Light-skinned-ed Girl

learning II

it is normal to be frustrated when you're learning something new -- but it's impossible to function if you're frustrated and the person helping you is frustrated too.  i just didn't know how to communicate with this little girl.  she seemed to have a reading difficulty and hadn't memorized basic addition and subtraction, but the homework she required even a level (or two) above her skills and ability.  to help, i felt like i had to give her the answers -- her only success she seemed to think was finishing all of the homework.  it wasn't about understanding.  she wanted to know that she could guess right.  i want to apologize to her though i know she wouldn't understand.  so, i do it here: darlene, i'm sorry--i was a bad teacher to you yesterday.  i will try better.  i know how damaging one bad teacher can be.  i don't want to be that bad teacher.

life-affirming moments.  that's what i experienced in denmark while i was there visiting with family and meeting people at a conference about dig this: black danish people -- and i thought there were only three of us.  the real thing--the most important thing was feeling like my identity actually formed something called community.

the mediterranean way

greece has been wonderful. 

light-skinned-ed girl on the road again

a wonderful end to the conference: a concert at the jazz house with ed thigpen and a young, well-known danish rapper -- a really inspiring way to end ---the way that all the black people who have ended up being a part of denmark are part of a continuum and not just isolated in their experience.

light-skinned-ed Girl in Denmark

photo of Nella Larsen's grave Cypress Hills Cemetery--there is no gravestone

i got my hands on a copy of george hutchinson's book, in search of nella larsen, yesterday at the akademisk boghandel.  it is already well-thumbed through--what a magnificent job of research he's done.  it's an important book, not just for me personally, but because it takes into account that the intersection between race and culture must be factored into the account of her life.  oh, it's just fantastic when he writes: "Race trumps family." that is exactly what i've been writing about -- what light-skinned-ed girl is about -- the way that Race can divide you from your family. 

it's so strange to see all the different colors of people who speak Danish now.  it's strange and maybe even satisfying.  i don't feel as odd and yet i want to seem exotic.  it's a strange thing.