Pangea

(From left to right) Ryan Oleary, Jared Byrne, Foreigner)


Pangea: "All the Earth" A term used to describe the earth's land masses being attached to one another, making one large continent, over 200 million years ago. This term is apart of the continental drift theory, it is also apart of my makeup evidently. I was given the title "pangea" in college due to my incredible knack of tricking people into believing I am from various ethnicities and continents.

The majority of the misleading started in high school, when girls that I knew well assumed that I was Puerto Rican, "or at least some kind of Hispanic." Also, a Filipina (just came to the U.S. only a year earlier) thought e. and i were siblings. She thought i was full blown flip!! Then in college it grew in to that of legends. I was teaching COLLEGE students about diversity and was talking on how it was wrong to assume. I asked them to name what they thought my ethnicity was (maybe thinking they would say something else but also assuming they were just going to shout out, "White"), their answers in order: Hispanic, Asian, Puerto Rican, Italian, Russian, I stopped them and revealed that I was an exotic and very rare English/German mix. people were shocked to know that i came from very white parents- needless to say I got my point across.

later that week my roomate's family was in town, about ten of them. we were all in our living room and that college teaching story came up. my roomate (ryan) asked his family to guess what ethnicity i was...mexican, central american, arminian, eastern european. once again we had to stop, i couldn't take going around the entire circle, i might laugh to death.

so there i am, at an african american church. i have been counseling this kid for months. a wonderful relationship, good working alliance. we get on the topic of race. i ask him how he feels about me being white in the middle of an all black environment- his counselor none the less. i would love to quote it for you, but for confidentiality purposes i will summarize. "hold up- you white!?!?" The ENTIRE time i have been COUNSELING this kid, he has thought i was african american with a "small amount of white" in me! Now, in middle school someone thought i was mixed, but not straight african american.

it amazes me that when i walk around, assuming that everyone sees me as i am, white, that it really isn't the case. while some (maybe the majority) do think i am white- those are not the ones that i end up meeting. It makes me think of how people perceive me when they first set eyes on me. I have really grown to embrace the pangea that i am. there are even times when I feel robbed when i can't sign up for minority scholarships. While i might feel a loss when it comes to lighter stuff like that, i think its ironic that God has put within me a heart that beats for diversity, unity within the church- a pangeic church if you will. Oh God, You and Your sense of humor.

Question of the Day: Did you think i was anything other than caucasian the first time you saw me?