The Middle Ground Journal

A Fulbright Teacher in Bogota, Colombia, A Special Series — How to Teach When Students Won’t Talk to You – The North Star Reports – by Laura Blasena. Sponsored by The College of St. Scholastica and The Middle Ground Journal

I am tall, and have light brown eyes and light brown hair.

(My hair is definitely light brown, but everybody in Colombia assures me that I do, in fact, have blonde hair. I`ve been told to “not be modest” about my hair color when I try to argue, as if having almost-blonde hair is a great personal achievement).

It isn´t a big deal in Minnesota, but my goodness it`s a big deal here.

As a white person growing up in Minnesota I never experienced what it meant to be the “other”. I was never a foreigner and I was never what could be considered, in any way, “different”. While the…