pictures and stuff

Slowish day (day off from rehearsal--yay!)--we had lunch with catzen, got the oil changed in the Scion, got ptor some more shorts and me some more dance tanks at Old Navy, poked around the yard, spent some extra-nice time together, went for nice walk, and are now getting ready to make soup and work on more thank you notes.

While in the garden today I took some more garden pictures. The sunflowers are starting to bloom and the tomatoes are beginning to really ripen.
An example:

Click on the photo to see the full set.

I also took some (more) Harlie pictures and started a set:

Click on Harlie to see the full set.

a new annoyed icon

Just had to share the icon.

stereotypes and race identity

Interesting starting point for a discussion around sterotypes is here. The last paragraph basically asks when we realized which groups we fell into.

[These are just my first reactions--please excuse the lack of focus].

I find this particularly interesting as I really didn't know I was "white" until I was 17 and in college. I know that looking at me know that may seem strange, but growing up I got a lot more sun and was a lot darker (my grandmother was from the Azores and my dad has rather dark skin) and where I lived being Portuguese didn't equal being "white". The white kids were the WASPs, the lighter skinned, english/german/irish kids that went to the protestant churches. I went to a Catholic shcool where many of the kids were Portuguese like me, or Italian, or Latino. Spanish and Portuguese masses were held every week at my church. Once I got to public school (junior high and high school), I became quite aware that being visibly of Portuguese descent put me on a social rung lower than the "white" kids but was strangely considered slightly higher than the Latino, Assyrian, and Indian students. I was often miskaten for being Mexican, and in such situations was treated more poorly than when I perceived as "white". I spoke Spanish and worked in a Mexican restuarant run by a family from Mexico--It was fascinating the different way customers would treat me, and others with darker skin, based on what race they perceived us to be. I also knew that my Portuguese grandmother didn't want my ears pierced when I was a child because she didn't want me mistaken for being Mexican. Weird oppressing of by the oppressed. So much of our culture has been lost in the race to assimilate. In high school I had more than one rude and racist comment made to me, such as "You're not ugly enough to be Portuguese" or, "You look Assyrian in that picture--Yuck!". I also have had complete strangers ask me, "What are you?". Not appearing completely "white" and appearing racially ambiguous tends to really fluster people. Here, in the bay area, I never get inquiries about my race. However, I am not part of "lesser" race here. Where I grew up that was a clear racial pecking order, and it was very important to many to figure out where we all were on it.