Flying dinosaurs

Tong Tong

Professor Cohen

EDUC B260: Multicultural Education

02/28/2015

Cultural Autobiography

        The word “identity” has been in my dictionary for only 18 months, the time I spent here in America. I have never heard this term, never thought about this idea, and could not even find a translation in Chinese. Berlak wrote: “No one was white before s/he came to America.” This is exactly how I feel. When I was first asked about my identity, I did not know how to answer this question, and neither did I understand how my past had shaped my identity. As I started to take classes involving issues like race, gender and nationality, I began to ask myself the question: “How do you identify yourself?”

Earlier today Bryn Mawr students, faculty, and staff were the recipients of a few emails announcing a few exciting changes to the college's admission policies: transwomen, nonbinary, intersex, and gender-noncomforming individuals will also be eligable to admission to Bryn Mawr for the 2015/2016 school year. In the words of Arlene Gibson, the Chair of the BMC Board of Trustees, "in addition to those applicants who were assigned female at birth, the applicant pool will be inclusive of transwomen and of intersex individuals who live and identify as women at the time of application.

I tend to think of BMC as pretty progressive, liberal, and generally a place sensitive to issues of diversity, so I was surprised that the Confederate flag / Mason-Dixon Line “incident” occurred at Bryn Mawr in particular. However, my focus is less on the actual incident(s?), but the follow up by alumni of the college and the impact on students both past and present.

I am a Korean adoptee. I was adopted at five months by white parents, don't remember anything about it, and don't care to try and find the person who gave birth to me. I get a lot of questions from people who feel entitled to hear our story, but I don't mind that much-- the average person doesn't know much about the adoption process in America. It's a good teaching moment.