This could be evidence that the concept of master status is at play in this scenario. As Irene explained in our first lecture of the semester, master status represents the first thing people notice in others, which on average is race. The first thing the teacher saw was that the student looked Asian and therefore must be Asian, and even more so, that he must have or know how to speak with an “Asian” accent. As Evelyn Alsultany explains in her essay “Los Intersticios,” people tend to automatically choose one part of a person's identity to focus on when they first meet them. This is a natural human reaction, but it can be dangerous if people continue to focus on one part of someone else's identity and don't try to understand the complexity of identity of this person. Alsultany explains this phenomenon by integrating his own personal experience, coming from both Iraqi and Cuban origins. She shows in an interesting way how being “othered” or being identified with can be a problem. She explains that “those who other me do not see a shared humanity and those who identify with me do not see the difference; my Arab or Muslim identity negates my Cuban heritage” (236). This shows how the status of master can take precedence over the reality of the complexity of the