Sometimes Asian, Mostly American

I will never not share a K-Beauty tip. Despite being adopted, I wholeheartedly claim K-Beauty. (Also, claiming culture will be in a future post, stay tuned.) But as the multi-step skin savior has become a more mainstream occurrence, I find some of my excitement clouded by frustration. The idea of cultural appropriation is not new, and in no way am I saying that a white girl buying a Tony Moly mask at Ulta is guilty of exploiting a culture that she has no right to claim. It's so much more ambiguous than that, especially since my lack of cultural ties can theoretically put me in the same boat. I also cannot blame anyone from milking cheap, but quality skin care.      Before the explosion of K-Beauty, I was introduced to it by another Asian friend. I was super excited to hear of something coming out of Korea that isn't K-pop or North Korean refugees. It was something I could immediately latch onto because it was something easy to understand for me and it made me more ethn...

     My identity as a Person of Color is probably the most annoying part of me to white people. Maybe it's because they hate when I call them white and call out racism that society beats into them or maybe it's because they see me as white.      With my friends and family, being adopted and raised by a white family in America, many people do not see the problem with saying that because I'm so normal that I'm not even Asian (I know, I know, next blog post, we're staying on topic). While the exact phrasing varies, the idea remains. I have assimilated to white society so well, I do not pass their racial litmus test. Maybe it's my perfect English or the fact I don't wear a hanbok everyday, but I am not ethnic enough to be Asian. Since I do not have any stereotypical identifiers, I do not fit into the box that a white society has made for "Asians/Orientals" (again, another post, so much to go through). This creates a disconnect between my race/ethnicit...