Noah's got a lot going on! He'll be fine.

Also, I am reminded of my Memere insisting to me that she was not French, she was American. Now, I realize I should have said French-Canadian, but OK, Memere, lets have some tourtiere and talk about this some more....

Noah's a little kid! He doesn't have to have it all figured out right now. He'll be fine, like Jesse said.

Jesse's grandmother reminds me of mine, who was always and only American. Meanwhile, her sister was Jewish and her mother was Austrian. It's interesting what people will grab onto as their preferred identities, especially when we all really have multiples to choose from.

I didn't think I was black at about Noah's age. I was Jamaican (pretty easy when you live there), but I wasn't black. I was brown.

Then came the books.

work is so much improved with music (at least the type of work I was doing yesterday and most of what I am doing today). YAY iTouch!

Urgh. My internal thermostat is still broken. I am continually uncomfortable.

And I have a ton of shit to rip through today. A year's worth of status reports to summarise.

I sometimes worry if my kids will identify as Jewish when they grow up. I'm not even really sure why it's important to me - DH and I are both atheists, and the only time I've set foot in a synagogue in the past 20 years was to go to a retirement party for two of my former Hebrew school teachers.

(There is an atheist/secular Jewish congregation in NYC but it's in Manhattan and would be a pretty long subway trip for the kids, especially Friday evenings.)

I agree with amyth that there are so many identities to chose from and some, for me, that are so much more present and interesting than cultural. But, because I grew up in such a white place, I always knew I wasn't white because everyone else was. Noah and Grace are growing up in a really diverse neighborhood (well, in every way that is not related to economics at least) and for them, perhaps, being Asian is not as front and center.

I agree with amyth that there are so many identities to chose from and some, for me, that are so much more present and interesting than cultural. But, because I grew up in such a white place, I always knew I wasn't white because everyone else was. Noah and Grace are growing up in a really diverse neighborhood (well, in every way that is not related to economics at least) and for them, perhaps, being Asian is not as front and center.

Jessica, might it have to do with identifying as Jewish culturally rather than religiously?

I obviously identify very strongly as Italian, even though I'm only half. My mom is predominantly English and Irish, and I barely acknowledge it all. I can't even imagine what my self-identity would be if the Italian wasn't there.