Sometimes fitting in is hard to do
A week before Christmas I went with my boyfriend to the Nigerian Association's First Annual Christmas Party. We went in separate cars, so I had to walk into the party by myself; the only one in non-traditional Nigerian dress. (Traditional Nigerian dress is amazing, as it is the duty of a Nigerian woman to look her best, and outdo every woman in the room!) You could have heard a pin drop over the traditional Ibo and Yoruba music blasting from the stereo as I entered the room.
I am whiter than snow, rice, printer paper and those annoying little Bichon Frise dogs, yet my father is a full-blooded Yoruban Nigerian. And now that I have bleached my hair platinum blonde it gets even more interesting to explain to people with that shock of white on my head that my birth name was Ife Awe Olarinde. I was adopted when I was six weeks old, and my birth mother would say nothing about my biological father, so imagine my surprise when I found out I was half-Nigerian!
Did everyone at the Nigerian Association Christmas party care that I was white? HELL NO! To them, I was just another member of the family. They even taught me a dance (I was wearing 4” heels so it wasn't easy for a girl who usually lives in sneakers) and I even won the dance contest. Who knew this fat butt could get down, skim the floor AND GET BACK UP AGAIN TEN TIMES IN A ROW. Life can be surprising when you are on a sugar high — but that tuchas hurt the next day, I can assure you!
London has been called one of the most racist cities in Canada: if you Google it using the terms (“London, Ontario” and “racism”), you will get 63,700 hits to WebPages supporting this theory. Its heavy Muslim population (cited at anywhere from 10 — 25 per cent) is too often a victim of that crime of racism. Statistics Canada does not define the definite percentage of Muslims in London in its most recent online statistics.
I happen to be writing this column on Dr. Martin Luther King Day, a day to celebrate a man who fought for equality and freedom, and was killed for his attempts at establishing civil rights for coloured people.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an African-American clergyman who advocated social change through non-violent means. His writings and public appearances shaped the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and ‘60s. In 1963 (the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation), King organized a march on Washington, D.C. that drew 200,000 people demanding equal rights for minorities. In 1964 King won the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming at the time the youngest recipient ever. James Earl Ray shot him to death at a hotel on April 4, 1968 while visiting in Memphis, Tennessee.
To me, Fanshawe is not exactly the school of harbouring love and admiration, and it has been my experience that you cannot graduate from certain faculties and programs unless you suck up and kiss ass. (I don't). But no matter how bad your day has gone, or whatever you've experienced or encountered throughout the day, remember there is always one calming sanctuary on campus: Counselling and Student Life: inviting, helpful and calming. (I know as I spent most of my time there and that without Deb, Janet, Bonnie, Freda, and Dr. Bob, I would not be “semi-sane” today!)
Janet Pole is an overly opinionated writer for the Interrobang and recommends that everyone who gets instant sunburn try an SPF 60 lotion called Anth-Lios by LaRoche-Posay. For more praise about the sunscreen, email Janet at dejembejanet@hotmail.com
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
I am whiter than snow, rice, printer paper and those annoying little Bichon Frise dogs, yet my father is a full-blooded Yoruban Nigerian. And now that I have bleached my hair platinum blonde it gets even more interesting to explain to people with that shock of white on my head that my birth name was Ife Awe Olarinde. I was adopted when I was six weeks old, and my birth mother would say nothing about my biological father, so imagine my surprise when I found out I was half-Nigerian!
Did everyone at the Nigerian Association Christmas party care that I was white? HELL NO! To them, I was just another member of the family. They even taught me a dance (I was wearing 4” heels so it wasn't easy for a girl who usually lives in sneakers) and I even won the dance contest. Who knew this fat butt could get down, skim the floor AND GET BACK UP AGAIN TEN TIMES IN A ROW. Life can be surprising when you are on a sugar high — but that tuchas hurt the next day, I can assure you!
London has been called one of the most racist cities in Canada: if you Google it using the terms (“London, Ontario” and “racism”), you will get 63,700 hits to WebPages supporting this theory. Its heavy Muslim population (cited at anywhere from 10 — 25 per cent) is too often a victim of that crime of racism. Statistics Canada does not define the definite percentage of Muslims in London in its most recent online statistics.
I happen to be writing this column on Dr. Martin Luther King Day, a day to celebrate a man who fought for equality and freedom, and was killed for his attempts at establishing civil rights for coloured people.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an African-American clergyman who advocated social change through non-violent means. His writings and public appearances shaped the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and ‘60s. In 1963 (the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation), King organized a march on Washington, D.C. that drew 200,000 people demanding equal rights for minorities. In 1964 King won the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming at the time the youngest recipient ever. James Earl Ray shot him to death at a hotel on April 4, 1968 while visiting in Memphis, Tennessee.
To me, Fanshawe is not exactly the school of harbouring love and admiration, and it has been my experience that you cannot graduate from certain faculties and programs unless you suck up and kiss ass. (I don't). But no matter how bad your day has gone, or whatever you've experienced or encountered throughout the day, remember there is always one calming sanctuary on campus: Counselling and Student Life: inviting, helpful and calming. (I know as I spent most of my time there and that without Deb, Janet, Bonnie, Freda, and Dr. Bob, I would not be “semi-sane” today!)
Janet Pole is an overly opinionated writer for the Interrobang and recommends that everyone who gets instant sunburn try an SPF 60 lotion called Anth-Lios by LaRoche-Posay. For more praise about the sunscreen, email Janet at dejembejanet@hotmail.com
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
