The Hairy Situation

One of coworkers approached me yesterday. And I knew it was going to be interesting, because she led with "This might be out of left field, but can I ask you something?" I firmly believe that the best conversations start with mentions of left field. So I welcomed her question. 
She begins to talk about how she's having a tough time finding hair products for her daughter. She rambles about her daughter's curly hair and how this is because her daughter has biracial hair. Then she points at me and says "You're biracial, right?" I nod. Next thing I know, she reaches over and pets my head. (Yes, she pet me!) "Oh yeah, her hair feels just like yours."


After my shy laugh, I give her all the details of my hair care routine. This was not the first conversation regarding personal grooming. But I was not at all prepared for a petting! 

Fun Fact Friday

Now introducing Fun Fact Friday! 


I wanted to share some information about famous (or maybe infamous) biracial individuals. And I'm going to kick things off with Bob Marley! 
Did you know that Bob Marley was the product of  a black woman and a white British man? His parents were Cedella Booker & Captain Norval Marley, a Naval officer stationed in Jamaica. [5 Facts]

The Mexican Tourist

It is not uncommon for someone to approach me speaking a foreign language. Typically they just apologize and go about their day. But then there are others. 


I was standing at an intersection, just waiting to cross the street, when a man approaches me speaking Spanish. He's the typical tourist, holding a Visitor's Guide while his teenage daughter looks annoyed and younger son looks fascinated by every moving thing. Having only taken a semester of Spanish in the 7th grade, I muster up "no hablo spanish." Yes, I realize I should have said Español. But I was tired and like I said, I don't speak the language.


He laughed at me and said "No Spanish? What kind of Mexican are you?"


"I'm not..."

Baby Talk

I wish I had a dollar for every time someone told me that I would have cute babies. It is usually followed by some phrasing of how mixed babies are cute. There's an issue with the whole "mixed babies are cute" statement. Are they saying that singular race babies are not cute? But I'm not offended. Personally I feel that all babies kind of look like little alien heads until about 6 months. 


But let's face it; the people that feel the need to comment about my possible future children are probably the same people that think all babies are cute. 

Speaking of Wimbledon...

Towards the end of the school year, it seems teachers struggle with lesson plans to occupy the school day. This was the case in 7th grade. Our teacher put us into small groups and we were to discuss our summer plans. One girl talks about how she is excited about going to tennis camp. Collectively the group begins a conversation about tennis; how we all had played at some point, except one anti-social boy. Then the girl going to Tennis camp asks the group if anyone played on any club teams. After varied responses, I say no and how I just played with my dad. 


"Isn't your dad black?"

"Yes... "


Her confused look quickly turns into embarrassment. She apologizes and mumbles something about not realizing. Being that age, the conversation quickly moves along... Short attention spans and all.