This Side of Borderline: Do you look "American" enough to be COMPLETELY immune from having to prove that you have a right to be here? Well I don't.

I get asked "what are you?" all the time. Most people guess some kind of Middle Eastern, East Indian, or Latin.

Actually, my father is American and of German descent; my mother is Thai and LEGALLY moved here with my dad when she was 29; she gave birth to me at University Medical Center here in Fresno, CA on March 3, 1986.

The reason I am blogging about this: if I were in Arizona, I would (most likely) have to prove my right to be in the U.S., in spite of being born here, because I'm not full Caucasian. Here are the reasons:

5. I've been told I look like a Bollywood actress.

4. My boyfriend's step-grandmother thought it was weird that I didn't like to eat lamb because apparently, people from my "country" eat it all the time! Click the link, then look at my pic, and take a guess as to which region she was referring to (hint: it's not Scotland).

3. Strangers have been known to come up to me and speak to me in Farsi (the official language of Iran), Urdu (official language of Pakistan), or Hindi; I usually say "I don't speak that language. I only speak English." and they will usually say, in English, "I thought you were such-and-such nationality, I'm sorry." Very polite and all, but even they could see that my phenotype is not that of a prototypical American girl.

2. This guy from Iran once proposed to me on behalf of his son.

1. When I was 10, someone asked me if I had a green card because I didn't look "American." I didn't know what a green card was. When I found out, it upset me very much, and I started to hate my mother for "tainting" my genetic makeup. I've told this to her numerous times, blaming her for my skin not being lily white and for my square jaw. It makes her very proud of her heritage, indeed!