So now I've sat and cooled down and processed things

[conuly]

I'm ready to Write a Note about the "Indian" thing. I feel a little weird, as I'm not Native American (unless there's somebody on my dad's side, but it hardly matters since I wouldn't know and wouldn't identify with them if I did), but I'm looking at this as analogous to if it was part of my own heritage that was slurred, I'd want somebody to put a stop to that if I wasn't around to do it. (Actually, there are a surprising number of Belgian-Americans running around, so no doubt somebody would be able to do that themselves, but that's not the point.)

Yesterday, Ana's "reflection journal" (she has to write three sentences every day about her day. I help by limiting her topic further and setting a timer - if I don't make her RUSH through her sentences she sits and dawdles and whines about it instead, so it's less frustrating for her if she has to spend a minute or less on each) came back with a note from her teacher in it. In purple marker. In purple, grape-scented marker.

Man, I could smell it the second I opened the bag. I loathe grape-scented products. I think I'm gonna let this go, though. It's been only, what, three school days since I spoke to the teacher already? Forget that. I'll suffer though.

Blech.

Comments

[strega42.livejournal.com]

Heh. If any of my kids' teachers had sent home a note in grape scented marker, it would be returned with vomit all over it. Seriously, that fake grape scented stuff - including Welch's purple grape juice, oddly enough - nauseates me severely.

And if a scented marker note makes it home to my husband from my stepson's school, I'll bill the teacher for the three days of lost work for the incapacitating migraine. It's one of the reasons we left the apartment building we were in, and it's bad enough that I don't let him come within two aisles of the detergent aisle in the grocery store.

Of course, I'm a little hypersensitive on the topic. A *reasonable* response would be a note back to the teacher about household allergies to scented products, and to please just not send any of them home.

...Ugh. I'm having a serious case of WhinyButt McCrankyPants today, and everything hurts.

[leora.livejournal.com]

That seems like the sort of thing that would be worth mentioning at the start of each school year and/or getting a note made in the child's school file. I didn't have any issues like that, but I do know that the first time my parents had a talk to your kid's teacher opportunity of each school year it would include the mention that I get chronic migraines, I will miss a lot of school, and they might occur while I was at school. I think it did make my life easier that my teachers were forewarned.

[conuly]

Seriously, that fake grape scented stuff - including Welch's purple grape juice, oddly enough - nauseates me severely.

Concord grapes actually smell like that. We got some in the CSA last summer. I could. not. eat. them.

[velvetchamber.livejournal.com]

Do you people over on that side of the Atlantic really think much about what bits of cultural groups might have directly contributed to your genetic makeup?

My great-grandfather was a Norwegian, which is why I have a family name instead of being my father's (or mother's) daughter like everyone else is, and I don't feel the least bit Norwegian in any way.

[conuly]

Do you people over on that side of the Atlantic really think much about what bits of cultural groups might have directly contributed to your genetic makeup?

At times, yes.

[velvetchamber.livejournal.com]

I find that interesting. Is it then in the context that e.g. people feel a kinship with modern Irish people if they are of Irish descent, or only others over there that are also of Irish descent?

[conuly]

Little bit of both. Ethnic-American events are fairly common - Irish American in particular, you've got Irish-American dancing as a big enough thing and all that - and also there's definitely people who go overseas in a dubious quest to find their "roots". It's a person-by-person thing, y'know?

[velvetchamber.livejournal.com]

But is it so, generally speaking, that Americans of Irish descent knew and were happy when Ireland won Eurovision three years in a row in the 90's? Or is it less connected to the real country of origin, and more to an idea and ideal?

[conuly]

I'm not Irish, I wouldn't know. I know that the Italian-Americans in NYC (mostly did their immigrating generations ago) were thrilled when Italy won the World Cup.

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

I can't speak for anyone else reading this, but with my physical/biological background, I have to be aware of it and take it into account. It affects what I can eat, instincts and reflexes, racial visibility.

And the "part Indian" thing is a definite controversy over here. Look up the words "blood quantum" and "Cherokee princess", also "fake Indians" and "Indian wannabe".

[conuly]

I haven't heard the phrase "blood quantum" before, but I've heard talk of these mythical Cherokee princesses. What I want to know is why Cherokee? It's never Aluet or Leni Lenape or Mohawk or Iroquois or Delaware, it's always Cherokee. WTF?

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

Probably because it is a huge nation (actually several nations) with a substantial history of intermarriage with white people. The fact that the Cherokee assimilated a lot of Anglo practices and were seen as very "civilized" is probably another factor.

There are millions of people who really do have some Cherokee blood and feel that they really are, but cannot be enrolled in any of the tribes. Our own physical ancestry includes such a story (and I have a photo of her). Everyone in the family knows what happened. The woman's family didn't register on the Dawes rolls fearing they would have to go to Oklahoma, so we cannot claim tribal membership today.

[conuly]

Hey, question. Who decides if you're father's daughter or mother's daughter in naming? You? Your parents? Social custom?

[velvetchamber.livejournal.com]

Generally speaking a patronym is the social custom, but a matronym can be decided upon by the parents, probably most common in the case of single mothers though. Then if you so fancy you as an adult can choose to bear either a matronym or a patronym. Some even go for both.

But bear in mind that the patro- or matronym is not really a part of one's name. It is more of a social identifier, but when foreigners address Icelanders by last name, they come off really idiotic. Your given name is who you are, you as a person. The rest is just bits that relate you to those that contributed to your making. I personally dread the day when someone is going to refer to me by my last name, and that is going to happen soon, me being a scientist and all. It will be odd to have this bizarre custom forced upon me.

Historically the patro- or matronym was not even a part of one's name, people just had their given name, and then when further explanation was needed of who they are a long list of their lineage could be rattled off in the form of "Hrafnkell Hjálmarsson Auðarson Grímsdóttur". Indicating that Hrafnkell's father is Hjálmar, who was the son of Auður, who was the daughter of Grímur. Then Christianity came and with it gradually came the culture of continental Europe, and a patronym became the social norm.