custom blend
What are you? Where do you come from? These are questions I’ve been asked since I can remember and still find myself responding to today. Of course this is something I have in common with many who come from blended ethnic & cultural backgrounds. I’ve observed and participated in many online communities described as multicultural over the years and viewed hyphenated identities with curious interest.
Recently, I viewed a documentary where it was stated that Barack Obama suffered some angst over his blended heritage and “chose” black when he determined that it was too uncomfortable straddling the fence. I’ve been quite defiant, often to my own detriment in this regard.
There was a period in my search for a cultural identity (even before I married a Puerto Rican) that I became totally Latina. I dressed myself in a culture not my own because it apparently matched my physical appearance Through close associations, I became quite comfortable in the Puerto Rican community. Put on Fania Allstars today and I’m bound to start dancing salsa or merenge. Arroz y gandules and tostones are still staple foods in my home and a frequent request from family and friends at pot luck suppers or cookouts.
Yet still, I’m as apt to serve schnitzel, tempura, creme brulee or collard greens if you dropped in for dinner. I consider my cooking to be quite authentic since I’m usually recreating recipes I’ve learned from natives rather than cookbooks and have become a regular at several ethnic groceries over the years.
Although I know now, that my birth mother was Danish, I still have no definitive knowledge of where my father came from exactly except that he was obviously non-white. Over the last decade however, I’ve discovered that the community where I feel the most closely connected has been the Black German community which itself is not a monolith and is culturally and ethnically diverse. I most closely share a common history with the “Brown Babies” born after WWII to German Mothers and Black fathers who were adopted and brought to the US by African American Military families.
My social orbit however, extends much broader .In my quest for a cultural identity, I’ve discovered that I share interests, traditions, likes & dislikes with people from many places in this wonderful world and resent stereotypes with a passion. How unfortunate that people often tend to be socially grouped by skin color and/or nationality. People are presumptively labeled (and allow themselves to wear labels ascribed to them) by what are too often myths rather than realistic insights into their individual character or cultures of origin .
Label me yourself should you find it necessary, but for now I’m quite comfortable and have made myself at home in the margins. Invite me to your place and I’ll sing your songs, enjoy your food and dance to your music. Come to my place and you’ll find a tapestry of diverse cultures that I’ve enjoyed and worn on occasion. My home is my oasis where I can undress myself from borrowed cultural garb and simply be me.