The Box, My Box, Your Box.. Our Box?

The Box -

All too often we are put into what I like to call "The Box".  What I've experienced quite a bit in the south is that people aren't able to clearly define where I belong.  I don't quite fit into any stereotype cleanly.  Asians know I'm Asian, it is the rest of society here that are baffled.  I've walked into rooms and made the entire room pause.  Now I know I'm sexy but really, not that sexy. :)  Now here is where I become politically incorrect.  I suggest you avert your eyes if you don't want to read it.  It is my personal belief that people are surprised that I don't have some sort of first generation accent, frankly many in the south where I live do.  As if I'm supposed to speak English with an Asian inflection.  I've lived in various places and I'm just one of those people whose vernacular and speech rhythms changes by region; nothing drastic but it changes.  People are constantly surprised that I don't sound like I come from the nail shop or dry cleaner. ( I told you to avert your eyes.)  When I call home, my brother teases me that I "sound haole", after talking to him for awhile I fall into the rhythm of home.  Someone once told me that it's because I am not firmly rooted in who I am.  My personal belief is that it *is* rooted in my personality but for a different reason entirely.  Onward!

The most common question I'm asked when I say I'm from Hawai'i is: "Are you Hawaiian?".  Do I look Hawaiian?  (Of course I never say this out loud.)  sidebar: I'm also "fluffy", okay this is a reference to Gabriel Iglesias and his comedy, basically I'm full figured and have kinky hair.  The stereotype of Hawai'i is heavy and kinky hair.  I know this question should not bother me, but it has started to after being asked too often.  I realize that this question is generally asked in ignorance and there is no harm meant in it.  However, it points to a vast cultural ignorance of another state; and we've been a state since 1959.  So I do my best to be an ambassador and not be annoyed.  It is in a way though, a box.  How are we as a county still so culturally ignorant of one another?  Everyone is expected to assimilate although America has no official language and no official religion.  To some degree or another the majority expects everyone to assimilate to Christian values, feel free to pick your religion of choice that loosely follows these tenets; otherwise keep your heathen religion quiet.  Okay, the word heathen may be going too far but not by much for some.

One does not need to go to Hawai'i to gain knowledge of the state and our unique history.  Yes, a visit to the Polynesian Cultural Center would be nice but not necessary.  (This is not a plug.)  Just as people do not need to remain ignorant on the culture of others.  I am always at a loss on why people do not realize that America is already a melting pot of other cultures and not just on St. Patrick's day.  Everyone who has ever immigrated here has brought something of their culture and its made its way into the mainstream.  From the foods we eat to holidays we celebrate, it is everywhere we look.  And yet the majority chooses to ignore this.  Why?  I keep asking myself this question.