** My name is Casey. I am 14 years old. I am ‘5“4. And I am a Chinese-American. **
I go to Mountain Lakes High School, one of the most prestigious high schools in the state of New Jersey. Its fame comes from talented, outstanding athletes and bright, successful students -- most of which are white. Well, only because the students at MLHS are roughly 93% white. Regardless, this story is not intended to put any sort of race on a pedestal, but to bring awareness to pride. Individual pride. Cultural pride.
Being a sophomore now, the second year in my high school experience, I start to grow an understanding of the people around me. Not everyone is nice, not everyone is vicious. Not everyone plays lacrosse. Almost everyone wears the same clothing. And almost everyone is white.
Teenagers were always afraid of standing out, but being “different” in a crowd of almost-the-same white kids is… well, different. I used to always wish to fit in with the rest of the kids. That would mean wearing the same Ugg boots as them, buying the same clothes as them, even attempt to have the same demeanor as them. This year I am different, I am more me. I strayed from mainstream clothing (I am not what you call a “hipster”), simply because I like different things. I am different. They are white, and I am Chinese.
I recently joined the soccer team at my high school, something that I’ve been considering for all of freshman year. I was benched at many games because I wasn’t allowed to play yet, due to not enough practices. Although it’s significantly less fun than actually playing, sitting on a bench with your teammates gives you time to think, reflect, and observe. My team is mostly consisted of white girls, of course. There’s me, the Chinese one, and then there’s the Iranian and the Muslim.
One game, the topic of ethnicity just happened to enter the conversation. The first of the two girls is half Iranian and half Persian. She fits in well and is accepted by the others. When asked about her race, she admits to being Iranian and Persian. Right afterwards, she is quick to say that she considers herself 100% American. She does not follow Iranian or Persian traditions, nor speak any of her native languages. Whether this is because she is embarrassed or prideful of being only American, I do not know. Maybe her parents just never got around to teaching her about her roots. Maybe she lacks cultural confidence.
The Muslim’s parents are from Palestine and Jordan. She is fairly accepted. Upon the topic of conversation, she admits to her heritage as well. However, unlike the Iranian girl, she openly says that she follows her Palestinian religion and culture. She wears a scarf head dress to school daily, abiding to her parents’ strict rules. She may not call or be alone in a room with boys, and is not allowed to show her hair to anyone but girls. This sparks the curiosity of the others, and she is asked many questions regarding her life.
“What’s it like to wear that scarf on your head everyday?”
“Are your parents strict?”
“Are you allowed to go to parties?”
“Are you allowed to kiss boys?”
What seemed interesting to me was how much these girls were actually curious about other traditions and values aside from the American ones. After the long questioning session, some girls even remarked that they were just “boring Americans and nothing else.” I was quite shocked to hear this from them, because it is not uncommon that I overhear racist comments here and there from students in my school. Whether or not their modesty was just a front (since teenage girls can be vicious), I was, needless to say, happy that they wanted to learn more about other cultures besides their own.
I couldn’t help but hope that curiosity like this would lead to a better understanding of other races. If only everyone could at least try to learn more about others, right? In fact, even if the Iranian girl really was insecure about her “racial differences,” I am not here to judge that. I understand the average teenage girl and her struggles to fit in with the rest. And why is that even the case? Because, as I have said, not everyone is nice. If only people could embrace each other’s differences. After all, neither racism nor any kind of judgement is great.
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~ A/N (Author’s Note) ~ :
I’ve decided to give article-writing a go, starting with this casually-worded, story-type article. It’s tiring to just write essay after essay in school, isn’t it? Where’s the fun and creativity? I used to live for free-writing, not this thesis-statement-and-textual-evidence junk. Anyways, I hope you liked my writing. ;-)
*我的名字是凯西，今年14岁，身高'5 “ 4 。 我是一名华人。 **
我就读山湖镇高中，这是新泽西州最负盛名的高中之一。它的名气来自学生中的人才：优秀的运动员和聪明成功的学生 - 大部分学生是白色人种。嗯，我只是说山湖镇高中的学生是由大约93 ％的白孩子组成的。其实，这篇文章的目的不是侧重在种族上，而是一种骄傲，个体骄傲、文化骄傲。
现在作为一个高二的学生，我开始逐渐了解我身边的人。不是每个人都友善，也并不是所有人都凶狠；不是每个人都打曲棍球；几乎每个人都穿着同样的衣服，几乎每个人都是白人。
青少年总是害怕鹤立鸡群，但“不同”在一群白孩子中 ，是......嗯，就是不同。以前我总是希望能融入其他的孩子。这意味着和他们穿着同样的雪靴，买和他们一样的衣服，甚至尝试，有与他们相同的风格。今年我不同，我比较了我自己了。我偏离主流服装潮流（我不是你所谓的“时髦” ） ，因为我喜欢不同的东西。我和他们不一样。他们是白种人，我是华人。
我最近加入了高中的足球队，其实高一的一整年我都在想着是否要参加足球队。在许多次比赛中，我都坐冷板凳，因为我没有足够的练习。虽然这样比实际上场的乐趣少，但是与你的队友一起坐在板凳上给你时间思考、 反省并观察。我的球队主要是由白种女孩组成的，当然还有我，一个华人，然后还有一个伊朗女孩，和一个穆斯林女孩。
在一场比赛中，种族的话题进入了我们的谈论。首先，两个女孩中的一个是一半伊朗人和一半波斯人。她非常合群并也能很好地接受别人。当被问及她的种族，她承认她是伊朗和波斯人的混合体。但之后，她很快改变说法，她说她自己是100 ％的美国人。她不遵循伊朗或波斯传统，也不说任何她的母语。我不知道这是因为她觉得她的根文化让她尴尬或者只以做为美国人为荣。 也许她的父母从来没有教导过她关于她的根文化，也许她缺乏自身的文化自信。
穆斯林女孩的父母来自巴勒斯坦和约旦。她是相当合群的。她承认她是传统的，不像伊朗的女孩，她公开说，她跟随她的的巴勒斯坦宗教和文化。她每天戴着围巾头饰上学，遵从她父母严格的规定。她不可以与男孩子打电话或与男孩单独待在一个房间里，不允许女孩子之外的任何人看见她的头发。这引发了别人的好奇心，她总被问及很多关于她的生活的问题。
“每天带那条头巾你感觉如何？”
“你父母很严厉吗？ ”
“你可以去参加聚会吗？ ”
“你可以亲吻男孩吗？ ”
我觉得有意思的是这些女孩其实对美国之外的其它的传统和文化充满好奇。问了很多问题之后，一些女孩甚至表示她们不过是些“无聊的美国人，没有别的。” 我很震惊地听到他们这样说，因这样的情况并不少见，我无意中会听到我的学校的同学说出这样或那样的有关对不同种族的评论。无论他们的谦虚是否是个幌子，因为十几岁的女孩可以是带有恶意的，我不用说，很高兴她们想更多地了解自己以外的其它文化。
如果每个人都可以至少尝试更多地了解别人，我忍不住地希望这样的好奇心会导致更好地了解其他种族，是不是？事实上，即使伊朗女孩真的是对她的族群差异感到不舒服，我也不想论判她。我明白十几岁的女孩处于想要合群的挣扎。即使是这样，正如我刚才所说，不是每个人都很友善。如果人们可以接受彼此的差异， 就没有种族主义，也没有任何形式的论断。
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〜 A / N （作者注） ：
我决定试试写文章，以随笔和故事型的文章开始，不想再写学校里的那些乏味累人的作文，写那些作文，有什么乐趣和创造力呢？我以前就喜欢随意写，而不是写论文陈述文字证据那些垃圾。无论如何，我希望你们会喜欢我的文字。 ;-)
| 海云 (2013-10-14 12:49:00) |
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女儿伊妹儿在北京的我说想开始写一些随意自己喜欢的文章了，寄来的文章，我抽空快速的读了一遍，是满随意的，却让我了解到她、她的学校和她的朋友，最重要的是她自己的想法。我回复她，说很高兴看到她喜欢写文章，我相信只要她能坚持下去，将来也可以像我一样做一个以文字创作为乐的人，我还答应无论我多忙，都会把她的英文翻成中文，让别人读到她的文字。 我抽吃晚饭的空档，快速的翻译了出来，希望大家能读的下去。我替她谢谢各位阅读。 海云 |
| 天地一弘 (2013-10-14 13:19:31) |
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谢谢凯西！为凯西骄傲。 |
| 周小哭 (2013-10-14 13:42:12) |
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太好了，Susan一定会喜欢读这类文章的！谢谢海云和凯西。 |
| 司马冰 (2013-10-14 14:11:18) |
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凯西，可爱的小姑娘，加入足球队了，真棒！文章写的也棒！ |
| 予微 (2013-10-14 17:52:32) |
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小姑娘觉醒了，真好！也佩服这个母亲，每天15000字呢，让我只是打字，都会觉得累，可这妈妈还能给女儿翻译。 |