"The Art of Being a Minority Girl"

I read a blog post written by Marijam Ghotbi, who is a candidate for the current governing party in Norway. If you understand Norwegian, you can read the blog post here. In short, she explains how tiring, or hard it is to be a minority girl in Norway (bla bla blaaa- cry me a freakn river). You thought I was gonna write about how inspiring I found the blog post to be, or how much I agree with her, huh?...NOPE!..I absolutely disagree.

Ghotbi talks about how people (Norwegians) always ask about her "friend's" background..about her family, where she's from, what she's done, whether her opinion and choices are really hers....she talks about stereotypes, and how people view "minority girls" who dress differently, and are more conservative in their behaviors..she talks about the life of a minority girl as if it were to be something that only few people could handle...as if all minority girls struggle their way through life to achieve what they want....What she fails to reckon is that everyone has to work hard to get where they want to be in life. Most, if not everyone, face judgmental behavior and are put into different stereotypical groups: you can be the snobby rich kid, who never worked a day in his/her life, the black dude, the white guy, the tall amazon-german-lookin' chick, the nerd...etc.

Ghotbi is so consumed with being the minority-chick-who-had-to-work-so-hard (because she is a minority girl) -to-get-where-she-is-in-life-and-in-politics, that she fails to realize that she is just like EVERYONE ELSE, and no different - except from the color of her skin, maybe. You're not special if you're a minority girl in Norway, stop whining. And, start appreciating the curiosity of the Norwegian people. At least they - I say they, as if am not one myself,,,but you know what I mean=P - are interested in knowing more about you, where you came from..at least they care enough to give you minutes of their time to get to know YOU. NOT necessarily your ethnicity alone, but YOU as a person. The ethnicity part is just a teeny-tiny part that makes you- you, but it doesn't define you. So stop acting like it's so hard to be a minority girl...it's equally as hard to be a minority girl, as it is to be an Ethnic Norwegian girl in Norway; we all face different challenges.

The title of Ghotbi's blog post is (directly translated) : "the art of being a minority girl". * Tuhh!!* (that was me spitting, by the way)...Paah-leaase...I hope she wrote that title with an inch of sarcasm, cause there is no art to being a minority girl, it's true, I looked it up! =P

art ¹ |ärt|

noun

1 the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power : the art of the Renaissance | great art is concerned with moral imperfections | she studied art in Paris.

• works produced by such skill and imagination : his collection of modern art | an exhibition of Tibetan art | [as adj. ] an art critic.

• creative activity resulting in the production of paintings, drawings, or sculpture : she's good at art.

2 ( the arts) the various branches of creative activity, such as painting, music, literature, and dance : the visual arts | [in sing. ] the art of photography.

3 ( arts) subjects of study primarily concerned with the processes and products of human creativity and social life, such as languages, literature, and history (as contrasted with scientific or technical subjects) : the belief that the arts and sciences were incompatible | the Faculty of Arts.

4 a skill at doing a specified thing, typically one acquired through practice : the art of conversation.

Being a minority girl doesn't require skills. You can be dumb as a rock (cause rocks are pretty dumb, you know.. :-P) and still be a minority girl. Ok, ok,,,so I'm taking it too literally.. But, my opinion is - and you're only going to get my opinion in this blog, by the way,  and my opinion will always rule here because this is MY blog =P - that Ghotbi is confusing the art of being a successful and hard-working PERSON (and all that it implies), regardless of sex and race- with being a minority girl.

And that's all I have to say about that!

Until next time ;-)

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

I'm not one of those highly culturally intelligent people who read loads of shakespeare (did I even spell that right?) Ibsen, and..oh, you know the rest,,those important writers whose books we were forced to read when we we're in high school. However, I do have a favorite poem =)

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference....... Robert Frost (1874–1963)