Discriminated at 6 Years Old (04.05.16)

When I was young, I thought I was White. Not only was my skin more fair than most of the White kids, I seemed LEAGUES smarter than them, too. So, they put me back in the normal class with normal kids. Oh yes, because they didn’t know what to do with Asian kids, they put them in the Special Ed class, and they put me in ESL. Those racists thought I would be slow and non-verbal. And when I showed them I thought faster than the normal kids and spoke better than most of the normal speaking kids, they felt I had justified my abilities and put me in with the normal education kids. … And when I did better than them in class, I was called a show-off. (Talk about a double standard.)

The funny part was, English isn’t really my second language. Mandarin is. I grew up listening to, reading, and watching Disney movies! And, I still remember watching old classics with my parents, when Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn charmed their way through their troubled lives, and Fred Astaire and Jean Kelly danced me through my dreams. Oh, heck ya! I was White on the inside, and nicely beige on the outside. I knew more about the classics and fairytales, could recite lines verbatim, and they still thought I wasn’t qualified to be in the normal classes when they met me. What the poop, right?!

I used to look at my classmate, who was an autistic and wheelchair bound handicapped girl and wonder how we ended up in the same class. Did they see me like this, too? And when Emily, her normal friend, came in, we chatted like normal kids. I think there’s a real problem with the way “All-Americans” see minorities. I was born in Texas and raised in California, and yet, I’m still, somehow, a second-class citizen. It just burns me up when I think about this. But then, again, if Trump ends up being elected… many more of my kind will be back to where I had been when the authorities in the school racially profiled me and put me in the special ed class.

BERNIE SANDERS FOR THE WIN!!!

*Honestly… if you look at his politics and realize that the media doesn’t like him because he’s for the PEOPLE and not big companies, you’ll understand why he is the best choice. I mean, just check out his EDUCATION PLAN!!

The Art Of Impatience

When I was younger, when I started dancing and choreographing, I adopted the name “Step Master” or “Beat Master” because, well, I used to teach people who couldn’t dance TO dance. And people thought it was because I had patience, but in reality, I think it was due to impatience. To get everyone on the same page at the same time, I would watch how people moved naturally and then teach them, based on how their own body moved, how  to dance my choreography. It sounds strange, but that’s how I got even the most two-left-footed person to dance well. Hehe. And I took pride in that. My other friend dubbed me the “Beat Master” because he used to choreograph to his own counts and I would lock them down into the music, figuring out the pacing, and then we would teach it. It was fun… Watch the video of the last project I worked on. Yeeea… I’m the one in green.

And then, when I turned 21, I lost the ability to do several things. And, somehow, I stopped dancing. Since then, I haven’t really helped anyone. When people ask me FOR help, I send them off to other dancers I know who can somewhat do what I have spent much of my life doing. But… I watched a few people and I realized that my way of teaching is quite a specific brand of dancing. My sisters thought it was a gift, that it meant I had a lot of patience… when in reality, I think it simply meant I was impatient and a control freak. So much so that I would learn how others moved to teach them how to move like me.

As crazy as it may sound, I want to get back into it. But I don’t do those weird dances people do today. I enjoy the old fashioned hip-hop choreography, when it was about movement and not sex appeal. Know what I mean?

Now… I just need to find some who can’t dance but want to learn how. … Any takers reading this post? I’m in Burbank! Contact me!! I want to see if I still, really, have my gift!

To hear me talk, check out the COTANGENT Podcast!