All posts tagged: identity

The Road Home: Marching from Selma to Montgomery

Published by Khadijat Oseni

One plane. Two feet. Three breaths. Four different thoughts flickering back and forth like a light bulb spiraling out of energy. Step after step after step definitions of purpose circle my brain as I move from point A to B, trepidation to resolve. I had been tapped by the State of Alabama and the National Park Service to partake in their 50th Anniversary Walking Classroom where 300 people from across all U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico, would congregate and reenact the historic Selma to Montgomery March for voting rights – 54 miles for five days straight. We would learn and document firsthand experiences from some of the original foot soldiers, like Dr. Bernard Lafayette and Dr. Frederick D. Reese who walked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1965, and I was afraid of debasing a legacy that made relatively cold, still gravel appear like shiny rose petals beneath my feet. This was holy ground, and I was sullied in this matrimony of thought as freedom of choice is something that I’ve tasted all my …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ David L. Merin

Published by Confessions of a Jetsetter

“Five years old I sat on a plane wondering aloud “Mom… can we still talk to each other in English when we get there?” The true honesty of a boy torn between a Filipino father and a New Yorker mother, born in Hawaii and now in transit to Nepal, a country unmatched in its ethnic diversity. My childhood was truly fit for a movie… In the many years to follow, my mother would try to comfort my confusion by giving me an identity. “You’re a Third Culture Kid,” she would say, dismissing my doubts, but I couldn’t understand what it meant. I was one of a large number of TCKs growing up overseas who didn’t identify with any one culture. Unable to relate to the country they once called home, TCKs are forced to adapt and survive an international adolescence separating them further from both their family and nationality. Though each of us has an original story, we all share a common experience, which we live every day. As for my friends and I, we …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Sophie Sarkar

Published by Confessions of a Jetsetter

“As a mixed-race American with international roots, my travels have often been about reconnecting with my heritage and exploring my intertwined cultural identities. Traveling to India, and especially Kolkata, has helped me understand so many things about my relationships, quirks, anxieties, styles, and propensities. It has also been the source of inspiration for most of my creative projects… In India, my senses are overwhelmed by highly saturated colors, smells, and sounds. When I stay at my family’s house in northern Kolkata, I wake up every morning to the sounds of water being pumped up to the roof of the house; birds cawing salutations to one another; unidentifiable bells; street vendors selling sugar cane juice, sweets, and plastic buckets; Bengali bickering; various conch shells calling the Gods into the houses; my aunties gossiping with each other through the windows; the extremely loud and incredibly close neighbors; the donkey-like screech of rickshaw horns; the barking of territorial street dogs; and the call of the garbage man going around on his bike-pulled carriage screaming, in a somewhat melodic …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Spirit Trickey

Published by Confessions of a Jetsetter

“South Africa changed my life. I had the incredible privilege to travel to Cape Town, South Africa for my International Public Service Project while attending the Clinton School of Public Service in 2009. I had always wanted to visit South Africa ever since I was a child who accompanied my mother on a freedom march in the late 80’s chanting, “Free Mandela, Jail Botha.” I was fascinated by the hundreds of people marching in support of Mandela – a man who lived clear across the world. I didn’t really understand it at the time, but my mother explained it in full detail the day he was released from prison. I remember that moment just like yesterday… As the daughter of activist parents, social justice issues have always intrigued me. When I got the chance, I wanted to explore the similarities and differences between the impact of apartheid in South Africa and the United States. I was chilled to the bone getting a glimpse into post apartheid South Africa, and even more so to recognize the …

Mel C-Jetsetterproblems.com

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Mel C.

Published by Confessions of a Jetsetter

“Cartagena and Paris. They’re completely two different cities but yet they both have some of the most amazing architecture and history.  It’s the perfect juxtaposition… These two places would describe me as an individual.  Cartagena is the feel-good place where the vibe and colorful culture sucks you in.  Whereas Paris is the sophistication and mystery that keeps you mesmerized…” – Mel C.   062/100 of #100DaysofConfessions Instagram Project

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Matthew Rodriguez

Published by Confessions of a Jetsetter

“Here’s a thought experiment: Imagine someone putting a plate of food in front of you. You don’t recognize what it is. You swear you’ve never seen anything like it before in your life. You take a bite with slight trepidation. A tingling occurs. Your pupils dilate. It’s delicious. You register a shock: You’ve eaten this before at one point in your life. You don’t remember when you ate it, but with equal certainty that you expressed about not having ever seen anything like this prior to the first bite, you now are unequivocally certain you’ve had this before. The taste triggers vague, nebulous recollections of your childhood from the quiet corners of your mind and then just as quickly they disappear. No other documentation exists that validate those memories other than your own conviction of your thoughts. This plate of unfamiliar food is suddenly the only thing that tells you, “Yes, those memories exist.”  This occurred to me on one of my most memorable trips and experiences when I returned to a place that was …