November 16, 2006

it'll make a good story later

and now, it's time for a special guest entry from the fabulous mona, aka moni love. enjoy.


Last week, I was patiently waiting in a long line for a flu shot. I was already a little more conscious of my hair that day because of the rainy weather and the 99% humidity. As the line moved along, I realized that the two ladies standing in line behind me were loudly and obviously talking about my hair. Eventually, one of the ladies behind me tapped me on the shoulder...

random old lady: Excuse me, young lady, I just want to ask you a question.
me: Hi. Yes?
random old lady: Well, young lady, my friend and I here were just talking about your hair and we just could not figure out which one of your parents is black. So we just wanted to ask you, young lady: which one of your parents is black?
me: Um, actually, neither of my parents are black. My parents are from Iran. I'm Iranian-American.
random old lady: [completely shocked] Really? Neither of your parents are black? [pointing to my head] I mean, with that hair? Really?
me: Yes.
random old lady: Really?
me: [smiling] Yeah. [turning back around and leaving them in shock]

Posted by naseem at November 16, 2006 12:37 PM
Comments

Welcome to Texas, friends. Welcome. To. Texas.

Posted by: lacey at November 16, 2006 01:40 PM

wait...let me get this straight...neither one of your parents are black?

Posted by: rafaan at November 16, 2006 09:37 PM

maybe your dad is secretly black. I'll bet you didn't consider that possibility.

Posted by: greg at November 16, 2006 10:34 PM

She handled that with dignity. It would be tempting to say, "and which of your parents taught you to point?"

Posted by: Sarah at November 18, 2006 02:43 AM

Hm. I thought you WERE black. I mean, look at where you live? If you're not Jamaican, then I have this whole thing terribly wrong.

Man bayad beravam.

Posted by: Steve at November 21, 2006 10:51 AM

Damn eh-Steve! Bustin' out the Persian.

Greg has a good point I think--maybe Mona's dad is *secretly* black. Hmmmm.

Posted by: lacey at November 21, 2006 03:48 PM

oh wow...though i sympathize. one day, during sophomore year of HS (just after i moved to delhi), i was talking with some girls about indian culture/white american culture, and i made a remark about prefering many aspects of indian culture. *stares* "wait, why would you say something like that?"
"what do you mean?"
"i mean, like, you're, like half-white, aren't you?"

sigh. though i love that you left them stunned :P

Posted by: maya at November 26, 2006 03:58 PM