(no subject)

[palominocorn]

When I was growing up, my parents wouldn't let me identify as anything at all.

If I called myself "smart" they'd go out of their way to put down my intelligence. If I referred to myself as an "artist" they'd roll their eyes and tell me I couldn't draw worth a fig. If I said I was "ambidextrous" they'd laugh and say I was bad with both hands.

I couldn't even refer to myself as *our ethnicity* because they would insist that I was too Americanized to be a "real" member of my own people.