Tumblr post with enrichment!
…the weather was gloomy outside so there I was sitting on a stage in the cafeteria, trying not to zone out too hard. Then one of the kids I regularly tutor ran up to me and showed me her hands. On her palms were shapes she drew with a red marker & one vaguely had “American” written over it and the other “Jewish”. She was wide-eyed.
“Which one are you, American or Jewish?” she asked. I paused a beat.
“Can’t I be both?” I asked dryly.
She looked at both her hands. “Have to choose one.”
Impulsively, I said, “Uhh…Jewish.”
I never found out what that was all about. These kids got me doing mental gymnastics, I should get a medal.
Just so you know this is the same girl that once told me America was free because no one was here before we came, that is to say everyone was dead before it was colonized (err) and also asked me if I found white people annoying. Yes to one, abuuuh to the other. You know, I seriously have no background with kids so it's a learning process all the way, and sometimes I wonder, do I just tell them what I wish I'd known when I was little?
If I could go back I'd probably just say "Jewish American" anyway or at the very least ask her WTF which is usually my first instinct anyway. But now I guess we'll never know.
