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We Wear the Mask: 15 Stories of Passing in America by Brando Skyhorse, Lisa Page, Sergio Troncoso
pantehnreads's review against another edition
4.0
This book is 15 stories about passing, but not in the way I thought it would be. I assumed it would be 197 pages of light-skin and white passing tears. Instead they are are personal essays from all types of people that pass in different ways. Racial passing, cis-passing, straight passing, class/economic passing and more. They are all very personal and well written essays on things the essayist has experiences. All in all I enjoyed this book, but as with all anthologies some stories are better than others. Still, I learned a lot about "passing" and how it does not just have one look.
reilytribble's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.0
i could read 50 more of these essays and maybe that’s what was missing for me. just a little more.
jessicaleza's review against another edition
5.0
Read this a second time in preparation for writing a chapter about sociocultural identities and passing.
What is passing? According to Marc Fitten, in "The Inscrutable Alexander Fitten," "... passing is: a person forging a new identity based on the fact that sometimes identities have more unearned advantages than others, and the effects of that change on subsequent generations." (p. 45)
"... actively passing creates a context of absence-recognized or not-that can only be hurtful to anyone who follows." (p. 49)
"-a charged word that suggests deceit around racial identity or sexual orientation- .... " - M.G. Lord in "Among the Heterosexuals" (p. 109)
"... the tawdry word: passing. I understood that it allowed people to assume I was a member of a privileged group- ... I had 'passed.' I had a window into a world I wasn't sure I wanted to see." - M.G. Lord in "Among the Heterosexuals" (p. 110)
"Passing is a thing with wings, fins, and ghost-light feet, a thing that follows me everywhere." - Gabrielle Bellot in "Stepping on a Star" (p. 141)
"... recognition is a privilege, not a guarantee." - Gabrielle Bellot in "Stepping on a Star" (p. 149)
"Each of us has two identities: the one that we know ourselves to be and the one that others see when they interact with us. 'Passing' is the label that we give to the practice of changing our public identity without, one hopes, losing track of who we truly are." Clarence Page in "Class Acts: Ways to be something you're not" (p. 153)
________
Speaking of "Latino children whose parents want them to assimilate," Brando Skyhorse says in 'College Application Essay #2', "the cost of being a 'real' American is sacrificing as much of your identity and language as possible. The goal is to blend in, not to call attention to yourself, for a lot of reasons" (p. 6).
"Whatever gains one is bequeathed or accepts from passing as a member of another group comes with a separation or disconnection from one's original identity or self. No small gain occurs in passing without a more substantial loss." ("College Application Essay #2" by Brando Skyhorse, p. 14)
________
Achy Obejas in "Secret Lives"
"My identity is fluid and incorporates my past as well as my new experiences. ... I can't choose not to be Cuban." (p. 35)
"Still, because my identities-plural-are not at all in the mainstream, managing them is constant, inspiring and illuminating but also exhausting and infuriating. Especially when it's not just about denying expectations and stereotypes, but also about insisting on identities that are often invisible to my interlocutors." (p. 35-36)
________
"Not deliberately passing. But passing nonetheless." - Teresa Wiltz, is "Passing" (p. 71)
________
"... passing is a complex business. You sacrifice your identity for mobility but you also sacrifice yourself. You can't be all the things you really are. You have to conform. And that conformity is a cultural adjustment." - Lisa Page, in "Slipping into Darkness" (p. 105)
________
Conciliation / Reconciliation (p. 17)
Postracialism (p. 124)
Identity as fields of stars (p. 139)
What is passing? According to Marc Fitten, in "The Inscrutable Alexander Fitten," "... passing is: a person forging a new identity based on the fact that sometimes identities have more unearned advantages than others, and the effects of that change on subsequent generations." (p. 45)
"... actively passing creates a context of absence-recognized or not-that can only be hurtful to anyone who follows." (p. 49)
"-a charged word that suggests deceit around racial identity or sexual orientation- .... " - M.G. Lord in "Among the Heterosexuals" (p. 109)
"... the tawdry word: passing. I understood that it allowed people to assume I was a member of a privileged group- ... I had 'passed.' I had a window into a world I wasn't sure I wanted to see." - M.G. Lord in "Among the Heterosexuals" (p. 110)
"Passing is a thing with wings, fins, and ghost-light feet, a thing that follows me everywhere." - Gabrielle Bellot in "Stepping on a Star" (p. 141)
"... recognition is a privilege, not a guarantee." - Gabrielle Bellot in "Stepping on a Star" (p. 149)
"Each of us has two identities: the one that we know ourselves to be and the one that others see when they interact with us. 'Passing' is the label that we give to the practice of changing our public identity without, one hopes, losing track of who we truly are." Clarence Page in "Class Acts: Ways to be something you're not" (p. 153)
________
Speaking of "Latino children whose parents want them to assimilate," Brando Skyhorse says in 'College Application Essay #2', "the cost of being a 'real' American is sacrificing as much of your identity and language as possible. The goal is to blend in, not to call attention to yourself, for a lot of reasons" (p. 6).
"Whatever gains one is bequeathed or accepts from passing as a member of another group comes with a separation or disconnection from one's original identity or self. No small gain occurs in passing without a more substantial loss." ("College Application Essay #2" by Brando Skyhorse, p. 14)
________
Achy Obejas in "Secret Lives"
"My identity is fluid and incorporates my past as well as my new experiences. ... I can't choose not to be Cuban." (p. 35)
"Still, because my identities-plural-are not at all in the mainstream, managing them is constant, inspiring and illuminating but also exhausting and infuriating. Especially when it's not just about denying expectations and stereotypes, but also about insisting on identities that are often invisible to my interlocutors." (p. 35-36)
________
"Not deliberately passing. But passing nonetheless." - Teresa Wiltz, is "Passing" (p. 71)
________
"... passing is a complex business. You sacrifice your identity for mobility but you also sacrifice yourself. You can't be all the things you really are. You have to conform. And that conformity is a cultural adjustment." - Lisa Page, in "Slipping into Darkness" (p. 105)
________
Conciliation / Reconciliation (p. 17)
Postracialism (p. 124)
Identity as fields of stars (p. 139)
lifeinpoetry's review against another edition
4.0
Stories of different ways of passing, ranging from race, gender, sexuality, class, etc. Most of these are (un)comfortably familiar, the sorts of stories we've all heard, and (mostly) forgive. The first essay is the one that's extremely uncomfortable in being that of a racial minority passing for a more exotic, marginalized racial minority, out only to a select few. Brings to mind of how many brown people in Hollywood have taken on roles as Indigenous characters. I feel it would have been better served being placed further in because it gave the idea the anthology would be full of vaguely Rachel Dolezal-like authors when the rest of the anthology was quite the opposite.
apatrick's review against another edition
3.0
Good collection of stories about "passing" as other ethnicities, other economic groups, other genders. I am very interested in identity stories (isn't everyone?) so I liked this. As our society becomes increasingly multicultural, stories like these will multiply; many times, the problem is that an audience tries to determine which slot someone fits in, and they're having a tough time because no general slots apply (White? Black? Hispanic? Could be all three and more). In time, maybe more people will learn that slotting people into groups is not as productive as they think. I would like to see more stories about passing among different economic classes. Lots to think about there.
avisreadsandreads's review
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I didn't resonate with the style of the essays in the first third of the book, to the point where I almost abandoned it, but the rest more than made up for it. This is a deep, fascinating and diverse read. The stand-out essay for me was Gabrielle Bellot's "Stepping on a Star" -- I'll be keeping an eye out for whatever else she writes.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Homophobia, Sexism, Transphobia, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Racism, Classism, Lesbophobia, and Colonisation
Minor: Suicide
soulkissed2003's review against another edition
1.0
I thought it was interesting that the book does not focus solely on the topic of African-Americans passing as white. I think that was important to bring to the table in the discussion of race and how society disproportionately allows people to live their lives based on race. For example, the author, whose story comes first, discusses how his mother raised him to pass as Native American, although he was actually of Mexican descent.
On the other hand, though, I grew bored with the first story after a while. I have so many good books on my TBR list. If something does not hold my interest, I move on.
On the other hand, though, I grew bored with the first story after a while. I have so many good books on my TBR list. If something does not hold my interest, I move on.
apatrick's review against another edition
3.0
Good collection of stories about "passing" as other ethnicities, other economic groups, other genders. I am very interested in identity stories (isn't everyone?) so I liked this. As our society becomes increasingly multicultural, stories like these will multiply; many times, the problem is that an audience tries to determine which slot someone fits in, and they're having a tough time because no general slots apply (White? Black? Hispanic? Could be all three and more). In time, maybe more people will learn that slotting people into groups is not as productive as they think. I would like to see more stories about passing among different economic classes. Lots to think about there.
gmdudley4's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 stars. Eh. I need to gather my thoughts about this book and will post it later. I am so troubled by this work's definition of passing that I need a few moments to write a fair review.
anarag's review against another edition
5.0
I meant to read one essay only. So I did, and then I turned the page. And another, another.
I read until my eyes burned and the hour was late, captivated by the wry, painful, humorous, thoughtful voices in this collection. When at last I turned off the light, I dreamt of being in Bronzeville in Chicago, with a childhood friend whose work is contained in this book.
“What are you?” So many of the essayists were confronted by that intrusive question throughout their lives—especially in childhood and adolescence. More than a question, it was a rude demand—explain to me why you look/sound/act the way you do. Just as often, presumptions were made (“you must be Puerto Rican/white/black/fill in the blank) and stereotypes confirmed.
“Many times, people told me to figure out who I was. But first, I passed. I did it consciously. That was my job: to figure out just exactly who you wanted me to be.”-- Lisa Page
This book arrives at an urgent juncture in American life: when others judge vociferously and mercilessly and, at the same time, so many of us are claiming our own identity in new and nuanced ways.
“I own this story. I don’t want it told uncharitably by an outsider,” writes M.G. Lord. In each of the fifteen pieces, the writer owns their story and tells it: charitably, boldly, baldly, courageously.
“I’m fifty-three years old, have been writing and thinking about race and race identity for over thirty years, and only now do I find out I have been passing all my life.” --Trey Ellis
Some of the writers passed (or were passed) as a different race, ethnicity or nationality; others were thought to be straight, goy, or a gender other than their own. And as Rafia Zakaria observes, “The burden of passing, its central fault, lies…in the requirement of deception that it imposes…the clear message of inadequacy, of falling short, of being less than an ideal, inferior to an original.”
These are essays that demand return visits because each contains rich memories and realizations. The title comes from Laurence Dunbar’s agonized poem of the same name but these authors have moved from agony to more nuanced perspectives. Get a copy; read it; give one to someone else who may need to learn from it—and that means all of us.
“And how I felt so happy, finally, when I realized that he wanted me simply for me, not for a version of me that passed, how I felt like a queen stretched out on my bed with him atop me, a queen who was being treated like royalty by this gentle giant of a man, regardless of what genitalia she had or did not.” --Gabrielle Bellot
I read until my eyes burned and the hour was late, captivated by the wry, painful, humorous, thoughtful voices in this collection. When at last I turned off the light, I dreamt of being in Bronzeville in Chicago, with a childhood friend whose work is contained in this book.
“What are you?” So many of the essayists were confronted by that intrusive question throughout their lives—especially in childhood and adolescence. More than a question, it was a rude demand—explain to me why you look/sound/act the way you do. Just as often, presumptions were made (“you must be Puerto Rican/white/black/fill in the blank) and stereotypes confirmed.
“Many times, people told me to figure out who I was. But first, I passed. I did it consciously. That was my job: to figure out just exactly who you wanted me to be.”-- Lisa Page
This book arrives at an urgent juncture in American life: when others judge vociferously and mercilessly and, at the same time, so many of us are claiming our own identity in new and nuanced ways.
“I own this story. I don’t want it told uncharitably by an outsider,” writes M.G. Lord. In each of the fifteen pieces, the writer owns their story and tells it: charitably, boldly, baldly, courageously.
“I’m fifty-three years old, have been writing and thinking about race and race identity for over thirty years, and only now do I find out I have been passing all my life.” --Trey Ellis
Some of the writers passed (or were passed) as a different race, ethnicity or nationality; others were thought to be straight, goy, or a gender other than their own. And as Rafia Zakaria observes, “The burden of passing, its central fault, lies…in the requirement of deception that it imposes…the clear message of inadequacy, of falling short, of being less than an ideal, inferior to an original.”
These are essays that demand return visits because each contains rich memories and realizations. The title comes from Laurence Dunbar’s agonized poem of the same name but these authors have moved from agony to more nuanced perspectives. Get a copy; read it; give one to someone else who may need to learn from it—and that means all of us.
“And how I felt so happy, finally, when I realized that he wanted me simply for me, not for a version of me that passed, how I felt like a queen stretched out on my bed with him atop me, a queen who was being treated like royalty by this gentle giant of a man, regardless of what genitalia she had or did not.” --Gabrielle Bellot