Be Yourself

When we left Europe and came to the States, I was seven years of age. So I then had a new context that I was landing in Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and I was wearing lederhosen and clogs and trying to speak in German. The kids would say, 'You're weird.' I remember that being one of the things. And so I went home crying and my mom was just like, 'Well, I don't care. What did they call you by your name? Did they?' So then why are you, and I said, 'No, but they were shouting things at me.' And she said, 'Well, then if they didn't call you by your name, why are you giving those kids that power?' That was when I kind of realized that I am really different, and not just because of my skin color, but because of my disposition. After that, my mom sent me. She said, 'You're going to turn around and go back to school because you're going to school to get an education. You're not going to school to win a popularity contest.' Along the way, because I know who I am as a person, my orientation as a bisexual male, and my father being Welsh and my mother African-American, I am a bicultured individual. I was always navigating other categories in general society and trying to find better resonance with my tribe.