I think that this sums up more things than I could. And it's a very important read. It touches on the new movie Captivity, the De Anza rape case currently going on in the Bay Area, and several other current events. It is so well-written and I think it covers the thoughts that go on in most women's heads.


I'm reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X and it's making me think about a lot of things in a very concrete manner. I wrote previously that I watched the Democratic debate and was mildly surprised that there were three candidates on that stage that, in some way, directly represent me.

In a way, I feel like the past year has really been an awakening for me, identity-wise, on what it means to be a brown American female. I remember that the thing that really came to bother me in Ireland is that no one ever imagined that I could be American. And you can't put that on my looks, that would be a simplification that didn't spark any sort of examination as to what our nation is portrayed as abroad, or even internally. It wouldn't catalyze the importance for everyone to rethink what a native English-speaker looks like.

[Also, god forbid any instance of being called exotic. If you don't know why that would be an issue, you need to start doing some thinking. And start doing some reading.]

Reading this book, the thing that disheartens me the most is that I don't believe United States culture has changed that much since Malcolm X sat down and told his life's story, his work, to Alex Haley. Sure, it's changed outwardly. Of course it has--but only to an extent.

As I returned from the city centre this afternoon, I stood at the bus stop thinking about how silly it is that the terms developed- and developing- nations are used. How can we be a developed nation when a large portion of our citizens can't even read at a high school graduate level? Or when you know within the first block of a neighborhood that it is predominately non-white? When inner-city child mortality rates rival those of countries held back by leading nations, how can we be a developed-nation?

Or when females are brought up to constantly be on guard, to always say, I'm sorry.