The other day I volunteered to help at an after-school event to help the children develop a "Reflections" project with the theme "My favorite place."
I was put in charge of the table with watercolors, and a couple of kindergarteners came and sat with me early in the event. I helped them get started and reminded them about the theme, asking them what their favorite places were. One was a beach and another was her Grandmother's house where she feeds the ducks on a lake. This second girl was very blond with white, light skin.
After a few minutes, I realized she was talking to me. She was saying, "Where's yours? Africa?" She said it twice before I heard her. It seemed like she was trying to be funny, but I couldn't tell if she was trying to mess with me. I turned around and said, simply, "I don't know, I've never been to Africa."
She answered, "Really? It looks like you're from Africa. Your skin is so dark." I told her, "There are lots of different kinds of dark people. I'm Native American, do you know what that is?" And she said no, so I tried to think about how to explain it. I said, "Well, when the cowboys came, the people who were already here were Native Americans, or Indians. But not the India Indians, although they are dark too."
She looked pretty confused by now. I ended up giving her way too much information, but I felt that somehow that served her right. Dumb little kindergartener. I wonder if she came up with that herself.
People have always questioned my nationality. When I was 3 I lived in Hawaii, and tourists would take pictures of me. People in France think I'm French, I could be Persian, I could be India Indian, or maybe Filipino. Maybe Asian.
I told them I thought my favorite place was my bed. They laughed, but my bed is a very nice place. It's comfortable, cozy. I can dream there and play there and relax and read. I can recover or take cover, or even get under the covers. Sometimes it's hard for me to leave!
Yes, it's definitely one of my favorites.
What's your favorite place?
