True story.

Like most people who grew up as part of a mostly homogenous population, I don't have much of a racial consciousness. If you asked me to list 100 words describing myself I seriously doubt that "caucasian" would be among them. Ethnicity I have in bucketfuls, but race I apparently lack. Eunsuk says it's the same for her.

I'm a bit nervous about the questions that my future offspring will have about race. It's a bizarre concept when you think about it. Superficially obvious, the idea falls to pieces when you examine it closely. There is no biological meaning to race. It has significance only because people attach significance to it. Unfortunately, once that significance has been attached there's no easy way to get it off again. The word itself has a terrible weight: heavy enough to crush ideas, lives, entire cultures.

In asking that question, I don't think my student intended to set off a long winded discussion about race. Instead I think she just wanted to know whether or not our children had light skin and blue eyes. This is the first of three strips that I've prepared on the subject of identity. Tune in next Monday for strip number two.

Ataraxia Theatre is an anthology of different stories by Joseph Hewitt. It updates every Monday and Thursday.