On the Question of Race
They ask me to write down my race
And I think and think very seriously
And consider writing down the truth and have my answer read
I have a woman who looks like me, she comes to me when I least expect it, trying to teach me to stop and think, and be the best person I can
I have elderly men, who my life has been intertwined with, constantly pressuring me to critically think and stand for what I believe in
I have rhythm of the Beatles and Elton John streaming through the windows, sun shining, birds chirping, dogs barking
I have the scent of pine, charcoal, and iron packed dirt breezing at high peaks of summer.
I have me being American, but my grandparents are all different – kiwi, Spanish, Italian, Irish.
They ask me to write down my race and I think very seriously
And consider writing down the truth and have my answers read
I have my father’s looks and humor, my mother’s kindness and generosity inside this body.
I have Apple Hill, Lake Tahoe, The Game Room, and road trips inside this body.
I have fort building, street baseball, bike riding, and soccer inside this body.
I have Castana, Toronto, Cameron Park, and Birdcage Walk inside this body.
I have my family’s traditions, beliefs, competitiveness, and qualities inside this body.
But I stop, and simply write down ….something different every time.
- ASHLEY BURCIAGA, 2012

As I realize I encounter many oddities about people in society, I thought I would compile my thoughts into an extremity of public awareness as I am sure you all really care! =)

1: PLEASE do not wipe something off your man’s face - tell him it’s there and I am sure he can figure it out on his own. However, if for retarded reasons, he somehow is unable to get it off himself, by all means give him a hand. The last thing everyone wants to see is you licking your finger and stroking your spit across his face.

2:don’t take dating advice from your friends who are in relationships or who are married…they are nothing, but delusional. 

I find it interesting the notion that some middle class citizens feel they have the power to place their children in “better” schools, because the they have the means to and the ability to mobilize. They place their children in these schools with the idealization that they will be more successful academically, and perhaps be safer. But, let’s reframe…”What is success?”  There is the concept of being successful in other ways, in which they are being deprived of by “white flight” out of “worse” schools. Deprivation of the ability to be successful in navigating comfortably between people of different races, classes, cultures, languages, etc. is a far more miserable outcome than to get an education you “think” is subpar. 

If you call my dog an “appetizer,” and then try to chat me up, I WILL walk away. 

So, if you’re waiting for a first date and another guy sits down next to you, and chats you up, and you tell him what you’re doing there (e.g. waiting for a date) do you:

A) Give him your number

B) Tell him to get lost, as well you’re already waiting for a date

C) Chat him up until your date gets there

D) A & C

I’ll let you guess what I did.

THEN, After your date, you’re walking in the same direction, but not walking you home, cuz well, this is SF, so that’s unnecessary, right? We don’t live in Bluebell - walking you home is not important unless you’re taking him home, right?. But, anyway, you’re not reallllllly ready to go home, so do you think its ok to do:

Walk back towards both your homes with him, and when he cuts towards his house, you keep going, swing back around and go back to the place you were at before, cuz well, there is a sausage, errr wiener schnitzel fest going on there and you don’t want to miss out, eh?

Unless you’ve taken me on a date, and I have not only met you once, Don’t text me and call me sexy. Sincerly, It’s you, not me.

“You broke my heart into a billion parts.

I try to find the pieces to glue back together.

Every time I am able to glue a new part on,

I think I am a stronger, but then

a glued piece falls back off,

and it feels as if I am never to be okay again.”