“But you don’t have blonde hair.”

It is most certainly true that regardless of what a person’s true race is, they can “pass” off as some other race. When people ask me what my nationality is, or where my ancestors are from I always tell them to guess—I love hearing the responses mostly because I know they will never guess correctly. Usually people say I am Irish and when I ask why they say because I have very light skin and eyes—meanwhile, little do they know the countries where my ancestors are from are no where near or affiliated with Ireland at all. I am actually Norwegian and Romanian—interesting combination but that’s me. When I tell people that these are my nationalities they usually say “but don’t Norwegians have blonde hair?” Yeah and? If I died my hair blonde tomorrow would you still be saying that? While I think it is fun to guess people’s backgrounds, usually the guessers are always way off. You could see someone on the street and just assume “oh, they must be Russian because they have such light hair,” but meanwhile you are completely off and just mistakened someone’s identity off of your inaccurate assumptions.

In Nella Larsen’s novel, The Passing, Clare Kendry, is a very light skinned black woman that she passes off as white—even her own husband, John has no idea that she is black. Her husband is very racist towards black people but she cannot show how this hurts her because then he would find out about her true identity. Imagine hiding such a secret like that from your husband, you are completely different race than he thinks. Your partner is supposed to know everything about you, he/she knows your fears, your past, your likes, what makes you, you. Does it matter in today’s world, not so much, multicultural relationships are extremely common and normal but in the 1920’s however, this was not normal.

I love my hair.

I was born bald, and ever since after that I have always had long hair. At one point it was so long that I closed it on a car door once–that’s when I realized my every 2 year hair cut needed to change to annual ones.

Having long hair to me is just my thing, that’s me. When customers at my store ask for me when they are unsure of my name, they go “the girl with the really long hair,” and everyone knows who they’re referring to. I could never see myself getting one of those mom haircuts, the one’s that are those spikey highlighted blonde bob cuts that just so happen to be customers who ask to the manager way too often. So it is safe to say though that haircuts and styles truly do symbolize people.

Zitkala-Sa’s long hair was cut off by the palefaces and this was an extremely abhorrent and traumatic experience for her…

This is possibly one of the cutest videos I have ever seen–this is from Sesame Street and features a muppet who is singing about her hair.

I thought this related to Zitkala-Sa’s experience because she loves her hair, it symbolizes her, it was her security blanket. It was the only thing that made her feel safe when she was away from her mother and Dakota for such a long time. It was one of the only few things she had of her identity and culture left but it was soon taken away–without her long locks, she truly felt like she had nothing.

What is also interesting about this song is that it shows children that it’s okay to have different textured and colored hair. Not all hair is shiny and straight. Hair textures and styles symbolize not only different cultures but people as individuals. Zitkala-Sa’s hair was her way of expressing her individuality as well as bringing a piece of her culture to school.

Actual photo of my hair getting caught in the car door…this is golden and proves a point, I really do love my hair. (It really did happen.)

“Just do what I did, marry for money.” Females/Education post.

I work at a very upscale children’s boutique, where many moms come to shop for their children. And let’s take note, I love my store; I couldn’t have asked for a better job. Anyway one day, a customer and some of my co-workers were talking about marriage, families etc. (note, we are all females). The customer says to us, “marry for money girls, that’s what I did, and look at me now,” as she flipped her Louie Vuitton keychain around on her finger and pointed outside in the parking lot to her Mercedes GLK350. Some laughed and agreed…but I didn’t. I just thought to myself, “wtf?” and also how could a woman possibly think and say that with confidence? Truly unbelievable.

I’m sorry but I could NEVER marry for money. I just don’t understand how some women can actually do that. Don’t you want to be successful on you’re own? Don’t you want to be able to show the misogynists in this world that you can provide for yourself? Why would you marry someone and have to depend on them to provide for you? Here in America, us females are entitled to an education–we are able to get degrees and work our way up to the top in our careers–even though that glass ceiling between male and female wages will never seem to break.  There are so many young girls out there in the world who would literally kill for an education like we have. Just look at Zitkala-Sa for example. She went through endless tears and sadness just to get an education. She had to leave her brother and mom at such a juvenile age just to sit in a school house and become educated–because where she was living that was not an option for her–but she wanted to make something of herself. She didn’t want to be a typical “house wife,” she wanted to be able to provide for her future family–she didn’t want to “marry for money.”

This quote from “An Indian Teacher Among Indians,” sums up my “rant” about females in education/females saying stupid things that annoy me as a female:

“She will need an education when she is grown, for then there will be fewer real Dakotas, and many more palefaces. This tearing her away, so young, from her mother is necessary, if I would have her an educated woman.”

This is what mothers should be saying to their daughters, or customers saying to their jolly, helpful and professionally trained sales associates (me) –this is what we need.

Cover Art for Bondwoman’s Narrative

This is the cover art I created for The Bondwoman’s Narrative.

I chose this particular background for the cover art because I have read that the sun symbolizes a fraternal male figure while the moon symbolizes a maternal female figure–which would be Hannah Crafts. The moon is not full because when she was a slave, she was not whole– she was just “half” of a human being. This image also represents an actual Arizona wild fire–Hannah Crafts’ life of a slave was truly like a wild fire and in the end it was finally let out.

I also chose a quote by Hannah Crafts that I thought summarized the ending of the novel well and made her narrative truly inspirational. This quote is on page 244, Chapter 21. This quote will show readers that she dreamed of being free–she wanted to live her life as a whole not as a half–and this is her journey, that they will be able to follow.

Credit:

Symbolic Moon Facts and Moon Meanings. (n.d.). Retrieved September 23, 2014, from http://www.whats-your-sign.com/symbolic-moon-facts.html

Crafts, H., & Gates, H. (2002). Chapter 21: In Freedom. In The Bondwoman’s Narrative. New York: Warner Books.

Photo: http://r2–d2.tumblr.com/post/46770561813/arizona-wild-fires