This isn’t about literature, per se, or any literary work in particular, though it begins at Barnes & Noble, last Sunday morning.

I was at the bookstore, within walking distance from my apartment, when a book in the discount section caught my eye - Sunlight Print Photography Kit, by Kate Marlowe. It seemed like a fun book to buy for my kids, to give them an opportunity to try something different in a medium they’ve taken up the last couple of years.

I've never been considered morenita since I was a little girl. The last time I was truly morenita was when I was 5 years old. Since then, I've always tried getting that dark sultry tan each summer...that is once I got to high school not since the time I turned six. Each summer and on vacations con las chicas I have not been successful in achieving that tan I've always wanted. Mis amigas siempre se ponen morenas. I got tanned, but in comparison to them I was not morena. Pero aqui en Korea, I am for the first time ever in a long, long while morena. And guess what?! I don't particularly want to be so anymore.
I had to move to another country to obtain the tan I wanted and now I don't care much for it. If I were back in Chicago with this tan, I feel I would appreciate it much more. Here in Korea, I am la morena among my Western coworkers and among my Korean coworkers. Korea is big on whiteness. There are creams to make your skin white. Korean standards of beauty are for women to be fair-skinned. Therefore, women here wear foundation a number of shades lighter than their skin-tone and personally, it looks ridiculous. This is the first time my skin color has ever been pointed out to me constantly and although it's not in a negative way (mostly I'm complimented for being able to tan), I find that it bothers me a bit now.
Almost everyday on my morning cab ride to school I am asked by that day's cab driver if I am Filipina, Indonesian, Arab, or Indian. I'm never asked if I'm Latina or American. I'm used to this though because even back home I am asked if I'm Middle Eastern or Latina. When I say Latina, I am asked if I'm from Columbia, Puerto Rico, or some other Latina American country, but hardly ever am I asked if I'm Mexicana. Today my newest Western coworker said, "You're Indian, right?". When I said no I'm Hispanic, her response was, "I was pretty sure you were Indian." Usually being mistaken to be another ethnicity doesn't bother me, but today it did. Maybe it was the way she said it or maybe it was because I've just been mistaken to be another Ethnicity a bit too much lately. I usually do like that I am like a chameleon; I can blend into many different cultures when I visit different countries.
This coming week is my summer vacation and I will be en la China. Aver como me va! My sister is coming too. She's meeting up with me in China and then coming to Korea for a bit to stay with me and experience it for herself. This will be my first time abroad with my sister. We've both been abroad before pero nunca juntas. Bueno, at least we'll be able to pass as Middle Eastern or be ourselves, Latinas, pero not American when we go to the market ;)  They always hike up the prices on Americans.

Meg Whitman strides the California political landscape like a colossus. Her estimated $100 million dollar investment in trying to win the state's highest office has given her star-wattage name recognition. Whitman's TV and radio spots, in English and Spanish, are ubiquitous.

Faster than Light