I wonder how many people out there have ever been asked this question. I've been told that I don't look like any specific race or nationality. I guess it bothers some people more than others, and that's probably why I get asked from time to time. As a kid I didn't really care what my heritage was, but as I've grown older it's become more and more of a bother for me to be asked those three words. I mean, any other question about myself I've never had trouble answering confidently, but when I got thrown that one I had nothing. If I say "I don't know" then someone will immediately choose a racial label for me and say something like "You're definitely part Cherokee. I can tell," or even more annoyingly "Why are you asking her that, she's just white!"
Avoiding answering the question is hard too. I used to just cop-out and say something dumb like "I'm human, what are you?" I also used to just tell people "Creole" which basically means "native born" and could be a mix of any number of races (though many people think falsely that this means only people of African mixed descent).
Well this year I decided to change things. I wanted to toss off these arbitrary labels and discover for myself what people of this world gave rise to my existence. Using my prior knowledge of my family tree as well as autosomal DNA tests I came up with this list which I would like to share with anyone who would have asked me in person were we to meet face to face. They are in order of greatest to least percentage.
Irish
Russian
Polish
Scottish
Scandinavian
British
Belgian (Flemish)
Mestizo/ Hispanic (Argentinean, Venezuelan, Colombian, Costa Rican & Brazilian)
Romanian
German
Hungarian
French Canadian (aka Acadian, aka Cajun)
Austrian
Slovenian
French
Italian
Portuguese
Serbian
South Asian
Xinjiang Chinese
You'd think that knowing all of this would change what I say to people when they inquire. Heh heh, not really. I still don't tell them. Most people that ask don't want a list this long. They just want one or two ethnicities tops. I just like to keep it simple and say "I'm me."
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Now that I have a moment to myself after rushing to get everything for issue 1 all print ready and uploaded, I would like to mention one of the most enjoyable karate camps I may have ever attended. As I mentioned a couple of blog entries ago, the camp was taught by Mikami Sensei, Osaka Sensei, and Taniyama Sensei, all of whom are JKA All Japan Champions, and graduated from the JKA instructors' training program. We went over a lot of kata and kata-related kihon. The classes were very technical, much to the benefeit of the MANY people that showed up for the event... I seriously gave up trying to tag that photo on Facebook by the way.
In addition to the two or three training sessions a day, there were also judges', instructors', kyu (colored belt), and dan (black belt) exams. These exams were judged by the three sensei and were really my only chance to take pictures of them in action during the business of the weekend. In retrospect, I begin to wonder if they found my stalking them with a camera a bit creepy. Above is Osaka Sensei (left) from head quarters in Tokyo and Mikami Sensei (right). For those of you who may not know, or recognize him, Osaka sensei is basically in every single "Best Karate" text book ever printed. Being there in person it was easy to see why. Despite not speaking but a few words of English, he communicated fine points to everyone by demonstrating everything through body motions.
Taniyama sensei (pictured above) also teaches at headquarters in Tokyo. In addition Taniyama sensei was the All Japan Champion in 2000-01. Oddly enough I had the pleasure of joining him and a few other dojo members for dinner on Sunday night. Normally, I'd be the last person to get the opportunity to speak with a headquarters instructor, but because I was one of only a handful of karateka that spoke Japanese, I had the opportunity to talk a good bit with Taniyama sensei. Apparently he's friends with everyone I ever trained with in Osaka, and is also quite skilled at baseball.
I look forward to someday making it to JKA headquarters for some more training with Osaka sensei and Taniyama sensei. It's possible that another trip plan is already in the planning stages for several of my dojo-mates. I guess I'll have to start saving up money again! Next stop, Tokyo! I better brush up my kanto-ben (just kidding).
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