The View From Here

Last night in class we watched a videotape (yes, a videotape like in a VCR) that was to highlight how we make conclusions based on first impressions, body language, and so on. Essentially it was getting at how we can and do stereotype and how that can affect our ability to assess and treat clients. The videotape was about a show episode to guess who the real person was, i.e. there was one truth teller and two posers.  The person they were guessing was a Mr. Martinez who was a bilingual barber bookseller.  First of all I had issues with the show itself stereotyping by having all three people being Latino and "looking" Latino.  As I have already discussed being Latino (according to the US census) is a cultural marker not racial in that facial features and such do not indicate this identity.  Yet, we racialize this identity as the following proves... So, we have three Latinos who are stereotypically looking Latino (olive skin, dark hair, etc.) and we find out that t...

A few months ago I decided from now on to only see plays if there's a person of color.  Again, I'm fully aware of the complexity of race and what does it mean to "see" race but let's be honest, I feel most of us know what we're talking about when it comes to under-representation.  I feel there should at least be an effort to include the most apparent and salient aspects of diversity in our nation with, again, the understanding there is intersection of identities. Thus, the other night I went to see " The Glass Menagerie" at Trinity Rep  in Providence. Well, the play has an African-American woman playing the role of Laura, which is a refreshing change.  If you didn't know, in theatre circles there is the on-going debate of the idea of "purity" in hiring actors for specific roles, e.g. Romeo and Juliet need to be White and European.  It can go both ways in that White actors have been hired to play roles specifically for people of color ...

For the past few weeks I've been following the new show, " Fresh Off the Boat ," which is about an Asian American family living in Orlando.  As far as I can tell, the parents seem to be first generation arriving in the US and the kids are first generation born in the US.  I have to say that hearing the title made me think of how I heard the term growing up near Boston's Chinatown.  To be frank it was a word that ABCs (American Born Chinese) used to disparage those who were recent immigrants in the US.  Then again, my parents and family friends often called the ABC kids as " jook sing " which can be interpreted as "empty bamboo."  This was not a compliment but rather a descriptor of their children (me!) that though we looked Chinese outside, we really were void of our cultural underpinnings like language, food, etc. So, I have mixed feelings about the show as it reinforces some stereotypes especially about the mom. Then again, I'm often surpri...