About me

When, Elle asked me to write and/or submit for her blog I got nervous. I don't know why exactly, but I did. I'm not the eloquent writer that she is. My occupation couldn't be further from academia. But she's gently nudged me for a long time now. I'm known to send her countless articles on politics, current events, etc. She'd always persist I should be sharing them on her blog. I finally agreed, but then I thought maybe I should introduce myself, and proceeded to procrastinate about that for the nexts 3 or 4 weeks. Hell, Elle is probably having a heart attack right now as she realizes I'm actually writing!

So, who am I? Hmmmm.....I'm not sure what defines "me" really. I can say that my perspective/upbringing is quite different from Elle's. I'm a biracial/bicultural military brat with a German mother (German national, not German-American) and Black father, a caucasian brother (BROTHER, not half brother - I hate it when people try to diminish our bond - we both came out of my mother's womb), and another brother like me. I spent most of my childhood in Italy and Germany attending American schools that were full of every variety of race/culture mix you can think of. I moved to small town central Texas as a freshman in highschool and immediately suffered a huge culture shock. People made such a big deal about the states (they called it "the world"), and, I thought, THIS was it????

I've reluctantly entered my 30s (somewhat recently, though I won't tell HOW recently). Elle and I were college roomies with exactly the same major and minor and we took the same classes. It's crazy to see how different our career choices became. She's Dr. Elle, historian extraordinaire, and I'm Kimberly, the executive-lite at a small corporation in a job that couldn't be further away from academia. Yet I'm still a "nerd" who can regurgitate odd facts, who follows politics closely, who can name most countries on a map, and who is fascinated (though not an expert) by history, sociology, and psychology.

Growing up on military bases, my racial identity and the makeup of my family was never really a big deal. We always had people do double takes when people realized my brothers and I were in-fact brothers and sister....but beyond that, we weren't too far from the norm. Mixed race kids were a pretty decent sized percentage of the kids that went to school. We weren't "different".
When I moved to Texas and started high-school, I began to feel as if I was supposed to identify myself as something. That was the first time I'd seen Black and White so separated. But even then, mixed race kids were the furthest thing from uncommon. When I went to college in Houston, was when I really saw a division. For the first time in my life, I couldn't really name any white friends. That was odd to me. And that was the first time in my life that I found myself included in the division that exists.

Out of college and into wifedom and mommyhood, I've expanded my friendship across many cultures. I may even have a Republican friend or two. But my views are quite liberal (and CORRECT of-course). I believe in Jesus, but have serious issues with organized religion that has kept me away from church for years up until recently.

I have 2 little boys who light up my life and a husband who's, well, a husband. Elle and I were very close in college and she continues to be someone I think of as a sister. I'm extremely proud of her and in awe of all she's been able to overcome and accomplish.

I'm not sure WHAT I'll be contributing, but I'm honored to be asked. So........................HI!

(forgive typos and grammaticals.....I've been jumping between this and real work!)