Over the weekend I heard a story that really surprised me. Last year at Miami University in Ohio there was an art student who did a project outdoors. He wanted to represent life and death using objects hanging from a tree. This student decided to use a swing to represent life (youth) and a nose to represent death. What followed from this display was an offended reaction from the community, but the students didn't get why a nose hanging from a tree was so offensive. They were sure why it was there, but they didn't get why it was so bad. What's even worse is that the art student who put the nose in the tree didn't get it either. This student never made the connection between the nose and all the images of lynching I'm sure he was feed in his previous school years. When I heard about the project I thought how powerful it could be. No matter what it would make people feel uncomfortable, especially the black community, but as a work on art I feel that would be okay. It would get people thinking and talking to one another about a topic that most like to avoid. Basically, there is an endless number of reactions you can get by hanging a nose from a tree; it is a very powerful project that could be taken in many different directions. However, the artist didn't know what he was really doing which meant that he got a reaction that he wasn't expecting.

I'm not completely sure what to make of this story. I think I'm a little shocked because I'm now primed to think of lynching from the class. It surprised me that there were so many college students who didn't understand what that nose meant and why it was offensive. I'm not sure what population these college students represent more, that particularly community of students or the more general population of students around the country. I always thought that the history of lynching and the images were common knowledge by now, but I don't know anymore because if it were I would expect the students to be able to make a connection between the history and the project of this one art student. I would also expect that art student to make the connection himself. Because of this ignorance level there is a lot more work and much more thought that needs to go into communicating that needs to happen to the public, much more that I thought.

Beauty

Every since Sunday I haven't stopped thinking about Soul Food dinner and things that Dick Gregory said. In particular, there was a comment made about the black persons hair. How it is naturally "natty" and how people have died from the bleach used to color it. I can tell anyone who asked why Blacks spend so much time changing their hair (society has feed them messages about what pretty hair looks like) from an educated point of view. But I still don't fully understand why my generation does take a stronger stand and change the image of beautiful hair. For me, it wasn't until recently that I learn what natural black hair looked like. I, and many other Whites, thought that the straighted look was natural because that is all I saw. I didn't even see natural black hair until my later years of high school. How are Whites supposed to change what they see as beautiful hair if they don't see anything but the chemically changed hair. Personal, when I first saw natural Black hair I thought how beautiful it was. I'm not trying to say that all Black people should wear their hair naturally, many Whites change their hair in similar ways whether it's because they think their hair is "not pretty" or whether it's because they feel their natural hair is "not tamable."

At this point, I feel that the reasons to change one's hair is a fashionable thing and nothing more. Meaning for many the core reasons are unknown. I'm not trying to say that there aren't many cases where Blacks have heard negative comments made about their hair and I know that everything I have said is a lot easier to say than it is to take action on. I guess I just wish that Blacks could stop feeling the pressure to change their hair and wear it the way they want to, not the way society has told them to wear their hair.

All this makes me think of comments that have been made about my own hair. Apparently I have the blond hair that so many people try to create, so I should never tie my hair. I've also had comments made about the way my hair is naturally wavy and that others wish they too had wavy hair. While Blacks are given complements on how beautiful their hair when they change it, I get compliments when I don't. I feel pressure not to change my hair.

This whole hair thing is just one example about what is considered beautiful and what is not. I wish that the standards of beauty could be easily change, but I know how hard it is to change it. The standard of beauty is always changing, it just takes a very long time

When I was reading "The Model Minority" I couldn't help but think of all the kids I went to high school with. There were a lot of Asians in my school and the ones I knew all had parents who highly valued grades and expected the straight As. This expectancy from the parents is a culture thing and helps the myth exist. But, there are also parents like that in other cultures and among all the races in America. If the parents aren't happy unless their children are getting straight As, then those children are going to work hard all the time, assuming that they want to please their parents. I guess my point is that the parents expectation is really, but not unique to Asian Americans.

The other thing that was common among the Asian American students at my school was that a lot of them were good artists. Few of them wanted to be artists, but they were good for self-taught. As a matter of fact they were good at everything they did in school. They were just good students. Of course, I generalizing and falling under the myth. There were Asian Americans who fell under the average and some who needed tutors after school in order to get a descent grade. But, the majority of the Asians I know were really smart good at school. I don't think that their being good students made them smarter, I feel that their being good students made them good at worker with the school system. Again this is something that is not unique to Asian Americans.

There are many different ways of learning and there is always going to be a population of students, in every race and culture, that learn really well and fast in the school system. Some of these students go on to do really well and some don't because they just learned how to work the school system, not real life.

I have always been interested with the part of the myth that all Asians are good at math and science. What I find interesting is that these are the subjects that are best translated through different languages. I would love to read a detailed study that talks about this fact. Maybe it's not take Asians are naturally better at math and science, but that the first generation immigrates pick up of it better because it is easier to understand. Subjects such as language are really hard to have a full understanding of in any language, even some one's native language. If the parents are good at math and science, then their children are going to grow up having better understanding of these subjects because they have parents who can help them. These isn't a race thing, it's a nurture thing. I know more about language, the history and structure than most kids my age because I have two English professors as parents.

When I was reading Tatum this past week there was a section that really hit me. It's on page 38 and says: "Johnathan told me that someone at school had said that he was Black. 'Am I Black?' he asked me. 'Yes, you are.' I replied. ' But my skin is brow.' he said. I was instantly reminded of my own preschool 'I'm not black, I'm tan' argument at this point. 'Yes,' I said, 'your skin is brown, but Black is a term that people use to describe African Americans, just like White is used to describe people who came from Europe.'"

Of course Tatum is right because everywhere else you think of a white people living was concurred by Britain. But when does Europe and Africa stop being where people came from. We don't know where the people from Europe got to that location, and therefore don't say the Europeans came from so and so. It's very important to know history, but when a person is not teaching history and not talking to a little kid is it really right to say that Blacks come from Africa and Whites come from Europe?

I don't think Tatum is saying this, it just got me thinking. I reminds me of an experience I had in high school. It involved a Black girl saying that she didn't like to be called an African America. She wanted to be called a Nigerian. I've always been one to call people want they want to be called, but she after she said this she didn't think twice before calling people White or European. Some people wouldn't have a problem, but others want to be referred to by the country they come from, not the continent. This girl was one of them and I think if you are someone who is challenging others you should be curious and open to other interpretations.

The Tatum section also got me thinking about a friend I have who immigrated from South Africa. She is White, but she doesn't consider herself to come from Europe. She is a South African. This reminder brings me to my question, when do we stop referring to where people came from as though it was a different place? This applies very directly to the fact that a lot of Americans have been referred to as foreign because of the way they look. When is that going to stop?

Over the weekend I watched the HBO series, John Adams and towards the end there was a scene depicting the White House being built. I, obviously, couldn't help but think about Obama, his inauguration speech, and the fact that he is our President. But what I admired the most was the attention given to the fact that the White House was built by slaves. Abigael Adams did not like slavery and was a supporter of the idea of putting an anti-slavery law in the Constitution. Of course that didn't happen, but the series made it very clear that she was unhappy. Because the series was also realistic it also showed how bad the conditions were where the slaves worked and lived during construction. Because the series was about John Adams life there wasn't a huge about of attention given to the lives of slaves, but I was very happy with the way the slaves were predicted when they were in the show. It wasn't pleasant to see them, but it was good. It brought home the message Tatum is saying about it's ok to be uncomfortable and everything.