleties and complexities than I ever considered. Learning to be a good ally is not a linear education with some sort of graduation or certification at the end. It is a process full of experimentation, humility, confusion, challenge, and clarity. This list is by no means complete. It’s really just a few suggestions on how to turn your mind towards solidarity. (more…)
Faiths
Posted in Community, Identity, Mixed, opinion, Race, Reflection, tagged community, identity, multiracial, race on June 23, 2011| 1 Comment »
“Return to Africa” they say. Proud of their heritage and sure of their connectedness to a continent and a peoples, an ocean and generations removed, they remain certain that they have a motherland, a place – perhaps the only place – on this lonely planet where they belong. (more…)
Our Parents, Ourselves
Posted in Family, Identity, Mixed, Race, Reflection, tagged childhood, family, identity, interracial, multiracial, race on June 16, 2011| 4 Comments »
When I was a little girl, I had a crush on a particular boy in my grade. I told my mom that I liked him because I felt I could tell her anything. She asked me, “Why do you like H—?”