The new melting pot?

I find my bus rides to and from work to be pretty interesting. I spend a lot of time just looking at people (not staring, stalker-like). As opposed to many small southern towns, being in Clemson means that a substantial portion of the CAT-bus-riding community is international. I get on at the first stop so I have my pick of seats, and I get to watch the faces come and go. My street has a heavy Chinese population. The next stop, Goldenwoods, offers a variety of passengers; some white Americans, some black Americans, some Turks(I think), and some Chinese. We then travel down Cochran road, which is heavily populated with Chinese and Koreans. The bus travels through an income-based apartment complex, (Sterling Woods) where the residents are mostly lower-middle-class-to-poor black and white Americans. There are also some Mexicans who get on here too. We then hit the LeMans apt. complex, or "Little India" in Clemsonspeak. This is where the bus fills up, unless you're riding in off-peak hours like I usually do. The route then takes us through downtown, and from there on to campus. After I get off I think the route continues on to the grocery stores and out past where Summa works.

I enjoy looking at the beauty and variety in the different ethnicities and nationalities I see living here. I enjoy comparing and contrasting the different hues, accents, hair textures, eye colors and shapes of my fellow bus riders. Back in my hometown, everyone was either black or white, with a few Native Americans thrown in. I kid about the public schools here being like the United Nations, but I'm glad that my kids get to interact regularly with those who are different from them. The boys recognize ethnic differences, but they know (without me telling them) that people are people, and that neither ethnnicity nor race lessen a person's worth.