Minding my business, doing what law students do while occasionally sipping down my favorite drink, I was with a friend. And then there was a sneak attack.
“Hi, are you guys law students?”
“He is, I’m not” my friend responds while pointing at the law student.
I move my head, spotting an eager-looking, blue-eyed person. His gaze on our splattered pages and laptops, empty glass tea holders, highlighters.
“Oh, where do you go to school?”
“UCLA.”
“Oh, I’m at UCLA too!” Its nice to have a conversation with a stranger, I think to myself.
“What’s your major?” my friend asks.
“History - what kind of law do you want to do?”
“Immigration - or at least something in that general area.”
“Cool - so did you go to law school immediately after school?”
“No no no, I’m old - I’ve been out of school for five years.”
“Oh.”
After we end this semi-awkward conversation, we return to our highlighting sticks and typing machines.
We two brown people in a Persian cafe that serves Brazilian coffee. A good place. There are some women sitting on the side, not far from us. No one is really far in this small place, where there are backgammon boards and wonderful-looking cheesecakes under shiny bright glass. There is hookah outside and Persian music inside.
Next thing I hear is Farsi coming from this eager person’s mouth. He has conversations with the workers at the restaurant, he talks to the women. They are astounded that he can speak and comprehend their language. His chair slowly moves towards them as the two tables warm up to each other.
It turns out that he is studying Farsi and as he speaks more and more of it, asking the women questions as he studies, they are oohing and aahing at his language mastery. He is humble and I’m not so sure it is genuine or not. He constantly asks every few minutes “don’t mean to bother you, but…” He is trying hard to seem the oblivious eager language learner.
Of course, I am always wondering. Is he really oblivious to it all, to the appropriation of someone’s else’s language, going to a cafe to try and talk it up with women who are impressed by his abilities? Are his language abilities indicative of a larger kind of respect of culture that people with immense amounts of privilege often don’t have? Or is it straight up appropriation?
Of course, he could simply be trying to learn - and what better place than a Persian cafe? Right?
Right.
Holler! That was me! I was the friend with the typing machine and highlighting sticks!
I dunno dude, those Persian chicks were totally egging him on- cooing over him and how cute he was trying to learn their language. They LOVED it. You could tell. Can I say mutually fetishizing?
If the fetish is mutual, is it wrong?
Left by taz on November 8th, 2006