Friday, February 19th, 2010
Deb Oh
Age
23
Location
New York City
Occupation
Singer-Songwriter
Own Words
I’ve never strictly tied my identity to being ‘Korean-American’. And I’m not trying to sound profound here – it’s just that in my experience, it’s too arbitrary of a term; one that practically begs for stereotyping.
Sure, both of my parents are Korean, and I can speak enough of the language to get by at a restaurant in K-town (’Soon-dooboo jjigae’ is really the only dish I need to know how to say), but then you throw in the rest of my story: growing up in Alaska as the only Korean (nay, the only Asian) kid in grade school, to being one of MANY Korean kids in Fort Lee, NJ, then going back to being the only Korean in my high school class on the Upper East Side of Manhattan…well, you get the point. Somewhere between my Morning Glory sticker-picture phase and studying French cinema in Paris, the ‘Korean-American’ identifier just faded into the backdrop.
Because really, what’s the point? I come from a loving and supportive family that doesn’t cringe at the fact that I prefer Tolstoy and Fitzgerald over math and science; or that I’m writing music and playing shows rather than going to med/law school; or that I can’t handle spicy foods as well as my mother (who literally guzzles hot sauce).
So yes, I am a non-religious, non-KSA, yet non-self-loathing ‘Korean-American’ (we exist). I’m also a sarcasm-loving New Yorker, cold-weather-hating Alaskan, Duke Ellington-loving musician, light-hearted blogger, DSLR-loving photographer, and Truffaut-loving cinephile, among other things. Let’s break some stereotypes, shall we?