February 3, 2009
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2.3/2009
This is one of the larger differences I've seen between majority (predominantly white institutions) and minority (predominantly black institutions)... black people get into your business. This isn't necessarily a bad thing per se, it's just an interesting aspect of the culture. At Duke, from my experience, students saw classes like a job. It was purely business. In some classes, like seminar classes, people would talk, but the conversations never got intimate or very personal. At Morehouse School of Medicine, I feel as though students have less problems talking about other people's personal lives... even if that person is sitting in the room with them.
Today, I started discussion before class about random topics (politics, research ethics, identity, etc.), but, for some reason or another, I became the topic of conversation. Two women my age, ages twenty-three and twenty-four respectively, began asking personal questions about my previous relationship and the reason why I don't initiate physical contact in the form of hugs. I know the first one fairly well. We've talked about life, being "black," relationships, and other things. She was upset because "[I] treat [her] like a half-sister." My response to this was, jokingly, "We're not even family!" Clearly this didn't help the situation.
The second one, Alicia, seemed the most interested. I think this was partially due to the fact that I'd already talked to the other one about my life, and she seemed jealous that I talked to a fair amount of people, but not her. The other reason I assume she was more interested was because she was trying to assess who I am... perhaps she's interested herself. The reason I assume this is because I've been noticing a few changes in her behavior. She seems to pay more attention to when I walk into rooms. She has started sitting next to me, even though I haven't really talked to her. In the class we have, she began small talk, telling me personal things about her, and other small things. She just seems like she's trying to edge closer.
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Tangent:
One thing I will have to come back to discuss is the need for some women to have physical signs of affection regardless of the nature of the relationship... be it friendship or something else. I've never understood why they see that there is something inherently wrong with not having that kind of affection.
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I think this was the icing on the cake. Her enthusiasm for wanting to know how my last relationship went, and why I am not touchy-feely seemed odd to say the least. I mean, why would you care to know the specifics of someone's relationship? (i.e. How it ended. If we were still friends.) About touchy-feelyness, she went so far as to say that she would start hugging me just to annoy me. (Who does that?) All of this becomes stranger when understood that this was made into a public conversation, not a private one.
What is it with girls with A-letter names?
Two more days left until I leave for California.
Good stuff.
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