Karma Project Update
I've got the basis of my little project just about finished, and you should see the first posting on the Karma's Agent page on JQLA very shortly. Separately, on Facebook, I've already gotten a handful of people to be the first collaborators on this project, although the widget idea may be kinda lame, so anyone who wants to participate, leave a comment. That'll be the best thing for now. Further updates as I learn more about this whole Blogspot system...
Oh, and why, given my LOST obsession, haven't I called this thing the KARMA Initiative? For starters, that's been done to death both by indy rock bands in the UK and mysterious social networking sites. And also...c'mon guys, I'm not that much of a cliché....
Ethnicity, Jodyist Sacrilege, and Power Relationships
So, here's the thing. You can't tell by my writing, but I'm not Caucasian. I'm actually of Indo Trinidadian descent, and technically Trinidadian by birth. But Mom and Dad moved us to Canada when I was a wee toddler, so out of all of my cousins, I've been in Canada the longest. I've got Canadian seniority.
A derogatory term that summarizes how many in my family viewed me was "coconut": brown on the outside, white on the inside. It used to piss me off - to paraphase Carlton Banks, "being brown isn't what I'm trying to be, it's what I am" - but I think, after nearly three decades living in where I have, I'm ready to take pride in that statement, as politically incorrect as it may be in some circles. I'm a skinny white Canadian nerd trapped in the increasingly svelt body of an Indo-Trinidadian.
That's not to say Trinidad means nothing to me, but as I've said for years, my roots are secure, and my focus has always been on growing my branches. And unlike Croatians or Serbians, Jamaicans, Mexicans, Pakistanis, or most Africans, my nation of birth has done pretty well for itself overall in recent history, so there isn't that anxiety of "having to support the motherland" thing through one crisis or another that keeps many would-be Canadians hyphenated.
I'm not Trinidadian-Canadian, because I was never Trinidadian. I'm Canadian. Thank you kindly!
Matters of ethnicity have been coming up lately, though. My ex was Anglo-Canadian, ethnically, and the idea that we were an "interracial" couple didn't really matter in the community where we grew up, not until we went to university where, suddenly, "race" was all we talked about in English class. I almost wonder if the universities would do a better job of faciliating good relations between different peoples by simply not always reminding us of how different we actually are from each other. But I digress.
It's been coming up because I've recently expressed that I have no interest in women of my own ethnicity or skin colour. And as I noted, I already have a clear idea who the person will be. Yet many in my family have offered - in a good manner, nothing pushy - their opinion that I should be free to explore, well, other brown girls. That's a problem, because the only woman of Indian descent that I've ever been seriously infatuated with isn't exactly playing in my league. Sorry, brown ladies: as lovely as you might be, I know myself, and I generally don't find women of my own race attractive. It's just how I am.
(And yes, notwithstanding the candidate selection process thing I mentioned before, odds are if you're an attractive ginger with blue eyes, you'll get my attention. Or if you look exactly like Aishwarya. And a special mention for Zoe Saldana, because, well....daaaamn......).
Plus, women of my own skin colour tend to be Sikh, Hindu, Muslim, or that crazy brand of West Indian Christianity, all of which practically own your life. In other words, if it works out, one of us is going to have to convert, and given that Jodyism is a fringe path with only one adherent and no proselythizing requirement - well, directly, anyway: I'll never go door knocking - it's gonna be me. I will never abandon my spiritual freedom for a girl. As Miyagi-san says in Karate Kid II, "never put passion above principle. Even if you win, you lose."
There's also this old school idea that some of my relatives have that I'm supposed to be a dominant partner in my relationship. As they say in Ebonics, Jody don't play dat. You give me a submissive partner who's going to do everything for me, you'd better believe I will exploit the crap out of that arrangement. She'll be working a job, cooking dinner, cleaning my bathroom, fixing the dryer, giving me shoulder rubs, and children.
Thing is, that's not a relationship, that's servitude, even if I'm benefitting, because I have a lazy streak in me that, make no mistake, will win out if I know someone else is always going to do it for me.
No, I want someone who'll do some of those things voluntarily, but who will also be sure to tell me to eff off when I'm becoming a demanding ponce.
Again: equal and complementary powers. That's what Jody's next, hopefully last, relationship is going to demonstrate in action.
Je dis, hey, qu'est ce qui se passe ici?
I've started advanced level French classes to keep me employed at my current posting. It involves a bit of work on my own time, but I have no idea how intense it's going to be. So, unless I have something I really need to get off my chest in blog format and the words are just there, the flow of updates is going to be lighter than before. My priorities for the next month will be the MS - I crossed 100,000 words on Saturday! - my fitness and exercise, baseball, French courses, and the Karma project, along with the one or two nights out that I'll be hanging with friends. Oh, and more Unnameable Randoms....those are easier than Aaron's Mom....et bien sur, pourquoi pas?
Have a nice day!
No comments:
Post a Comment