I Am Spock

I love this photo

I was saddened to hear about the passing of Leonard Nimoy yesterday. Not only am I a proud Trekkie, (or Trekker, depending on your preference and opinion) but I was a big fan of Mr. Nimoy. And his death comes at a very poignant time for me, especially because of his most famous character, Spock. For the past few weeks, I have been intentionally examining my experience as a Hapa. For those of you who don't know, that would be Half, typically half-Asian. Obviously, I am half-Japanese. (Although I've been told it's confusing when I say half-Japanese because then people think that my mom is from Japan. I get confused by this because when people say they are half-Irish, I don't immediately assume one of their parent's is from Ireland, but maybe that's just me). Anyway, a classmate of mine and I are working on an assignment together, and we have been given great liberties to choose any topic as it pertains to teaching and learning. She is also Hapa, however, she never heard this term until I mentioned it casually. She grew up in the Midwest, and needless to say, Hapa is a very Hawaiian and West Coast word. And when I say she is Hapa, she too is half-Japanese. Our conversations together have been eye-opening. For the first time in my life I have talked at length about what it's like to be half-Japanese, and talk at length with someone else who is. This has never happened before. I have only had glancing conversations about this. Finding someone familiar was usually by way of stories, or in movies. I had a couple of friends growing up who were Hapa and that helped. But I also remember seeing a familiar experience in Spock.

Kevin reminded me that Spock was Hapa (and here I use the term loosely, for "half"). I was surprised to hear this, but then I thought to myself, "Of course, remember all those embedded stories he had about being half-human, half-Vulcan?" And I was reminded of the familiarity I had with Spock, and the challenge it was sometimes for him to balance between two identities, just like it is for me. I don't talk much about this, because it's hard to articulate. But I wanted to write to say "Thank you Spock, I am like you". And thank you Leonard Nimoy for articulating this likeness in the character of Spock so well.