rice
Jasmine Rice
I don’t think that there is anything more fragrant than rice – make that the aroma of good rice being toasted on the stove-top just before submerging in water or broth. At least that is how I make mine – whether jasmine, basmati, risotto or regular old plain white or brown rice. I LOVE rice. Thankfully, I learned how to make rice from my mother in law, despite being raised on Unlce Bens and Minute Rice (sorry Mom and Ulla).
Anyway, tonight I had an epiphany of sorts. My daughter’s name is Jasmine – God – did I name her after a type of rice??? Seriously, how do people name their children? I was behaving like a bad decorator and was trying to come up with a name that would coordinate with my married name – Guajardo. My final choices in late 1997 were Isabel or Jasmine. Jasmine came to me very late, if truth be told. I was in a Jazzercize class and in a moment of clarity (or exercise induced delusion) 11+ years ago, thought that Jazz would make a great name…then the name Jasmine flashed into my head. Jasmine – Jazz – Jazzy – and so my daughter has many names. My husband and I gave our daughter my mother-in-law’s name – Victoria – as a middle name in the event that she ever came to detest her first name. I mentioned this to her the other day after reading a chapter about the economics of names in Freakonomics – and the notion was promptly dismissed by my daughter who proclaimed that she loves her name. Shouldn’t that be enough – do names matter?
Only later (in fact month’s later after naming her) did we learn that the name Jasmine is one of the top 10 most popular names for African American children born in the last 15 years. I think this little tid bit of info is kind of funny now-a-days because she is not African American. But, the truth remains that my daughter is bi-racial. I am reminded of that whenever we have to fill out some kind of form for her – say a middle school registration form and we are asked to select a race. I always check off Hispanic and Caucasian, even though I have been told more than once that I had to choose a single race. “Other” isn’t always an option.
How can one choose a single race for a person who isn’t 100% white or Hispanic? She is half me and half her dad and that’s the fact – she is neither one or another because Jasmine is both. Some helpful school administrator once told me that I should always choose Hispanic because it helps the school district receive more need based funding. I don’t know how I feel about this. My husband is college educated and is a solid middle class American citizen. Why am I not Scandinavian American? Don’t I qualify for something? Even if it’s a discount on Lefse….. I’m not being insensitive towards people who aren’t white – I just hate pigeon holing my daughter. Sometimes, if forced, I mark her down as Hispanic, sometimes Caucasian, sometimes both. Aren’t we all multi-racial?
Anyway, I’m being expansive – this is what chaperoning field trips does to me. And, today marked the third field trip that I have chaperoned in less than 7 days. Field trips are not unpleasant, but they do disrupt my schedule, be that what it is. Today we went to the Museum of Nature and Science and after touring the exhibits, the class participated in a Robotics Lab, about which I was excited. I dig science.
My favorite 5th grade robot today
I was so impressed with the kids in class – they were really into this project (as were the adults). We received a quick lesson on robotics and related terminology and were let loose to create anything we wanted.
Not much ado about pottery today,
~Cynthia
