1001 Ways to Embarrass Yourself While Avoiding Injuries

WHAT IS CULTURAL APPROPRIATION? Cultural appropriation, just like any of the other myriad of politically correct topics that surround the youth of today, is a hugely controversial and potentially touchy topic for many people. I myself experience unexpected resistance when trying to educate my fellow comrades on the importance of understanding what cultural appropriation is.  First, let's begin with a definition, from the website, 'hercampus.com', : Culture Appropriation results in the act of members of a dominate culture  take  or  borrow  things from another culture belonging to a minority group without their concern nor completely understanding its genuine value and originality. Just to back this   up, I'll quote our completely trustworthy friend, Wikipedia.  “appropriation” or “misappropriation” refers to the adoption of these cultural elements in a colonial manner: elements are copied from a minority culture by me...

She rolled the cigarette between two calloused fingers, savouring the feel. A wisp of smoke from between her chapped lips floated into the air, a silent song of something. 'Vol vol vol.' Indila's 'Derniere Danse' played in the cafe elsewhere, the melancholy song filling her ears and slowly falling into her. This is France, she thought to herself, a twenty five year old Malaysian immigrant with a baggage of hyphenated identities sitting in an isolated French cafe smoking a Chinese cigarette listening to a French-Algerian-Cambodian-Egyptian-Indian singer. As Indila works herself into a beautiful tragedy, she puts her head in her hands then takes a drag of her cigarette. There is a certain delicious irony in that ,she feels, especially with the rise of the National Front in France, people looking at her funny because of her name, the fact that she doesn't go to Church, mostly reads East Asian philosophers instead of Satre, eats neither pork nor beef, has a ...

The grateful cockroach waits till everyone has left the room, He is waiting for his inevitable doom - I think, to subside. The grateful, he loves to abide, by anyone's rules but people who look like him, The grateful cockroach plays the game , He has played and has been played, unknowingly. Stupid, grateful, precious cockroach, Come out, come out, wherever you are! They are calling, and calling and calling, And the cockroach emerges, smile on his face. He would answer 'yes' in his high pitched voice, but they can't understand his clicking language full of vowels. They wouldn't want to anyway. Look at me, they say, look at me! He looks. He sees. A huge shadow rapidly coming closer and closer and ! The cockroach runs away. He hides. He laughs, nervously. They do this every time. He can't decide if he hates it, really, because he has known no different. 'Awaken, depth of depth of your soul! ' The grateful cockroach startles.... ...

This would have been entertaining, had it not been said so very many times before- This story of a cockroach, told once now, once then, so many times- it has become folklore, Everytime I tell this story, I think it gets slightly weary, of being told, Over time, this story feels like it is getting grey, and little old, But yet the story must go on- Just like the show. How many times we go down the

Oh, beta , why do you weep so, How has it comes to this, lo  Take this handkerchief and dry your tears, Where are your mama papa to calm your fears? Oh, beta , don't cry na, Why do you carry such bloody rags? Ja dekhlo What is your name and where do you come from, You know, na,  look just like my son, Hanji,  I had one once, and he looked just like you... And daughters, daughters I had two. Chal, koee na,  How about I tell you a story? This story starts long ago, Nobody really knew its beginning and no one really knows the end but everyone remembers what came in between, I called it the blood fields. Shhhh, beta  , Did you come from the blood fields too? They told me to run and I think you must have come from there, Did they tell you to run? Its alright, beta , Come we'll go together. And together we'll go, I think sometimes you need to leave to find yourself, but sometimes you can never really leave, you know? If they ask us wher...