Single What? Female...

Cannot believe...

that this is the start of week four. This month has gone by sooooooo quickly like when the train is cruising through the middle of the night...

It's Monday, therefore I am in St. Louis (was it wrong of me to enter the town in my Red Sox cap and sweatshirt?...just thought of how in Denver I totally forgot to get a picture of Coors Field as the cab went by it.) My very pleasant (remarkable as he is going through finals right now) host Josh dropped me at a coffee shop in The Loop, a great quirky neighborhood with mostly local businesses lining it's main drag. Meshuggah's coffee shop apparently has the best bagel in town, and I would have tested that out, but they were actually out of bagels this morning! Still, it was a great place to camp out today. Like the St. Mark's Coffeehouse in Denver, it is a place where many folks may hang for the day doing their work or merely watching the day go by. It was the perfect place to watch the weather change as it went from sunny, to rainy to hail and back to sunny within an hour. I almost felt like I was in MA again.
In the meantime, I also got to kill a couple of hours talking to Asif, who, when I asked him if he had ever been asked "What are you?" he replied "No, but I have asked it a lot" Turns out he is studying cultural identity in America, particularly through the lense of religion. At one point, when in areas that were particularly white and conservative Christian, he asked folks if they thought themselves white, Christian or American...and they could only choose one. The majority of them chose American first. While he believes that a potential cultural clash in inevitable in the future, he does think that we have a unique society here where our identity is automatically pluralized. Save for the Native Americans, we are either a mish mash of our ancestors or (country of origin)-American. He himself was born in Pakistan, grew up in the states, and has been back and forth and back and back so, perhaps a bit like travel writer Bill Bryson, he has had the chance to have a distinctly different view of both his home countries.

Another gentleman, Daniel, with whom I spoke in the Central West End neighborhood, generally gets "Where are you from?" to which he responds "Missouri" as, while his parents are from the Phillipines, he grew up here (and lived in New York for 13 years...yes we talked apartments). He noticed that in smaller towns he might get "oh you're accent is so good! where are you from?" but in larger cities he does not get asked that.

And I had it confirmed: the main question you get asked in St. Louis is "what high school did you go to?" as the surrounding neighborhoods are small and distinctive enough to be able to define who ya are.

Lastly, before I forget, before I even got the fair ciy of St. Louis, I had a fabulous time talking to Amtrak cafe girl Dorcea and fellow passenger Krista.

As I started making my back east, I started making a tradition of getting a chocolate chip cookie and milk as a snack on the train (my husband and I like cookies and milk, what can I say?) and after I ordered my treat from the cafe girl, she whipped back around and asked "Excuse me, but what is your nationality? I mean, you got me all confused here!" I laughed and told her about my show. And SHE laughed out loud ("for REAL?") and then told me her own story. An older woman came up to her and started really staring at her...and then asked "Miss, are you all black?" Dorcea was rather surprised by such a question and was like "Um, are you all white?" and then replied that yes, she was black. The woman persisted: "Are you sure, because you look like you might be a little Hispanic?" Dorcea said "Um, I think I would know-" and again assured the woman that she was not Hispanic. The woman then explained how she was "taking a remedial Spanish class" and was looking for folks to practice with. Well, not seconds after she said that, a Latino gentleman went by them. The woman caught him at the stairs and asked him about his back ground, if he had a family, if they spoke Spanish and whether or not she could practice with them. The gentleman agreed and if anyone knows who he is, and sees him, give him a medal as this woman proceeded to follow him around and plunked down at each meal with him and his family to practice for TWO DAYS. You all also have to meet Dorcea and have her tell you the story herself as it is truly hysterical when she tells it.
While we were talking, fellow passenger Krista came up to order a cocktail. She asked about the show and said that she herself is Italian and Irish "like 1/18th Irish, but look at me! Look at me!" and she gestured to her very fair and freckled Irish looking skin. AND she had reddish hair and hazel eyes. She does indeed look Irish. "I am like allergic to the sun. I went to Florida and could only go to the beach when it was overcast..."
Further proof that when this topic comes up, there's always a conversation.

Peace --Alex

posted by funkweee @ 1:48 PM