isn't racism amazing?

The divide between skin colour is one of the most challenging conditionings of humankind. A fear of the unknown. An alien tribe or community. Someone who is new, who is different, who's culture has rewarded different behaviours might feel challenged or uncomfortable when stepping in to another world or differing paradigms. And sometimes those stereotypes get reaffirmed by mass media to reinforce an idea and a projection of fear.

Richard Cohen is now famous for reporting in his Washington Post editorial that, “in New York City, blacks make up a quarter of the population, yet they represent 78 percent of all shooting suspects – almost all of them young men.” A couple weeks previous, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office released a set of statistics to corroborate his claim that the NYPD should stop-and-frisk fewer white people and more black people. They reported that 90% of those identified as murder suspects were blacks or Latino, and only 7% were white.

But here’s the even more important finding. In both of those studies, whites who were pulled over and searched were actually more likely to have illegal drugs or contraband in their vehicles. In New Jersey, whites were twice as likely to be found with illegal drugs or contraband than blacks and five times more likely than Latinos. The same thing held true in Maryland. (via Big Think: Racism, Damn Racism, and Statistics: Using a Truth to Tell a Lie).

I recently learned, from a family who chose to adopt in America, that it was significantly cheaper to adopt a child of 'ethnic minority' than a 'white' child.

Nothing amazing about that besides it being a remarkable fact.

But what is truly amazing. What is something magical and equally cheesey, so cheesey, is this kid who got up on stage and did some mind-blowingly against the grain stuff. Despite it being shown on TV and doing that overly exaggerative US thing of making a sing and dance out of the fierce vulnerability this kid demonstrated, it also is AMAAAAZING. Forgive the stereotype.

Imagine if we lived in a world where all we saw was to the key of awe rather than to the key of fear of something different, of something unknowable or against the status quo? What a beautifully inspiring world we would live in.

I wonder what if our projections, beliefs and ideas could create reality? If we could choose. Why not believe in togetherness? Why not have faith in humanity? Why not challenge what the media may want us to believe?

I have the virtue of traveling to different worlds to remind me to go 'oh wow'. The precious moments though, especially those when I feel well and truly out of my comfort zone, are absolutely amazing as are those different rituals, cultures, ideas, skin tones, dance moves and different children too often misunderstood.

My friend Kyle recently described my speciality as 'getting lost' much to my amusement and I suppose I enjoy the challenge of being in the vortex of endless possibilities and often taking the scenic route back home.  And I guess also, we all can relate to that feeling one might experience as a child, when one loses their way in wonder and finds their parents have gone.  It might instil a sense of fear, abandonment, worry but it needn't have to. My favourite time getting lost for me as a child was when I lost my Pops and second Mum on the Eiffel Tower on a holiday in Paris with my little brother.  But perhaps that's what made it so special, because despite being lost, I still had a brother (and we secretly enjoyed it). Love to the family.

I say we embrace the unknown. 

Literally. 

Like go hug a stranger... I did it the other day and it felt so amazing.

strength in adversity

I remember being in a brand workshop a few years ago and we were asked to reflect upon ourselves when we were kids at school and come up with a proposition.

There was the quirky "back row geek" and the delightful "ray of sunshine" which made me realise my prop was seemingly self-indulgent; what kept appearing in my mind was "strength in adversity" - which isn't the typical proposition for a reflection on your childhood. Bold and rather self-righteous, one might think, but I can't help feel the statement was true for those years growing up and not because I am either of those things.

I was the girl at school who was often absent either on extended trips to Venezuela - where half my family is from - or because I was sick or had managed to find myself hospitalised again (I had a bizarre spell of various hospital visits; suspected lymphoma, right knee surgery, dislocated right ankle, stitches in my left shin, ripped off toe nail(!), acute glandular fever... etc).  I changed schools a few times because of my family relocating, then separating, then relocating while I refused to attend a girls boarding school for that very reason; it was only for girls.  And yet amongst this instability I not only managed to find a solid group of smart and supportive friends who still feature in my life today via the virtues of Facebook; but I also remarkably achieved the highest grades in my year... even after I was told by more than one of my teachers not to get my hopes up at even passing. Huh-um... Thank you Mrs Joyce and Mrs Findley.

And so now, ten years on, I have a new found appreciation for that young girl because when adversity comes to revisit and prompts changes unplanned, a small part of my "grown up self" still knows that this is the chance to be strong and perhaps even do something surprising (yes the inverted commas are intentional).

These are my last two weeks in Sydney. After an incredible four years it is now time to move on to another chapter; the unknown. Like two weights on a set of scales one feels equally liberated and frightful at the prospect of venturing in to the unknown without a conventional game plan. My objectives are very simple: Family, travel, photography and writing... until money runs out.

My next stop? Japan. I can't think of a better place to be thrown out of my comfort zone and potentially reunite with my lovely Nitro snowboard as I spend my 27th birthday riding solo off-piste with monkeys. Besides India of course. That place sounds pretty intense. Which is where I'll be going after Japan.

I hope to continue sharing my stories, learnings and inspirations. Please feel free to join me on the ride. Seriously. Otherwise you can follow my hopefully-less-sentimental-and-reflective-on-my-adolescence updates here.

Jess.