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Not really sure. Background is kind of cloudy. Only thing I am certain that I am is Irish (my Moms maiden name is Irish), and I look kind of Italian. I have been mistaken as a lighter skinned Cuban when I am very tan in the summer. From all available info, my family tree likely comes from some combination of Western/Southern European and Native American. I am almost certainly part southern European or Native American judging from my darker skin tint. My Mom believe there is a lot of Native American, and some Italian. Even though I am positive I am some Irish, I do not believe its very much, and is probably distant, as I dont carry any distinct Irish or Northern European features, nor does my Mom or her father.
Oh ok.
Quote:
Originally Posted by EOVMom
Born and raised in Coney Island/Bensonhurst..Back in the day I had relatives on the Grand Concourse and spent a LOT of time there as a kid. Back then it was 'upscale'..Not so much anymore!!
I Honestly havent been back since 2001 and have no desire to. I dont speak Russian OR Chinese! I have Serious issues with business owners who do not speak english!!
Ive been here in Hampton Roads for almost 4 years now, and plan to stay here. Yeah, there are some folks who stare (fear of the unknown, maybe? LOL!) but who cares? I come across a LOT of 'Southern Hospitality' here..'Yes m'aam, no m'aam' and LOTS of 'please and thank you' which was totally foreign to me when I first got here.
I remember when we first moved here we lived on East Little Creek Rd in Norfolk and were sitting on the front porch one evening. Most every person who passed (mostly males..) would nod their heads and say 'good evening'...my dtr was 12 at the time, and she got quite nervous..'why are they doing that?' she asked. I told her it was just good manners!! Sadly, she was quite used to just 'minding her own business and walking with her head down'. Kinda sad, in hindsight, huh?
Have a great weekend everyone!!
Wendy
Cool another NYer that lives in the Hampton Roads. I used to live in Grand Concourse in the Bronx back in the day when I was a little kid. Yeah lol, I could understand where your daughter was coming from, becaus when I recently moved here I found it weird that everybody would come out from no where and would approach me and say hi lol. However, now I am getting used to it. I still walk fast and always in rush lol.
Ok I should have asked this question a long time ago. I was reading some posts here and I just remembered this question. I'm originally from NYC. I hate when people stare at me so much. Why would people stare at me so much here? I am Puerto Rican. For the people here I look mixed like with White and Black. Puerto Ricans are made up of Indians(Taino), Blacks (Africans), Whites (Spain). So many Puerto Ricans may look White , Indian, or Black. However I look mix as people say here. In NYC they will know I am Puerto Rican. Now, I tend to dress baggy not too baggy that I have my pants below my waist. However, the young african americans tend to stare at me a lot when I dress baggy I don't know why... I look at them and they do not change their face. It aggravates me because in NYC to look at a person for a long time is bad. So I am already used to this. Why do you think they stare at me a lot?
Now I dress casual too, and still I would get other people to stare at me. I look at them and still they would not change their face. Why don't they change their face when I look at them? Any inputs will be highly appreciated.
I noticed I get stared at a lot too. When I visited NYC I quickly noticed I wasn't being stared at hardly at all and I felt like people were off my back. I don't know what it is. If you're just keeping to yourself and people still stare, they obviously have some kind of personal problem so I would just try to not let it get to you. There are a lot of uppity people here (IN MY EXPERIENCE). Just keep your head high.
I look at them and still they would not change their face. Why don't they change their face when I look at them? Any inputs will be highly appreciated.
I just took a serious look at your first question...okay, you ask they don't change their face when you look at them.
Why don't you change your face when they look at you? Honestly?
Clearly you are doing something out of the norm in Hampton Roads to get those kinds of stares (thousand-yard stare? glare? do you stomp around like they owe you space? New Yorkers, in my experience, can sometimes be overly assertive in their body language, and that's not the norm here). I doubt it's race-related; there's a huge mix in this area of white, black, hispanic, and asian, and I am not surprised when I run into any of those groups or mixtures of them around here.
Cool another NYer that lives in the Hampton Roads. I used to live in Grand Concourse in the Bronx back in the day when I was a little kid. Yeah lol, I could understand where your daughter was coming from, becaus when I recently moved here I found it weird that everybody would come out from no where and would approach me and say hi lol. However, now I am getting used to it. I still walk fast and always in rush lol.
Ive lived here for about 25 of my 28 years on earth. I have had people I never met threaten me and try to pick fights. I had a kid once I never met in my life walk up to me and punch me in the face, which didnt end well for him. Ive had people insult me or jeer out of bus windows and car windows. Ive had grown men flip me off when I was 15 years old while crossing the street. Ive been hassled by cops because of the clothes I wore. Ive had people jeer and comment about my fiance and I. Ive had people threaten to burn my parents house down because we were white in the wrong neighborhood......however, I can honestly say Ive never once had a perfect stranger walk up and say "hi" in Hampton Roads.
Actually, the only exceptionally friendly stranger Ive ever met was on the A train going down to Canal in Manhattan, when this woman and her teenage/early twenties daughter went out of their way to show us where all the maps and tickers in the subway car were (we didnt ask them, they just simply saw us looking at a map and offered the advice), even though we were obviously not from NYC, and by rights, were largely ignored, attempted to be taken advantage of, and even loathed by the average NYC resident. Now that I think about it, a security guard at the American Indian Musuem was also extremely nice, he saw us standing there looking like stranded tourists with a sopping wet map that was hardly readable any longer, walked all the way down all the steps on the front on the museum parallel to Battery, in the pooring rain, to help us find the right subway entrance to go back uptown. I have never ONCE witnessed anything of the sort down here. Down here, if you arent paying somebody, they arent going out of their way to do anything. Oh how I treasure the day when we move to Manhattan, and leave the "Southern Hospitality" behind.
there's a huge mix in this area of white, black, hispanic, and asian, and I am not surprised when I run into any of those groups or mixtures of them around here.
This is completely false. There are very few hispanics, and they are a majority Mexican. There is little presence from Carribean, Central or South American Hispanics. If you knew a little bit about Hispanics, you would know the several reasons why you cannot just group them together like you generally can group African Americans or American caucasians together. Each one of these groups are very distinct in culture and history, and sometimes they have even developed deeply ingrained dislike for other Hispanic groups. Two African Americans or American caucasians almost certainly will share more culturally and socially then a Dominican and a Puerto Rican, or say, a Mexican and a Venezuelan. You are not likely going to EVER run in to a "hispanic" group here in Hampton Roads as defined as hispanics from different originations mingling together. You need to be in a place where the complete culture breeds and promotes a melting pot. New York is the only city that really comes to mind, even though, some neighborhoods are particuliarly successful in keeping out people of other nationalities/races. Almost every single person in NYC knows what the deal in Washington Heights is. Miami and Los Angeles are known for diversity, but from what Ive seen and heard, there are very distinct battle lines drawn dividing each group. Here, they do not have the sheer numbers to actually carve out whole neighborhoods or areas because its so "black and white", but some of the local clubs are well known to have a distinct clientele.
As for Asian/Pacific Islander, its almost exactly the same thing. The Asian population of Hampton Roads is an overwhelmingly majority Filipino, and you will find them 9 times out of ten, either in a multicultural setting, or hanging with other Filipinos, but NOT hanging out with a random assortment of Asian or Pacific Islanders.
This is completely false. There are very few hispanics, and they are a majority Mexican.
Let me clarify, then. When I say 'mixtures' I don't mean hanging out making one big happy Hispanic family. I mean a crowd that would contain 2-3 white, 4-5 African-American, a couple of Hispanic, and some Asian-descended people. They're not there together, they're not hanging out, they happen to be in the same place because ALL those ethnic groups are represented in the AREA and are at the same place. Thus, a mixture of ethnicities is represented.
Let me clarify, then. When I say 'mixtures' I don't mean hanging out making one big happy Hispanic family. I mean a crowd that would contain 2-3 white, 4-5 African-American, a couple of Hispanic, and some Asian-descended people. They're not there together, they're not hanging out, they happen to be in the same place because ALL those ethnic groups are represented in the AREA and are at the same place. Thus, a mixture of ethnicities is represented.
Actually, the ratio would be more like 5 or 6 whites, 3 or 4 African American blacks, and either 1 Asian (likely Filipino) OR 1 Hispanic (likely Mexican) if you were to collect 10 random people.
In New York, it would be like 3-4 whites, 2-3 blacks, 2-3 Hispanics, which would have a better chance of being Puerto Rican or Dominican then other Hispanics, and 1 Asian.
Hampton Roads is black and white for all intensive purposes. Over 90% of the residents classify as one or the other. Its just a fact. This does not mirror the overall racial makeup of the US, not even close. Hampton Roads is much less white then the US, a tremendous amount more black, much less Hispanic (of this, over represented by Mexicans), and a little less Asian (but over represented by Filipinos).
Wow, what on earth is with the grammar police. Once again if you didnt catch it one of the 700 other times I said it.....I COULD CARE LESS. As long as my point is made, that is all I care about on a conversational chat board. I dont care if I switch up an occassional homophone, I dont care if I butcher a saying, I dont care if I spell something wrong, and I dont really care if I make a typo or miss punctuation. If I dont catch it immediatley when I do it, I just move on. This board has little value in my life other then a pass time. Its not going to get me a better job, its not a part of my resume, in fact, its not even a personal reflection on me, considering Im anonymous. So, why exactly should I give a rats ass about whether or not everything is perfect about it grammatically? Does the fact I misused or butchered "for all intents and purposes", make my argument factually wrong? No, it doesnt. Its just something for anal retentive cry babies to ***** about, bottom line.
Well I am very attractive, but the females are not the only ones that stare at me... Everybody in general stares at me.. Is it a VA thing?
Definitely not a VA thing. That is too funny. Must be a "doesn't get out much kind of thing", as in, they've never seen someone that looks like you before. In some parts of Latin America, the locals would stare at the blondies in places where they were few and far between.
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