German Unity, Yay

Tag der Deutschen Einheit
(The day of German re-unification—a national holiday*)

Went to visit Brian’s cousin in Kaiserslautern. Had lots of fun. Brian is black and so is his family. So, I spent the day soaking up as much of what I now miss about America: cultural diversity. You have no idea what it is like to have to live in such a homogenous culture. The only minority is the Turkish one, and I, like many Germany, do not really relate to it (different culture, different language, head scarves, etc.)

I burned a DVD for Brian’s cousin because we had talked about this great movie that I had recently seen before visiting her last time, the “Diary of a Mad Black Woman.” I had burned the DVD that morning before my shower and, as I was leaving, Chris handed it to me and I put it in my bag. I get to Brian’s cousin’s house, and hand her the DVD. She look at it and says
“uh, Diarrhea of a Mad Black Woman?”
“Huh?”
“This says Diarrhea of a Mad Black Woman. Is that some kind of joke?”
You have to understand, that this movie is sort of the pride of the African American community right now. It was poo pooed by many critics, but won some people’s choice awards. I guess Chris, being his jovial self had decided to make a little joke, as usual, without thinking of the implications, only of the obvious pun when he wrote the title on the DVD. Needless to say, my efforts to make a connection with this woman that I like very much were stunted in a moment when she perceived that I was making a joke about a movie that I supposedly liked and that is one of the pillars of African American culture. Thanks, Chris.

* Should really be celebrated on the 9th of November, the date the wall actually came down, but that date coincides with Kristallnacht, one of Germany’s darkest days. So, October 3rd was chosen instead.