Using Animals

I once thought about this but have since forgotten, but I thought it was interesting in that some kiddie shows use animals instead of humans.

But in a sense this is a good thing. By using animals, you do not have to worry about race, lack of one race, stereotyping a race, etc. Humans really can't relate to other animals so we are all in the same boat.

It really does simplify kiddie television.

Thinking positive really doesn't work

So I cam across an article that says if you have low self esteem, thinking positive actually makes you feel worse. I came across this when I was searching for articles that talked about how studying more can make you do worse on a test (in my Psych class, this often happens because our retarded teacher revolves his test around stuff we didn't learn or that he barely touched on).

I honestly can't say I am surprised about the positive thing. Just like when I found the article about facebook preventing college students from doing as good as they could.

You see, I have low self esteem. I am told that thinking positive works. I have tried many times, and its caused me to feel even more hopeless.

There are statistics that say thinking positive helps, but that is really directed at those who have a good self-esteem.

The reason it does not work so well on people like me is that we don't believe it, cause we have no reason to believe it.

Saying "I love myself" when the reality is that you don't doesn't make you feel better.

Thinking positive only helps once you fix the esteem problem.

Telling yourself over and over won't make you believe it. Sometimes we all need that gratification that someone else believes it. There is a reason people have low self esteem. Just being positive won't undo years of negativity.

Does rape no longer make you a virgin?

People, especially the immoral people who go around having premarital sex will say you are no longer a virgin. The extreme religious freaks also will do the same (but in their eyes kissing or holding hands is a sin or even talking to someone is a sin).

But in my eyes, rape does not take away your virginity...at least not spiritually. Physically the selfish prick who deserves death may have tore your hymen which makes you no longer physically a virgin, but I the fact is you didn't consent. There are Born-Again virgins, so why can't their be spiritually virgins.

The catch is that you remain a virgin still, until marriage. I prefer not to refer to rape victims as "born again virgins" because they never chose to do it in the first place to take them out. As far as I am concerned even if you are forced to bear their child, you are still pure in my eyes.

Rape makes me so angry...I tell myself I am not sure where to stand on the death penalty but when it comes to rape, I just want those men killed sometimes. The prison system hasn't changed them. They aren't in their long enough.

"How I will be treated" is always going to bring subjective answers

Often blacks (and maybe other minorities and sometimes even white people) will ask questions asking "how will I be treated" when it comes to moving or visiting another place.

Blacks have a rightful reason to worry, if you personally have dealt with racism, naturally you do not want to go straight into another town, an unknown place to you, where racism may be even more rampant. Its how I feel about the south. I have never been further than Kentucky, I have been treated okay there in the few times I have visited in the past (even though I never really went anywhere other than my uncle's house, cousin's house, and my uncle's church (he is the pastor)).

But I just don't feel safe in the real south...I am already hesitant about my own Midwest state, I am really hesitant about the south with its vicious history. I remember when someone online at a Q&A site asked if it was safe to go there, alot of minorities said "just stay in the city and you will be okay".

But these kinds of questions really are subjective. There is no real answer to them, because everyone is different, and everyone has different experiences. To the person who experiences little to no racism, they will be indifferent to someone's question about it being safe for them because its hard for them to understand someone who has experienced enough racism to have reason to fear.

It is true when one says that there is racism everywhere...someone of your minority mix can tell you they had a good time...but that won't mean you will too.

Its like when people say a hard class is easy. It may be easy for them because they may like the subject.

This one white boy told me how in one KKK town, the only black family there was mistreated because of how they carried themselves, he explained that they were alot like the gangsta blacks you see in rap videos and such. But he said in another town he lived in the only black family there was treated well because they did not act that way. Although I do believe that the other family was mistreated already for being black, I did agree with him that how you act does also contribute.

No one can answer the question simply because everyone is different, and you don't know the kinds of people you will meet.

Some say if you go in expecting trouble, you will find one, and most likely an unnecessary one.

Its mostly important that one goes in with the intent of respecting culture (especially with other countries). What makes people dislike immigrants and tourists is the lack of respect in the customs and ideas of their country. We expect latin immigrants to learn english, just like we are to learn German or Chinese if we visited Germany or China.

Think of it like this: You can't speak for your race...so you really don't want somoeone speaking for you.

Mulatto Blogging

You'd be surprised at just how many blogs and vlogs there are of by other mulattoes.

Here are some very known ones:

Mulatto Diaries blog and vlog

Losangelista's blog

Heidi Durrow's blog and both her's and Fanshen Cox's (known as Mixed Chicks Chat) podcast

Then there is a Mulatto forum

These are all something I visited in and out before making my blog. As I said before, some of them, I personally did not agree too well with, such as Los Angelista's and Mixed Chicks Chat, and the Mulatto.org forum. But I did find that I liked Tiffany Jone's vlog, although I do disagree with her on some things (which I think is natural).

I found that I too wanted to talk about my experiences and observations. I am not fully committed like the people I listed above, and I have no intention of trying to make a career out of it. This is for me, just a past time, and a chance for others to maybe find someone they can agree with.

What makes these smaller blogs like mine sometimes better than the big blogs like Los Angelista's and Tiffany's vlogs, is that you won't have to engage in so much debate, or deal with so many haters who like to troll around.

When hunting for other biracial experiences online, here are some things to consider when checking out blogs, vlogs and other ways of getting the message out (some of the following suggestions can actually apply to non-mulatto blogs too):

• What are you looking for? This matters because how much you will like a blog will depend on just exactly what you are looking for. For me personally, I just want to find someone who talks about the mulatto experience but at the same time takes in consideration of black struggles (because we experience that too).
• Pay attention to the kinds of members associated with that blog. This is important because, the behaviors of the members of the blog can make your or break how you will see the blog. As mentioned in many posts prior about Macon D's blog (he is a white racist who "claims" to be antiracist yet often proves otherwise) the members of his group exhibit trollish behaviors, they are all racist, judgemental and will attack you if you do not agree in the least bit with a post. On top of that, the racist blogger, Macon D, will not allow you to defend yourself or prove his followers wrong when they attack you. It is very biased and hateful there. The more people at a blog, often means the more detiorated the blog may be in terms of behaviors. Also, the longer one member is at a blog in a blog with lots of fans, the more likely the blogger will side with that follower even when in the wrong.
• In fact, don't let a small amount of people at the blog deter you. Its like how sometimes the generic brand of cereal tastes just the same (or a little different) than the brand name. Just because someone may have little to no fans, doesn't mean they have nothing to say or are unpopular. In fact sometimes its a good thing because you can avoid what I mentioned above. Some people want to commit to blogs or get paid for it, while others prefer to just blog for the hell of it. The amount of followers should have no bearing on the importance of one's message.
  
• Don't let the reversal or absence (or no absence) of a parent deter you either. I found alot in common with Tiffany's vlog, but her dad is white, and her mom is black. While my mom is white and my dad is black. Not to mention my dad wasn't in my life ever. While having the races of your parents be in reversal to yours, or one parent being absent or not may naturally cause different experiences for that simple fact alone, don't let it make you leave just on that fact. You never know how similar your experiences may be with them on the sheer fact that you are both mulatto.
• Ultimately make sure the person blogging, is the race you are looking for. If you are looking for a blog about mulattoes, its best to find one done by mulattoes because lets face it, no other race has jurisdiction to speak about mulattoes other than mulattoes.
  

Why its Black and White and Mulatto

This post was inspired by a some one's comment at Tiffany Jone's wordpress blog about talking about different interracial relationships instead of just black and white. Which reminded me of a rude user by the name of "mynameismyname" over at Abagond blog who often insults mulattoes (such as Halle Berry).

I have, and probably many other biracials who blog about their experiences, often get the jabs from whites and blacks about always talking about the black, white, mulatto stuff, and never anything else when it comes to interracial.

If you check out Tiffany Jone's Mulatto Diaries vlog, you will often see people in the comment sections both on her profile page and videos give her grief for always talking about race...even though her description box on her profile says she is going to be talking about her racial experiences growing up!

Some people just didn't read it, or just flat out are too lazy to read it. But there is a reason many biracials of black/white mixes will focus on the black-white issue. For starters in America, since day 1, its always been a black-white issue. But besides that, its our experience being black and white that propels us to speak only of our experience as being black and white.

You see, I can't talk about how it must be for someone of 2 different mixes, because I personally do not know. I can't even speak for people of my own mix. I can only speak for what I know.

There are exceptions, there is the case of Heidi Durrow and Fanshen Cox, both of whom are mulatto, but do talk about other mixes, or shall I say they have people of a different mix speak about their experiences. These girls are a powerful force having their own blogs (or at least Durrow does), their own podcast, and they hose a yearly event celebrating being multi-racial (which is open to all mixes, not just mulatto). Yet from what I know, neither of these girls have not taken it upon themselves to try to speak about how it is for people of another mix. They invite people of those mixes to speak for themselves. Because lets face it, as much as all biracials may have in common by just being two races, we are all ultimately different and will have different experiences in life.

I personally am not too crazy about Fanshen Cox and Heidi Durrow's podcast, I prefer visuals like Tiffany's vlog at youtube.

But so many people ask why mulattoes only talk about white, black, and mulatto, its because, we can only speak of what we know through our experiences growing up. Besides, would you want someone telling you what its like being 2 different races by a biracial of 2 other races? Or would you actually want someone who is those 2 races to tell you what its like?

Difference between categorizing and labelling

Believe it or not they aren't the same thing. People often get these two confused because they seem so similar, because in both cases, you are often bunching people into something. But one is unnatural and is learned, while the other is naturally and comes instinctively.

Labeling
Labeling is a learned action, in which we follow stereotypes to make judgments and assumptions about people. You see a blond beauty you will often automatically assume she is stuck up because of how movies portray blonde beauties, or you will assume she is stupid. You see a black woman get angry, you will label her as an "angry black woman" stereotype. Labeling is learned because we have to learn these stereotypes in the first place. We are brought up to make false judgments about one another. What makes labeling wrong is that you discredit and prevent yourself from getting to know someone because you judge them before even knowing them. You classify someone as something they may not be, all because you live by stereotypes.

Categorizing
Categorizing is a natural phenomenon. Categorizing people does not hinge on stereotypes, it is based off of already knowing the person. You are not necessarily making assumptions about them. I say "not necessarily" because sometimes we do make assumptions about the people in our lives, but usually those pertain to more personal things rather than stereotypes. When we categorize, its more or less an organizing system. We naturally all do it, in different ways of course. The most simplest form of categorizing can be how you trust some people with a secret, but you don't trust others. Mentally, there are people in your life, that you don't consider good friends, but associates (acquaintances) instead. We all categorize otherwise, you would be treating everyone the exact same way, and the fact that not a single soul treats every single person the exact same way shows they categorize people and how they will treat them as a result.