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I just finished reading an article in Time magazine entitled, “Liking What White People Like,” which is a commentary on the blog  “Stuff White People Like.” The author goes on to talk about the benefit of having White people critique/mock/endorse White culture. However, as an individual of mixed heritage (Black and Chinese), the author finds herself in a quandary; she likes things that White people like!

She comes to grips with this racial divide over the course of the article, but her final conclusions leave much lacking. I truly enjoyed her postulation of what Mixed people like (“Having people guess their background… Pulling rank during conversations… Having ‘such good features’… Filling out applications”), especially since she admits, “these are things that mixed people say they hate… but secretly like.”

My qualm comes with the creation of Stuff That Mixed People Like; I think that it denies exactly what makes Multiethnic individuals interesting: the fact that no two multi-ethnics are alike. Not only is the community comprised of mixed ethnicity members, regardless of blend, but also their upbringing creates drastic differences between individuals, making group descriptions even more difficult. For example, how different would Barak Obama (everyone’s current favorite multiethnic) if his parents were switched and he was raised by a single Kenyan mother? How different would his upbringing or chances have been then? There is no single definition of multi-ethnics, or what they like, just the fact that they are multi-ethnic.

PS: Barak Obama is not #1 on my Stuff That Mixed People Like, its Prince.

i was debating on even voting at all, since a default vote is not appropriate during the primaries… i could explain this to you or you could just watch the video on realnews.com

the month of june was hellish, but everything that had to get done did get done and now we are into july. the summer is zipping along, but my july will be relatively relaxing (fingers crossed). i am going hiking with girlfriends, chillin’ in the bay area, reading books, and cruising through my netflix queue. today i will be watching my first hitchcock film, vertigo.

at the end of the month, i will be returning to NY for 11 days to celebrate the wedding of two very special people, the birthday of one of my favorite comedians, and the opportunity to not do my laundry. until then, get ready LA.

tomorrow is still technically SPORT DEATH DAY. nestled among a historical week of tragedies (virginia, oklahoma, waco, columbine), i understand the potential arguments for and against “sporting death.” however, for those of us who are in the know, we are aware that this phrase, this symbol, and (what i had hoped for) the day has the potential to be a show of support, individuality, and nerd power. having said that, i will be wearing my pin, [and i did put those in the mail this week for anyone that requested them (see pictures)] but perhaps wearing SPORT DEATH to work may make life difficult for my fellow haüsmates.

so if you do choose to sport death tomorrow, please do so with love and in memoriam. do send pictures if you can, and i still intend for this to be an annual day. and i hope to see even more pictures next year.

SPORT DEATH DAY

NOTE: i suppose this is less of an issue for those of you on campus, but if it is, i’d love to hear about it. cause there are a lot of folks at MIT that just don’t get it.

i read a great article last week entitled “not with eddie” in the LA weekly about an experience that seems appropriate in los angeles: the deconstruction of idols.

LA is the origin and endpoint of the american dream, or at least one very large, well-lit facet of it. it is all to common to spot celebrities around town, however, when they are no longer surrounded by paparazzi, models, and millions of crooning fans, we continue to frame them like posters on a wall.

two years ago, i was working at the children’s hospital los angeles (CHLA). while walking through the halls, i spotted and elderly, disheveled man walking towards me. he wore a beat up army jacket that was far too large for his frame, and his wrinkled face peeked out from a wool cap that seemed to engulf his head. i thought to myself, “that’s strange, i wouldn’t expect a homeless person wandering through the hospital.”

as we approached each other, i noticed he was looking very intently at me; as we got closer, i watched him give me the up/down. i was uncomfortable, but intrigued, and i couldn’t look away from his face. just as we passed each other, it clicked…

oh shit… that’s bob dylan.

i turned around and stared as he continued his walk down the hall. it was then i noticed that he was accompanied by two young women (under 30) and two small children. when i got to the office, i said to my boss, “i just saw bob dylan!” she informed me that his 2-year-old child was a patient.

go bob.

read “not with eddie.”

this weekend, i went to lake tahoe with some friends of mine for my annual snow sports vacation. this was my second attempt at snowboarding and despite my intimate acquaintance with the snow, i was told that i made amazing progress.

in the afternoon i felt confident and ventured out on my own. at first i took the easy blue/hard green track. then i traveled up to the caples crest traverse by accident. my lift mates commented on my balls at the attempt. i should have known better. i took a nasty spill and twisted my leg in a direction its not supposed to go. now i’m at home nursing my sprained ankle and a twisted knee. i hope it heals quickly, i’m eager to try again this season in socal. anyone interested?

see picures here:
snowboarding in lake tahoe

today i will be starting a new job at the pershing square ice rink in downtown los angeles as a rink guard. i’m pretty freaking excited! here’s me lacing up… come visit when you can. my shift will start proper next week.

i had an amazing evening tonight. i went out with some folks from high school who are really doing amazing things. its really fun to chat with these folks, especially back home; they’ve known me through a variety of stages, and missed quite a few others. however, tonight we were hanging out and a memory hit me like a wall of bricks. a not so proud memory, but clearly one of importance in my wild and crazy youth. and i conveyed it to my friend…

“do you remember…”

for future reference, if you are ever going to start a story with the phrase ” do you remember…” i highly recommend you stop, walk over to the person, and whisper it in their ear. i related this memory to my friend in a booming voice, and in reality he was only 5 feet away from me. the true embarrassment was when i realized that his father (who is actually very cool, but still a father), who i thought was upstairs, was on the other side of the door. [sigh].

i suppose this is a problem that i’ve always had, i don’t always recognize the volume of my voice, especially when i get excited, or a memory comes into my brain and out of my mouth with very little filtering. which, mind you, happens quite often.

it’s something i need to work on. and i suppose the first step is to admit it out loud. nice and booming. i have a flaw that embarrasses me regularly, and it is remarkably unrelated to media.

i don’t even know how to calculate that.

i hate the holidays. i despise the commercialization of christmas. but most of all, i can’t stand the repeated messages of how i’m *supposed* to feel during this time of year. commercial after commercial, various companies ask me if my man is buying me a diamond, how i deal with the craziness of family gatherings, and the feeling of being kissed under the mistletoe. well here you go best buy… i don’t have a man, my family is in the process of suing each other and pretending the others don’t exist, and i’ve never been kissed under the mistletoe.

but i’m not bitter.

today i got decked out in my mit best, brass rat, brass belt buckle, and sweatshirt. i had an exam in statistics that i really wanted to ace so i tried to put myself in the right mindset and clothing. i went in and was done in about 45 minutes. i was the first to leave and the professor commented, “that was fast.” but i did the exam, i didn’t know what else to do and i wasn’t going to sit there reading the textbook.

i got a cup of coffee and relaxed for a minute. i went to the bus stop and as soon as the bus came, a lovely little old man turned to me and said…

“mit, that’s the best school in the country! best school in the world!”

i said…

“i know!”

i hope i passed my exam.