Fad cultures

Asians are SO hot right now.

At least they are for me. Previously in my circle of influence, I was familiar with Latin American, European, and American culture (or subcultures thereof). But I’d never had any asian friends. Close friends, that is. Not so odd, I think, because UMBC is notorious for Asians keeping to themselves and the Anime club was full of white people. Then, after I graduated, I found the Asian supermarket near my house to have the best prices of produce (makes you wonder where they get it from bieng so cheap), and as I’m a voracious herbivore I started going there. I would like to say that that opened up a new culture for me, but although I made it my policy to try one new food each time I went there, I also had a policy (for safety reasons!) of not buying anything without an English translation on the package, so I really did feel limited by my language capability.

But then I met some Asians. Filipinos, to be exact. To be sure, their culture is very distinct from other Asian cultures, but they have become the first asians that i can say I know well. Two of my TKD instructors are Filipino (Mr. C makes a point of it, in fact, to tell whatever newbie comes by for class that TKD is Korean, but he is Filipino. Us white people wouldn’t know the difference otherwise.). The best Arnis fighter at the school is also Filipino. Before knowing them, asians were simply friendly faces, but I was never attracted to them nor their culture. Now, there is a mystique about them that fascinates me and is so attractive to me. Thier faces look like marble statues, and they have jet black hair that often shimmers with shades of blue. Thier features look so purposefully placed on thier faces, as if God fitted the eyes, nose, and mouth from below in order to not disturb thier flawless skin.

And thier culture has come alive for me in an explosion of colors. Thier written languagees look to me like mysterious hyroglyphics, and its direction brings a sense of the vertical to writing that I had never even thought about. Their foods- geez where do I even begin! I can’t say I like all asian food, but all of the vegetables that they use impresses me. It seems that they make better use of the resources they have- eating all parts of the fish, all parts of the vegetable.

And then there’s the quirks. Like, I had no idea that they get red when drinking and can’t handle thier alcohol. When my filipino friend told me this, I laughed at him, until i realized that he got a tad offended. Whoops.

But, although I am quite happily taken up by the mystique of this culture (or the variety of asian cultures) I know that once I become familiar with the good and bad, quirks and strengths of these people, they too will lose that mystery and will become- for better or worse- just people, like me. This is why I say it is a fad race.

But, what I really want to know is- does anybody else have a fad race/culture? I figure that with the twisted view on the world that we have {exoticism} it is only natural that we whites experience this. But you minorities, do you have fad cultures?