Understanding: One Person at a Time

One of reasons that Prop 8 passed was that proponents aggressively went after communities of color. My cousin would tell me that she got hundreds of phone calls from people who targeted Asians. And that tactic worked. I'll admit it, I have chosen my gay family over the Asian community, even my own family.

Tonight, my cousin married an incredible man and I am now part of an amazing new family. I spent the past two days getting to know them and developed a really strong connection to the groom's mother. We just hit it off and talked for hours. Towards the end of tonight, she said to me, "I voted for Prop 8. But, after meeting you, I have changed my mind."

That blew me away. Firstly, because I wasn't expecting it. I have never hidden my life from people and I just can't help talking about M. I talk about her all the time. It has never crossed my mind that the person I'm speaking to, doesn't approve of me. I think it is these seemingly meaningless conversations with the people in our lives that spark and carry change and understanding forward.

So, I now have an African-American Christian grandmother and she has a queer Asian granddaughter. Who knew?

New York Homecoming

NY dressed in gold
Mosaic of glittering windows
Framed in brilliant clear blue above
Opaque with taxis and feet below

Instinctively
My pulse quickens
I rapid speed walk
Reminding myself to breathe

*Rasika & C

It was a beautiful day to head into DC for lunch with C, K's friend. Any friend of K's is a friend of mine but as we chatted, I realized that I had met C before. A few years ago, I had a dream that I was meeting someone for the first time at lunch. That she was in a suit and I was not working (which I thought was strange). She had a necklace with a thick silver chain and opal stone. She was talking about Armonk, NY. No wonder we just clicked right away!

Although C has worked in DC for years (she commuted between NY and DC), she recently moved to DC as well and it was great to talk to someone who had the deep inside scoop on DC (farmer's markets and restaurants!) and understood what it was like to leave one's friends and family in NY. It's nice to have friends in DC.

[See my Yelp post for review of Rasika]