Answer

The post below was a photo of Fayez Banihammad, one of the 9/11 hijackers. He is from the United Arab Emirates and was in the U.S. on a tourist visa.

I posted this because I find the discrimination against Arab Americans after 9/11 to be very curious. Most people can't correctly identify a person of Middle Eastern descent, so what sense does it make to discriminate? Hate crimes in retaliation for the terrorist attacks have been committed against South Asians and Hispanics, simply because they are mistaken for Middle Eastern (not that it's excusable to harm people of any descent, but when it's a case of mistaken identity it gets even more ridiculous).

Racial profiling becomes equally ridiculous when TSA officials attempt to identify people's race. It's one thing to profile based on the country of someone's passport, or the way they behave in the airport, but men with beards are more and more likely to be pulled aside for extra screening, regardless of nationality. Any physical aspect that is reminiscent of an Arab-American is a liability nowadays, even though it's usually not possible to tell who is "Arab" and who isn't. The term is like "Hispanic" - it describes a diverse group of people who come from the same region of the world, but have vastly different cultures and ethnic divisions.

Just some food for thought! No one correctly identified the man's nation of origin, and no one did in my college research project either. Maybe it's not so easy to label people by ethnicity : )

I'll do another tomorrow.

Racial Identification

For the next few days I want you all to play a game with me. It was inspired by a research project I did in college, which was intended to question the idea of visual race identification. Can we really tell someone's ethnic background just by looking at them? Does a stranger's identification have any relationship to the selected individual's self-identification? Is "race" even a real thing?

So, please submit your guesses as to the race/ethnicity of the man in the picture. Don't worry about sounding racist; I'm the one asking you to do this! I'll need five guesses before I reveal the identity of the individual in the photograph. Google=cheating!

Races Against Races

The title of this post is what most of the kids call my program, "Race Against Racism." The play on words of the curriculum is really lost on primary schoolers!

Other fun stories from my teaching have come from the one-on-one time I get to spend with the kids after the lesson. A kindergarten recently informed me that "People with brown skin look like monsters." I tried to explain how silly such a statement was, especially since she was in a room with about a dozen "brown-skinned" people, but she would have none of it!

We have been looking through a book called 6 Billion Others; photographs of people from around the world. A couple African-American girls were looking at the photos with me, and every time they saw a pretty woman, they'd announce "I bet she's from England!" (usually they weren't). Sad that they have this image of English people being the only pretty people - and inaccurate too :)

On a sadder note, the Family Center (homeless shelter) is still in overflow, and a few new kids came to Kids' Club this week. I can't imagine becoming homeless the week of Thanksgiving. Please keep these kids in your thoughts on Thursday.

IU Dance Marathon

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to photograph Indiana University's Dance Marathon.

For those of you who have never heard of the program, universities all over the country raise money for their local Children's Miracle Network hospitals by soliciting donations and holding events throughout the year, and celebrating that fundraising with a Dance Marathon. IU's lasts for 36 hours, and dancers aren't allowed to sit down because they are trying to experience just some of the exhaustion that families of very sick children have to endure. The marathon is punctuated by stories from these families, most of whom come onstage to share. This is hands-down my favorite part, and unfortunately many of my photos are out of focus because the tears in my eyes made it impossible to adjust the lens!

The photo above is actually from the kids' talent show, where any child who is well enough to participate is allowed to demonstrate their talents. Some of the youngest children were overwhelmed when they got up onstage and faced about a thousand college students, but I was still amazed by how brave they were! The hospital families had a tent set up where they could eat and talk away from crowds, and IU students were constantly coming over to play with the kids. While sharing the story of his two developmentally disabled children, a father expressed how he has no worry when his kids are gone from the tent for an hour at a time, because he absolutely trusts every dancer at the marathon. It was wonderful to see young adults focused on something other than themselves.

The other parents' stories reinforced my belief that kids are just naturally more awesome : ) One father described his daughter's extremely painful chemotherapy, and how helpless he felt to be unable to help her. His second-grade daughter squeezed his fingers until they turned blue, despite her morphine drip. When a nurse came in to ask if the little girl would like to do a project, her dad nearly shouted at the woman that his daughter was in pain and obviously not in the mood to do crafts. But the little girl opened her eyes and asked what the activity was, then spent the next twenty minutes focused exclusively on decorating a purse. The dad really affected me when he noted, "She didn't learn that in nursing school." While adults simply suffer in silence or lash out at anyone who dismisses their pain, kids know - decorating a purse really can help to distract you!

Though I had originally driven to Indiana to cover a magazine article that fell through, I am glad that I was able to see the Dance Marathon that was so important in my older brother's life. It is just one of the many great ways to help out your community, so if you are an energetic, caring person, I'd suggest finding one in your city!

Empty Bowls

Pictured is a bowl I made and donated to the Empty Bowls project, a fundraiser that benefits the local food bank. Each site made dozens of ceramic bowls, and in November you can buy a bowl for $10 to fill with soup and bread at the annual event.

Genetic Ancestry and Sunsets

Yesterday, the sunset was so incredibly beautiful that I just had to take a photo. Of course, it's not a great shot because I just pulled over to the side of the highway and snapped it on my way home. I should probably start practicing the pure appreciation of beauty, rather than the immediate need to possess it as an image. The Japanese have a term, wabi sabi, for the concept that beauty's impermanence is what makes it so wonderful. Yet another reason that I should move to Japan!

Speaking of other countries, this week I've been discussing cultural backgrounds with the kids I teach. As I emphasize the importance of their "roots," it started to make me think more about my own connection with my ancestors. Part of our family history is well-documented, but a lot is still a big mystery. So, for a Christmas present to myself, I am sending my DNA to a lab to be tested for genetic ancestry! Unfortunately, they only test mitochondrial DNA for women, meaning I will get my mother's mother's mother's (etc.) ancestry. This still leaves out a big part of my genetic pool, but it will be interesting to say the least. I'm chalking the expense up to "research" : )