{"id":11813,"date":"2017-12-21T01:00:16","date_gmt":"2017-12-21T09:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/?p=11813"},"modified":"2017-12-21T00:55:09","modified_gmt":"2017-12-21T08:55:09","slug":"i-am-injera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/es\/11813\/opinion\/i-am-injera\/","title":{"rendered":"I am: Injera"},"content":{"rendered":"

I will never know exactly who I am because the words don\u2019t exactly come to mind. Injera describes me the most; a traditional Ethiopian dish my mom made growing up.<\/span><\/p>\n

Injera is complicated to explain; just like me. It\u2019s a soft flatbread that is served with fresh toppings such as meat, vegetables, and cheese. The toppings can be sweet, savory, and a mix of different tastes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Injera is who I am <\/span>\u2014 <\/span>symbolically, of course <\/span>\u2014 <\/span>and the toppings are my characteristics. I can be nice, mature, and intelligent, but I can also be the complete opposite. When making injera, it\u2019s hard to know how it will turn out; just like how I will never know who I will turn out to be.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was born in America and my parents are from Ethiopia, a country located in East Africa. People constantly ask me where I am from, and when I say Ethiopia, no one believes me. People say I have Asian, Arab, or black features. I am from America and have African parents, but people don\u2019t consider me to be African American because my parents speak their language and have brought their culture with them. I am an African American despite what others say, despite my light brown skin, despite the fact that I am a Muslim woman and I wear a hijab.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I was younger, I felt out of place when people from my parents country were surprised that I\u2019m Ethiopian too. For a while, I was thinking about taking a DNA test. That thought sat in my mind for a while. I wanted to know if I really was a descendant of Arabs and Asians just like everyone thought I was. I felt like I didn\u2019t really know myself. <\/span><\/p>\n

I get it. I have lighter skin and smaller eyes than most Ethiopians, but that doesn\u2019t mean that I don\u2019t belong. I may never know what countries my ancestors are truly from, but when I eat Injera with my family, I am reminded of who I really am. Everyone\u2019s preconceptions about me slowly slip away with each bite.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

“I am…” is a special series in which we asked students to bring new insight into social issues through the lens of identity and their life experiences, and to answer the ultimate question: Who are you?<\/em><\/p>\n

To read all other articles in this series, click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I will never know exactly who I am because the words don\u2019t exactly come to mind. Injera describes me the most; a traditional Ethiopian dish my mom made growing up. Injera is complicated to explain; just like me. It\u2019s a soft flatbread that is served with fresh toppings such as meat, vegetables, and cheese. The…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":502,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[442,443],"staff_name":[694],"class_list":["post-11813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-i-am","tag-identity","staff_name-saliha-nasir"],"yoast_head":"\nI am: Injera - City College Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/es\/11813\/opinion\/i-am-injera\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I am: Injera - City College Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I will never know exactly who I am because the words don\u2019t exactly come to mind. Injera describes me the most; a traditional Ethiopian dish my mom made growing up. Injera is complicated to explain; just like me. It\u2019s a soft flatbread that is served with fresh toppings such as meat, vegetables, and cheese. The...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/es\/11813\/opinion\/i-am-injera\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"City College Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SJCityCollegeTimes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-21T09:00:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sjcctimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sjcctimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Escrito por\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\" Saliha Nasir, Contributor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Tiempo de lectura\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutos\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"I am: Injera - City College Times","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/es\/11813\/opinion\/i-am-injera\/","og_locale":"es_ES","og_type":"article","og_title":"I am: Injera - City College Times","og_description":"I will never know exactly who I am because the words don\u2019t exactly come to mind. Injera describes me the most; a traditional Ethiopian dish my mom made growing up. Injera is complicated to explain; just like me. It\u2019s a soft flatbread that is served with fresh toppings such as meat, vegetables, and cheese. The...","og_url":"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/es\/11813\/opinion\/i-am-injera\/","og_site_name":"City College Times","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SJCityCollegeTimes","article_published_time":"2017-12-21T09:00:16+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@sjcctimes","twitter_site":"@sjcctimes","twitter_misc":{"Escrito por":" Saliha Nasir, Contributor","Tiempo de lectura":"2 minutos"}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/502"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11813"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11850,"href":"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11813\/revisions\/11850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11813"},{"taxonomy":"staff_name","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/staff_name?post=11813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}