Terra Sigillata

Altered Alerted by fellow blogger, Drugmonkey, I learned that insightful commenter, namnezia, has launched his own blog, Take it to the Bridge, with this great intro post on the blog and blogname (I like blog names that make you think.)

For those who began reading us for our discussions of underrepesented minority groups in the sciences, namnezia holds forth on the awkwardness of minority status in the university:

[S]oon after starting my job I promptly ended up in a list of "faculty of color". In fact, I am the only minority in my department, and one of a handful in my entire division. Now, to me "faculty of color" implies having brown or black skin. The problem is that, being Jewish, although I clearly am Mexican and my name is in Spanish, I don't look Mexican. Which puts me in an awkward situation. Every September I get invited to a luncheon for incoming students of color, and every September I struggle whether to go or not, or whether to sign up to be a mentor for an incoming student of color. On one hand, I can relate as a minority, which I felt much more growing up Jewish in a Catholic country where the antisemitism is real and stereotypes abound. I remember we would occasionally receive pictures of Hitler in the mail, or swastikas would show up on a synagogue or Jewish school wall. Some of my friends would tell me that their parents told them that the Jews killed Jesus. But those were things you got used to and overall I really loved growing up in Mexico. I feel very close to Mexico, and feel very Mexican.

I'm traveling back home today after visiting with PharmMom and PharmStiefvater for my mom's 70th birthday. As I start my morning in Santa Fe, New Mexico, their very Catholic and very Hispanic-influenced adopted home, I can appreciate the depth of namnezia's love for the motherland just a few hundred miles south.

But that's not all. namnezia speaks of coming up for tenure this year, having Tourrette syndrome, and the challenges of changing a shop-vac from dry to wet mode.

Add to this that Take it to the Bridge is presented in an eye-pleasing Georgia font of adequate size and spacing and you've got all the makings of a blog that you must put in your RSS reader and blogroll (which reminds me that I have to reconstructed my blogroll here).

Enjoy, readers, and welcome to this side of the tracks in the blogosphere, namnezia!