Jun 14 2008
Allow me to reintroduce myself
My name is Bri, Bri Cooley… Well ok, that’s not my REAL name, but it suits me juuuust fine. I don’t really have anything super awesome about me. I’m just funny according to my family & friends. I am sure you are thinking: “Oh, well in that case, how funny can she be?” My response: “Pretty damned funny.” My family & friends are what you would call a tough crowd. My friends are funny themselves depending on your idea of funny. They are petty… But not in the actual sense of the word. “Petty” as we use it refers to our talent of drawing attention to the details of a person’s appearance, personality, attitude, etc. in a humorous way. Humor is in the finer points. Remember that, it’s important.
I live in MD, just outside of DC. Literally a block from NE & about 5 or 6 blocks from good ole Montgomery County. My neighborhood is a melting pot of every culture imaginable. Within 5 miles of my house there are any number of peruvian, vietnamese, carribean, and soul food restaurants. I love to eat, so I live in the perfect place for that. I live in the neighborhood I grew up in after years of moving all over the drab and boring Southern Prince George’s area. I attended college in North Carolina and moved right back to the Metro area. I thought maybe I could survive in another city, but I realize there is no place I would rather be. I am a good ole boring government worker. I do improv, design, singing and writing “on the side” and I like eating, laughing, and the arts. Oh yeah, I am Black. Not that that MATTERS, but it may later, maybe, I don’t know.
Speaking of race, there is a very interesting trend I have noticed on television lately. Multiracial families in commercials. But not in a truly logical & believable way. I just saw a Commercial for Dixie paper plates. And there is a woman serving spaghetti to table full of children. The assumption is that the woman is Italian as she discusses her grandmother’s marinara. The children appear to be of some Western European descent I guess, the problem is, the WOMAN appears to be Black. Not that there aren’t Black Italians or that Italians don’t have olive skin, but it is just odd that they chose a woman of any possible racial background but cast children that do not look like her in any way, shape, form or fashion. I am all for multiracial families, you love who you love. But what was the thought pattern in choosing people that don’t look like they belong together with no obvious genealogical connection to play family members in a 30 second commercial with no real explanation. It just strikes me as odd.
During the winter holidays, I noticed there was always one white person at a black holiday table and one black person at a white holiday table. Who are these random people? Are we to assume someone invited a coworker with no family or the the little boy from down the street? Clearly these people stood out. I am just wondering why there was just ONE person. I would have loved to be in on that casting meeting, just to find out what they were thinking. Again not that it is wrong, but it is odd. I’m not hating, I’m just stating.
