Texas rose

Ok, I guess I owe an update. Well, to “owe” an update to my own blog is a pretty ridiculous concept but what the hell.

I’m in Dallas, working at the People of Color Conference (yes, that’s what it’s really called). I’ve had baby’s first racist experiences on this trip. First something that I’m not too sure qualifies but it sure was weird.

While we were at the gate in Philadelphia, the airline staff asked if anyone spoke Spanish. I said I did, although I was quite surprised that no one else would. I mean, isn’t this the Estados Unidos de America, after all? Anyway… I just translated for a Puerto Rican mother of two who had lost her baby carriage on the flight. Later, as I was getting on the plane some gentleman said what I did was really nice. Mm, thanks? Later still, in Dallas, while I was standing in line to declare my luggage delayed (more on this later), some woman stopped me to say –get this- “you don’t look like you’re Spanish”. Plop. I just told her that my family is Chilean and that blond people speak Spanish too and then she remembered having gone to some “quinceanera” party with a bunch of blond, blue-eyed teenagers. “Is that where you (the fairer Spanish speakers) are from?” Confusion on my part. Huh? Where, what? Chile? What? Whatever, again. That was just weird. I don’t “look” Spanish? Look, first of all, I’m not SPANISH, and second of all, what does that even mean?

But I guess she was just trying to be friendly, in a really annoying Dallas kind of way. I don’t want to say Texan because I really enjoyed the friendliness in San Antonio but here I just find it grating. “Sure will!” Shove it. Please.

I did get a t-shirt that says Texas in baseball lettering and has a rose on it. Cute. But that was only because US Airways lost my luggage!

This had never happened to me before. People: please put your nametag on all your luggage and never trust customer service reps and don’t ever fly through Philadelphia if you can avoid it. Someone listed my bag as being black when it is really green-grey. Yes, green-grey, I said. Quite clearly. The marvelous woman who finally put my Anne Klein loafers to my name got it. “The file said it was black but this bag was green… or grey”. “Yes! Green-grey!” Anyway, I’m still waiting for it because it took so long for someone to figure it out (I arrived sans luggage on Monday) that she had already sent it to Pittsburgh (yes, Pittsburgh) to the giant dump of anonymous bags, before she caught me. Cross your fingers.

Oh, my other racist experience was me, confusing the older black ladies who are our temps. Is it “they all look alike syndrome”? Maybe. I won’t dwell on my OWN shortcomings though. Puh-leeze.

Today is World AIDS day. I had never even seen images of street kids in China until today. And did you know there’s 5 million people with AIDS in India? It’s always about Africa, I didn’t even think about these other countries…