Look good in leather

SEVILLE, Spain -- The Spanish, they all look the same. \nRemarkable, but it's heartwarming to know that Bloomington is truly a diverse campus. \n"Blasphemy! A naïve statement from a suburban youth who doesn't know what it feels like to stick out."\nWelcome to the fun house that is America.\nAside from one-sentence paragraphs, I've come to gather a few bits and pieces of awareness while spending six months here in Seville. \nNow one of the very first observations, and after my entire stint one of the most nagging, is that there is nowhere on Earth more diverse and at the same time more insecure about diversity than America -- and because we all live there, let's just go ahead and transplant that little notion over to Bloomington.\nIn a country that, for lack of a friendlier image, hip-tossed every Moor and Jew over their borders while Plymouth Rock was still simply named Rock, the idea of "integration" isn't something that comes up often on the political agenda. Spain is a country where "trabaja como un negro" ("work like a black") is a phrase that one could hear emerging from the lips of almost any God-fearing, well-intentioned Spaniard without the slightest outrage; a phrase recognized by the Real Academia Española as not something merely politically (albeit incorrectly) evolved, but a part of the national lexicon. \nBeing away from the back drop of prizefighting between sects and races and organized groups while being exposed to non-diversity in action truly makes one appreciate what America has tried -- albeit with many and persisting errors -- to correct. \nYet how does one put that awareness in perspective if the greater majority hasn't had the opportunity to take a gander over the other side of the puddle?\nFirst, let's remove this entire notion of "pride" from race, country and -- given a few exceptions -- religion. To paraphrase more discretely the words of late philosopher William Hicks when answering the question, Are you proud to be an American? and, for that matter, white or Catholic:\n"America is where my parents copulated. I really didn't have much choice in the matter."\nIf we had that image on our flag instead of our stars and stripes, would saying the Pledge in schools really ever have become such a blood-boiling issue?\nTo that matter, why should we ever feel hurt by something we had nothing to do with in the first place?\nPersonally, I take my Puerto Rican roots with a big smile on my face. I don't take pride in the fact because I wasn't responsible, but I sure do enjoy the advantage of having a history, a culture and a language with which to identify. \nWhen you look at it that way, one feels much less "different" or "isolated" from the rest of the lecture hall, but rather, a step above. It's as if I'm wearing a fine pair of Italian leather shoes to class every day and they never get scuffed. Should I feel bad that I'm the only one in Woodburn that morning sticking out? Certainly not. I feel damn good.\nSo instead of blaming administrators and professors for not turning every hour of every class into an Olympics opening ceremony, remember first that we've got the gravy compared with the rest of the industrialized world. \nInstead of brooding over how it makes you feel not to fit in while in Bloomington, try playing less the sick puppy and more the Derby champion. You stick out for a reason, because something that good only comes around once in awhile. Let everyone else get used to it instead of crying because your environment isn't a hall of mirrors.