Black.White & Written All Over

It’s been one of those weeks — where my block is unlocked the day I have something specific to do besides write.  I could drag out freelance invoices for two entire days if I wanted to.

Apparently there’s no such thing as an entirely original concept, and Ice Cube and I have been walking around toying with the same general idea.  Well, let me amend that.

F/X’s new “Black.White” series vaguely shares one of my ideas: examine how ethnicity shapes our perception of one another and ourselves.  I already mentioned in my very first blog entry that many characters of my book are inspired by real people — employees of a coffeehouse I frequent whom I see regularly but do not know and with whom I’ve had very little conversation.  The plot and setting have nothing to do with these folks’ actual lives. 

One of the reasons I changed their ethnicities (and ages) is to protect their privacy and avoid any possibility of legal action if my big mouth gets the better of me.  Secondly, it bothered me that the characters I follow, based in Miami-Dade, are mostly Ashkenazic Jews.  In a sense, it’s perfectly fitting and appropriate.  I write what I know about, the story’s themes are Jewish, and despite the incredible pan-Latin diversity in South Florida, it is unfortunately one of the most segregated metropolitan areas in the U.S.

And finally, I was curious to see how an individual’s personality would manifest itself in another framework. 

For the sake of convenience (not to play paradigmatic gymnastics), I will refer to the fictitious character inspired by an actual individual as that person’s “character”. 

Right now, I’ve got a WASP blond “playing” a Haitian guy.

An Ashkenazic Jew “playing” an old Dominican woman.

Another Ashkenaz “playing” a teenage Cuban boy.

A WASP woman playing a Sephardic girl.

Another WASP girl playing a Pakistani.

You get the picture.