Light-skinned-ed Girl

Curly Hair Fears and Voice

The hairdresser said he'd been at the curly hair salon for more than ten years.  "Was there ever a time you were scared of it?  Curly hair?" I asked as he was already snipping away.  "Oh, yeah.  Definitely.  I didn't know what was going to happen sometimes."  Snip.  Snip.  He asked me about my regimen --and when you ask a biracial girl about this there is always a long involved story that makes her sound like she's got a chemistry lab in her bathroom of various hair products she mixes together depending on the weather, the season, and finally her curl's mood.  Do you use shampoo?  No.  (Well, almost never.)  Do you use a brush?  No.  (Except for the days I do.)  Do you take care of your hair?  Yes.  I think.  But I can never rely on it to look nice when it's curly.  Of course some days it does, but when it counts, I always get a blow dry and go straight.  Ah, he says.  Snip.  There was a long pause before he said: "Do you feel like you are heard better when you have straight hair?" 

Is this the therapist's office or the hair salon?, I think.   I want to burst into tears suddenly.  Well, yes, I say.  And it is true.  I think people are thinking about my crazy curly hair difference rather than focusing on what I have to say.  Very strange to think of it that way. 

The happy end of the story is that I am happy with my curls now (again), and I think I might (at least in the short term) have some luck in duplicating his great job.  And oh yeah, can you hear me now?  :)

My White People

First, I love my white people: the blood-relations and the ones bonded by friendship and love.  Second, I am learning to stop talking about them this way.

My cousin (who is African-American) told a story about her daughter (who is half-black and half-white).  She said that her daughter became highly frustrated when my cousin described a classmate by her race.  "Mom, we don't do that.  We just say the one with the brown eyes or the curly hair or whatever."

Well, said.  This young woman is 11-years-old, the same age I was when I became schooled in Race.  And very happily she's having a very different education.  I'm taking her lessons. 

"Self-fetishizing Tragic Mulatto"

I have "won" this title from We Are Respectable Negroes.  I am uncertain of how I fit on any list with Tyler Perry, Malted Liquor, Payday Loans, Ghetto Lit, and Shelby Steele, but there it is, folks.

Denmark's Multi-Ethnic Past

I have spent the past few weeks here in Copenhagen looking for a history for myself.  For so long I had been certain that my family was the only mixed-race family Denmark had ever produced.  Not true.  I recently learned about two extraordinary Danish (half-African) women who are my contemporaries who have made great contributions to Danish culture.  Hella Joof is a biracial Dane who is a celebrated actress, comedian and director. Her movies have won several awards and also gained a loyal and loving following in Denmark.   Rikke Roenholt is another biracial Dane who is a record-holding runner training for the Olympic Games 2008.  Roenholt's recent trip to Ghana (her father's home country) led her to create an inventive relationship with her corporate sponsor.  For every competition goal she achieves (personal and competition records and awards), her corporate sponsor will donate money towards a project called School for Life.  Kudos to Rikke.

Learning about these women's stories and others I hope to share in the coming weeks has been amazing.  Rather than feeling like a lone exception, I feel very much part of a continuity of things.

Aebleskiver: An Update

It's not necessarily something you would remember, but it's aebleskiver season again.  I'm happy to report that you no longer have to struggle with the messy batter or the unevenly heated aebleskiver pan.  You can buy aebleskiver in a bag FROZEN (if you're in Denmark that is).

Light-skinned-ed Girl in Denmark: the Homeland

I've been here in Denmark for the last two weeks and so absolutely busy I haven't even had a chance to write about it.  This is my mother's homeland and I'm here visiting with family but also in an "official capacity" as well.  I received a grant from the American Scandinavian Foundation as well as the Lois Roth Endowment to support research for my newest project: a collection of short stories about the relationships between "native" Danes and black Americans, West Indians, and Africans who came to Copenhagen in the late 1800s and early 1900s to perform as vaudevillians, circus acts, and exotic others in ethnographic exhibits.  My time here has been amazing and truly overwhelming in terms of my schedule, but also in terms of emotional overload (in a good way).  Check back for more about my adventures--flashbacks, updates, and photos.  I have a week here still.  Hurra!