first of all, allow me to share a story with you. this story shows my own ignorance. i feel it's important to first share this, so that i don't seem like i'm ridiculing anyone. keep in mind this entire post is made in good fun. :)
once upon a time...
as a junior in high school, there was the whole HUGE warren jeffs ordeal. so, like every other misinformed, culturally UNdiverse Nebraskan, i associated mr. jeffs with mormons. members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. i asked one of my very best friends in the whole wide world, who happens to be LDS, how many moms he had. literally. exactly like that. in front of way-too-many people. i walked right up to him, and thinking it was an innocent enough question, said,
"how many moms do you have?"
hahahahahaha. obviously, i'm an awesome friend. but i swear i had no idea it was a rude thing to ask, or that people would die laughing, or that he would be so angry with me for asking, oops.
i really thought "mormons have lotsa mommies per daddy. nbd." wrong, alison. so, so wrong.
[for those of you who are unaware, mormons DO NOT practice polygamy. nor have we for half a kajillion years. ish. [my math might be a little skewed. but you get the picture.]
anyway. so that's my ignorant-about-the-LDS-church-moment. i have since, thank goodness, learned more. and am quite happy with the fact that i am a member, now. [and by "quite happy" i actually mean "freakin ecstatic!!!", duhhh.]
okay, all of that being said... here's my favorite experience of the week. without a doubt.
my art teacher was teaching us about being pc. it was actually a pretty intense conversation, about not saying "Indian" when referring to "Native American"s. he also taught us about being careful, when we teach students about Thanksgiving, etc., because it's so easy to just draw that typical cartoon Native American we all grew up drawing.
however, if you think about it, that's totally not politically correct at all.
it's degrading. it's acting as if Native Americans have not developed at all, or they are still stuck in the past. i won't go on and on, but you get the picture.
so here was the example he gave. [and don't worry, i pretty much peed my pants. keep in mind i'd just listened for an hour on being pc and not being offensive. lucky for him, it's tough to offend me...]
"i mean, come on! we can't just keep drawing Native Americans like that! it'd be like if people still drew all white people looking like pilgrims, or Mormons, or something! i mean, if Native Americans drew white people to all look like Mormons, how would that make you feel? would you be ok with being depicted as a Mormon in every picture?"
he literally went on for aprox. eighty-four years. about looking like a Mormon.
i think he was meaning like, bonnet, horse-drawn buggy, etc...
unfortunately for him, he was completely off track with this statement. whoops!
so with that being said, i'd like to say that the world has a whole lot to learn about the LDS church...
[before you go on to read this, please know it's me being sarcastic & sassy as always, and in no way is or represents the doctrine of the church, etc. it's all said half-jokingly & in no way meant offensively.]
dear professor [whose name i will not list because i think you're a decent guy who just got a little mixed up],
i believe that what you were referring to when you said "mormons" is something like this:
if you were wondering, sir, i googled "amish", not "mormon" to get these pictures...
i know, i know; it's probably the white shirts, right?
it can be a bit confusing. ;)
i'm so glad we got that cleared up...
if i were being "depicted as a mormon," as you said, it might actually look a little something like this:
so to answer your question, i'd feel pretty dang good if this is what i am drawn to look like!! i don't know too many people would argue with being depicted as "mormon," after seeing this picture. :)
so glad we had this chit-chat.
xoxo, [yeah, i said "xoxo"--i want an A in your class, duh.]
alison
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