Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Still Alive: Announcement
I've hit a bit of a lull in blogging because life has taken off. I now have three part-time jobs (retail, substitute teacher, and yalitchat). For the summer, I accepted a position in Colorado as a camp counselor. I'm supposed to be writing for the examiner as a Girl's Night Out representative too.
In my free time, I'm attending events and conferences in my fields of interests to network. I'm applying and interviewing for a full-time job any chance I get. On nights and weekends, I'm doing volunteer work for Young Professionals of Red Cross and the Disaster Action Team.
In my down time, I've joined a new writer's group. I'm really focused on getting my manuscript polished for querying. I'm also taking an Acting class for as a way to learn about screenplays, and just to release energy.
I promise to pick it back up, if not in April than by May. In the meantime, check out doamk.blogspot.com where I'm reviewing the old anthology Mixed.
In my free time, I'm attending events and conferences in my fields of interests to network. I'm applying and interviewing for a full-time job any chance I get. On nights and weekends, I'm doing volunteer work for Young Professionals of Red Cross and the Disaster Action Team.
In my down time, I've joined a new writer's group. I'm really focused on getting my manuscript polished for querying. I'm also taking an Acting class for as a way to learn about screenplays, and just to release energy.
I promise to pick it back up, if not in April than by May. In the meantime, check out doamk.blogspot.com where I'm reviewing the old anthology Mixed.
Neela Vaswani: Stability of One Thing
"In my youth, I longed to have what I mistakenly perceived as the stability of being 'one thing,'" wrote Neela Vaswani in her comments at the end her short story, which appeared in Mixed: An Anthology of Short Fiction on the Multiracial Experience.
One thing. As a mixed kid growing up in a suburban neighborhood, I had wished for it too. I wanted to fit in somewhere, in one area. I wanted to be white like my friends so that I wouldn't be the darkest one, the oddball, in every picture.
My parents always said my gift was that I could cross the boundary lines, but that gift many times left me straddling two worlds than belonging to either. Should I hang out with the black kids or the white kids? And if I act out of race lines, will they make fun of me for it? (Sometimes yes)
I've grown up now. While I still straddle the lines of race, I've decided to embrace those differences rather than try to hide them or awkwardly smash those pieces of me together. I don't kowtow to racial lines anymore.
I'm in a stage of exploration and exhibition. I'm being me, all of me. And I don't care who sees it.
One thing. As a mixed kid growing up in a suburban neighborhood, I had wished for it too. I wanted to fit in somewhere, in one area. I wanted to be white like my friends so that I wouldn't be the darkest one, the oddball, in every picture.
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| At my elementary school before a concert. I never could figure out how to arrange my face on command. |
I've grown up now. While I still straddle the lines of race, I've decided to embrace those differences rather than try to hide them or awkwardly smash those pieces of me together. I don't kowtow to racial lines anymore.
I'm in a stage of exploration and exhibition. I'm being me, all of me. And I don't care who sees it.