#ethnicallyambiguous

- Behind the Bastards (The life and times of history's worst with my favorite conflict journalist, Robert Evans! Read his book "A Brief History of Vice" for more fun history about drugs, sex, alcohol, and general fun!)

- Even More News (comedy news show; leftist; not theory tho)

- The Worst Year Ever (collaboration between the previous pods' hosts)

- It Could Happen Here (LTD series about the possibility of a second USA civil war w/host of Behind The Bastards)

- Ethnically Ambiguous (News from the perspective of the children of Iranian and a Syrian immigrants, also comedic and great)

- They Tried To Bury Us (hosted by Tamer Kattan; each ep is a different immigrant's story of their immigration to USA)

- Audible Anarchism (anarchist and leftist essays, letters, speeches, and manifestos read aloud by narrators; I have a hard time reading and concentrating when I'm depressed or having OCD problems and this helps me learn critical theory in a more suitable way, much like audio books do)

(The Daily Zeitgeist is great too, haha ^^^)

RB and add HELPFUL, IMPACTFUL, & MEANINGFUL pods for ppl to check out!

Petit Théâtre de l’Altérité

- Staging of Asia in Children Books from the 18th century to nowadays. Ethnical stereotypes & archetypal representations of Asia in Children Literature - 

Even thought Children Literature has been modernized for almost two centuries, there is still some archetypal representations of ethnics figures which are remaining in common imaginaries. ​Fantastic characters, grotesque costumes and imaginary sets, what kind of shapes of the character of "The Other" is given to modern children looks. 

Book Design, 15 x 20 cm, 130 pages, 2018

This is literally a thing I’ve encountered my entire life. I’ve been told I “look white but not quite” (as my husband put it in simpler terms) and it takes explaining my lineage, sometimes accompanied with photo proof, for people to stop asking.

My dad always tells me to respond with something along the lines of, “I’m a human from planet Earth” but that doesn’t always work because people don’t think it’s funny or understand and continue asking anyway rather than taking the hint that they’re being rude.

Not to mention that I’ve encountered people who don’t speak English as their first language and/or aren’t from the US who just don’t understand what I mean by any possible obtuse answer I give them because it just doesn’t make sense to them and the question they asked isn’t strange. Even if it does come off as strange here.

Asking another person, “what are you?” is incredibly rude. Wtf do you think I am? A turtle? A rhino? What do you mean, “what are you?” And as for, “where are you from?” Well, I’m from Auburn in Washington State but that’s not what you mean. If you follow up with, “where are your parents from?” I could say that my dad is from Seattle and my mom is from Kirkland, both also in Washington State. But that’s not what you mean, either, is it?

Every time I encounter these situations I’m made to explain, and sometimes provide photo proof, of who I am because I’m more ethnically ambiguous than a typical white person because I’m not just white. That’s not to say that I’m not proud of where my family comes from or that I’m not proud of who I am. I am both of those things.

It’s just that it’s incredibly vexing to go through life with people always asking me what I am as if I’m not even a person until they know my ethnic background and can put me into a group. I’ve also encountered people who were shocked and responded with something like, “oh, honey, you’re lucky that you look white” like that’s a compliment?????? It’s literally not, but okay.

Idk. I wish I could could charge people every time I was asked one of these stupid ass questions, tbfh. I shouldn’t have to explain my heritage just for you to see me as a person and decide, usually based on my answer, how to treat me thereafter.

Goin in a little feelings rant real quick. The purpose of this post is to help find others like myself. While I realize finding someone with my exact bg is almost impossible I’m just trying to get some advice or kinship from other mixed persons. My mother is Quechua Bolivian and Dominican. My father is Italian, and Jewish (Romanian and Polish). I never start a new job without spending the first week sifting through the “what are you?” questions. I never can say “I’m Native American.” without someone in the room telling me South Americans don’t count as Native American. My white family who say “race doesn’t matter” will never stop making “silly offhand” offensive and mildly racist jokes. These things should sound incredibly familiar to all other mixed people and I know we all have literally hundreds of stories to tell. How do you handle it? How do you feel accepted? How to you become an ally to others?

This year has brought a lot of anger into many of our lives with the current political climate and news. I’ve been thinking so much about all the families at the border even today who are being detained. Contrary to the public eye, there are several indigenous families who don’t speak Spanish and are stuck in detention centers. Who is giving them a voice? Who is assisting with letting them know why they’re being detained and how are they even getting placed into detention without being able to communicate? Does anyone even care? Has anyone else had moments from this past year effect them and their feelings on their identity?