Impressions & Sphere of Influence
After being busy w/ graduate school and law school applications (which are yet to be completed) and being under the weather, I have found time to write another blog.
I was recently reading the Indian blog that I check out daily and came across an interesting piece. It was about this PBS Frontline story about these three Indian girls who were adopted by white families in Minnesota. The story itself was about a video documentary that was done about their trip back to Calcutta where they were born. As I was watching the piece I had conflicting thoughts about these girls. The conflict came in feeling sorry for them in that they have no real cultural identity in that they are severely whitewashed. An that is evident in the things they say in the piece as well as by their actions. Simultaneously, I found myself thinking that while these girls are Indian, they are not. Really the only thing that I found in common w/ them was that we both have brown skin. In fact I was insulted by some of the things they said while they were in Calcutta, for example, one girl said that she would rather die than live in India. That spawned another conflict in my mind. That could have been you. However, she does realize that she is lucky to have been given the oppurtunity to grow up in the US. I guess that we have something else in common. Its odd to me though the more I think about it that those three girls were born in India, then came to the US, and have no cultural ties to the country they were born in. In fact they see themselves as more American than Indian, if they acknowledge the latter at all. Whereas w/ me , I was born and raised here and would identify more w/ being Indian than American (even before Bush effed everything up). Culturally, I have ties to India and was raised acknowledge such ties. I wonder how you go through life being adopted by a family of a different race and ethnicity than your own and completely shun your ethnicity. I can only imagine how difficult it must be. I found the white parents in the piece to be completely out of touch. From when begining when the parents did not know how their own daughter saw herself to when they were in India and one mother said she was worried when she couldnt see her daughter b/c she blended in w/ everyone. Well not to point out the obvious, but she is in the country where she was born and where everyone is the same color. Now you know what people mean when we say all white people look alike. But then again they are from small town Minnesota, so I guess you would have to expect that. I encourage you to check out the piece by clicking on the following link :(http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2006/01/india_calcutta.html#).
I was watching the news on BBC the other day and they had a story about South American leaders. In particular about Chile's President-elect Michelle Bachelet. There are two things I found interesting about this, the first is Chile electing a divorced single mother of 3. I cannot recall if the reporter said the children were born out of wedlock. While this may not sound like much of a big deal, it is when you conisder how uberCatholic Chile is. They could be argued to be one of the largest Catholic poplated countries in South America. Bachelet is the daughter of an Air Force general who served under Allende prior to the coup by Pinochet. Her and her mother were tortured in Chile before fleeing to Germany. While in Germany, she studied to be a doctor. It will be interesting to see how her administration plays out.
The other facet of this story that I found interesting is about the bigger picture. Bachelet is a Socialist. Anyone that has been paying attention to SOuth American politics or even the news in general will realize the growing tide of South Americans POPULARLY electing Socialists to office. Venezuela's Chavez, Bolivia's Morales, and Chile's Bachelet. While not much has been mentioned in the mainstream US media about this due to the overshadowing of the corruption in Washington as if it wasnt there prior to Abramoff, the war in Iraq, and the wiretapping. But it may be something keeping your eye on b/c I wouldnt be surprised if South America becomes another staging area for a Republican War on Terror, err "War on Narco-terror". Yes, Ronald Reagan is alive and well......
I was recently reading the Indian blog that I check out daily and came across an interesting piece. It was about this PBS Frontline story about these three Indian girls who were adopted by white families in Minnesota. The story itself was about a video documentary that was done about their trip back to Calcutta where they were born. As I was watching the piece I had conflicting thoughts about these girls. The conflict came in feeling sorry for them in that they have no real cultural identity in that they are severely whitewashed. An that is evident in the things they say in the piece as well as by their actions. Simultaneously, I found myself thinking that while these girls are Indian, they are not. Really the only thing that I found in common w/ them was that we both have brown skin. In fact I was insulted by some of the things they said while they were in Calcutta, for example, one girl said that she would rather die than live in India. That spawned another conflict in my mind. That could have been you. However, she does realize that she is lucky to have been given the oppurtunity to grow up in the US. I guess that we have something else in common. Its odd to me though the more I think about it that those three girls were born in India, then came to the US, and have no cultural ties to the country they were born in. In fact they see themselves as more American than Indian, if they acknowledge the latter at all. Whereas w/ me , I was born and raised here and would identify more w/ being Indian than American (even before Bush effed everything up). Culturally, I have ties to India and was raised acknowledge such ties. I wonder how you go through life being adopted by a family of a different race and ethnicity than your own and completely shun your ethnicity. I can only imagine how difficult it must be. I found the white parents in the piece to be completely out of touch. From when begining when the parents did not know how their own daughter saw herself to when they were in India and one mother said she was worried when she couldnt see her daughter b/c she blended in w/ everyone. Well not to point out the obvious, but she is in the country where she was born and where everyone is the same color. Now you know what people mean when we say all white people look alike. But then again they are from small town Minnesota, so I guess you would have to expect that. I encourage you to check out the piece by clicking on the following link :(http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2006/01/india_calcutta.html#).
I was watching the news on BBC the other day and they had a story about South American leaders. In particular about Chile's President-elect Michelle Bachelet. There are two things I found interesting about this, the first is Chile electing a divorced single mother of 3. I cannot recall if the reporter said the children were born out of wedlock. While this may not sound like much of a big deal, it is when you conisder how uberCatholic Chile is. They could be argued to be one of the largest Catholic poplated countries in South America. Bachelet is the daughter of an Air Force general who served under Allende prior to the coup by Pinochet. Her and her mother were tortured in Chile before fleeing to Germany. While in Germany, she studied to be a doctor. It will be interesting to see how her administration plays out.
The other facet of this story that I found interesting is about the bigger picture. Bachelet is a Socialist. Anyone that has been paying attention to SOuth American politics or even the news in general will realize the growing tide of South Americans POPULARLY electing Socialists to office. Venezuela's Chavez, Bolivia's Morales, and Chile's Bachelet. While not much has been mentioned in the mainstream US media about this due to the overshadowing of the corruption in Washington as if it wasnt there prior to Abramoff, the war in Iraq, and the wiretapping. But it may be something keeping your eye on b/c I wouldnt be surprised if South America becomes another staging area for a Republican War on Terror, err "War on Narco-terror". Yes, Ronald Reagan is alive and well......
posted by ndnokayplayer at 3:00 PM
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