My Thoughts For The Day

Has anybody else noticed the huge wave of "Facebook is Getting a Facelift" article headlines going around recently? I did...and I find it hilarious yet humbling.

I thought I was the cat's bananas when I came up with that headline for a post of my own on August 26th (and for the record, I came up with that without any help at all!). Now that I see this onslaught of clever headlines, it means one of two things for me:

1.) My idea wasn't nearly as impressive or clever as I had originally thought, or
2.) My idea was as impressive and/or clever as I had originally thought, and newspaper and magazine writers stole my headline for their own personal career advances.

Now, I did a search and saw that there were people who had used the headline before me, so that leaves me with my original guess that I was not being as clever as I would have liked to give credit for.

It took all of a few months for "Facebook Gets A Facelift" to become old and cliche.

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Has someone ever asked you a question and when you give them the answer, they offer you a horribly stereotypical generalization that makes you feel like shit even if it just may apply?

I get asked a lot if I'm mixed with anything. The correct answer is not directly, but there is a lot of Native American in my blood.

If I say that to someone, they go, "Oh, all black people have Native American in their blood. You're not any different."

That's soooo irritating.

Sure, lots of black people say they have Native American in their blood, and it's true: stereotypically, you don't find a lot of black people without some mix in their family tree. So I'll just say this: take a look at my complexion, take a look at my hair, and take a look at my mom, and tell me there isn't more than just a smidgen of Native American in me.

The second thing is what I hear from adults when I tell them I was born in Germany. The first thing out of their mouths is: "Oh, were your parents in the military?"

Because, of course, black people only belong in Germany when they or their parents are in the military.

Yes, my father was in the military. No, I was not born on a military base, which is why I have both a German and American birth certificate. And while there may not be many pigmented people in Germany, I don't need you to point it out for me, thank you very much.

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I have a pressing question that I've been trying to answer ever since I first saw it on standardized tests and college applications: a question that as of yet has eluded any student, relative, or teacher who has ever tried to answer it for me.

You know how on certain things they ask for your race and/or ethnicity?

I know that because both of my parents are African-American, that's what I put for race, no questions asked. It's the ethnicity part that I'm not so sure about.

On the one hand, I guess I should put African American because that's what's in my blood. But I was born in Germany, and until I was 18, if I understand citizenship rules correctly, I was both a citizen of Germany and of the United States. So does that make me German American?

And while we're at it, why can't I just be "American"?