Transkindred

Transkindred

trans•kin•drid

–noun

1. a person appearing or attempting to be a member of another race, nationality, ethnic group, or culture different from the one they were born in.

–adjective Also, trans•kin•dred

2. being, pertaining to, or characteristic of a transkindred or transkindreders: a transkindred themed story. Transkindered

Alright, I made this word up to describe a type of story and images I like to create and play with.

Stories of transformations have always fascinated me, and one such are people becoming another nationality or race.

Frankly while fiction about people changing sex, or becoming animals are, if not common, at least more prevalent than ones with this theme.

And that's understandable, after all race is a touche subject in America. Therefore the few examples in the mainstream, are few and far between.

Let me tell you my origin story in regard to this matter.

I grew up in the South in the 60s, the early part of the 60s, in a state where the Klan was a real, if low-key power to reckon with, my parents (both passed on now) were a father who was a red-headed Scotsman, and a mother who was half-Anglo, half Creek Indian, but could have passed as a full blooded Native.

If this lead to much contention I as a child, I was oblivious to it, however I do remember one time.

It was around 1967, I'm sure you've heard of the fun times going on in the South at the time, I was in the first grade and my mother had taken me to a little thing they were having at my grade school given by the PTA, fund raising I guess, silly little games, booths and what not.

To get in you had to pay a dime or something and go past these people registering parents to join the PTA, my mother showing an interest in doing so, the principle at the time then said in a very loud voice (pretend the voice I am using here is three times louder) “I don't know we let `derogatory racial slur deleted ' in here!” he said rearing back in his wooden school chair seemingly pretty sure he had just let loose with quite the witty bon mot and looking around the table at the others for his praise, the smiles of a few gave it, others did not, my mother had words with him.

To paraphrase the Tommy Lee Jones character from Captain America: The First Avenger, they had a conversation and it was one he did not enjoy, at least one of the teachers got on to him as well. He shut up, my mother joined the PTA. He left by the time I was in the second grade, replaced oddly enough by the man who gave me my first hair-cut... but I digress.

So, getting back to where I started, this lead me to think about a lot of things later, but being a child that at the time who, again borrowing from Pop Culture, more resembled Butters from South Park than Tom Sawyer, Ope or Bart Simpson, I was given over to new thoughts.

I was aware of my somewhat mixed heritage, and here I was being said to be a member of a third, “hmm” I wondered “what would it be like to be part of another group?”

That's about as deep as it got at the time, but there it was.

I still wonder about it in my own way.

So I made up the word transkindred.

You're welcome.

Some pictures I've made with this theme.