Re: OT: STORY - Flag Day and Independence Day

You should definitely sell it. I think it's a very marketable image. License it. Go nationwide.

Barbara Dream Master

"Do not spoil what you have, by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things only hoped for."

LOL! Being Californian has turned into the Okie of the 21st century!

There's such a strong California animosity in Oregon, that it's both a joke and a controversy. It started in the 80's, when tons of people started moving here from California and drove proprty values way up. (The prices were so high in California, people didn't realize they were being ripped off, sometimes paying twice what the property would have sold for to an Oregonian.) Before then, the animosiry was more general; it applied equally to all out-of-staters. The economy took a while to catch up, so for a while there was this huge discrepancy between land value and earnings. People blamed the Californians. Also, Oregon has a unique culture, at once laid-back and provincial as hell. "Everyone acts like they smoke pot here", is one apt description I've heard from a local Californian. (I think it may be because everyone does, but that's another conversation.) California culture is pretty uptight and impatient, by our standards. We're the Vermont farmer to California's New York stockbroker. In our biggest city, intersections where there's a nice long pause before any lights turn green are commonplace. Not a second or two of leeway for safety's sake; I'm talking half a minute where everybody just sits there. It's like a moment of rest and reflection in the middle of all that driving. Out-of-staters usually think we drive too slow, too, and pause too long at intersections.

Oregonians are wierd. So are Californians, in a different way. Gotta love 'em! I married one.

OK, so I posted that while half asleep. Columbus thought the earth was round (among others!) and look what he started! Yes, Galileo said the earth went around the sun, and look where it got him! But he held true to his ideals. After 3 or 400 years the Italians finally decided to stop being mad at him and allowed him to be buried in his tomb. Barbara Dream Master

"Do not spoil what you have, by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things only hoped for."

New Hampshire drivers terrify me.

Also, their state motto mentions death and is printed on their license plates, which I find a bit unnerving.

However, it inspired me to want to start a line of state-motto underwear, because how funny would "Live Free or Die" panties be?

If I'm not mistaken (again) he figured most of it out with a post stuck in the ground (basically). Measuring shadows and such. I know I saw something on it on PBS a few years back. Very interesting.

News flash! Tony the tiger murdered! Cereal killer suspected! Barbara Dream Master

"Do not spoil what you have, by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things only hoped for."

We do a lot of mail-order at my work, and we all have a hard time getting used to New York and *especially* New Jersey customers because the communication style is so different.

I used to do the Rosen show in Philly. I never encountered so many rude, totally obnoxious drivers! Christ, they made Chicago and LA (the city, not the state) seem tame! Barbara Dream Master

"Do not spoil what you have, by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things only hoped for."

On 07 Jul 2003 22:28:42 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@aol.compuppies (Dr. Sooz) wrote: In 1960, when I was 6, I decided I wanted to be a jockey,

In 1963 I wanted to take wood shop in middle school. The counselor informed my mother that I had a "gender identity problem" and suggested that she get me to a shrink right away. Boys took wood shop. Girls only got home ec -- cooking and sewing.

Then in 1976 I went back to college. The counselor asked what classes I wanted to take. I told him whatever it took to go into advertising. He got a shocked look on his face and told me that only men went into advertising and they would never let me in, so don't waste yer time little girl. Good thing I had boys. I would have had to be down at the school raising hell all the time.... Barbara Dream Master

"Do not spoil what you have, by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things only hoped for."

Every time I mention that I'm going home to visit family, someone will nod their head knowingly and say "oh, back to the land of fruits and nuts, eh?". It never occurs to them that some people might take offense at that. But it's damn hard to offend me. Most of the time........ Barbara Dream Master

"Do not spoil what you have, by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things only hoped for."

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from snipped-for-privacy@removedreamweaverstudio.com (Barbara Otterson) :

]"oh, ]back to the land of fruits and nuts, eh?".

my EX-mil always informed people that "they tilted the country on it's side, and all the 'nuts' rolled into California". while there is "some" truth to that, it may simply be that the original settlers were unhappy with where they were, and they kept going west until they ran out of room. personally, i'm never quite comfortable anyplace else. at least it USED to be that diversity was more acceptable here. now, not so much, with a few notable exceptions.

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

Bill of Rights - Void where prohibited by Law.Regime Change in 2004 - The life you save may be your own.

I think people misunderstand what it is to be mixed-race... they

*assume* that we identify as *only* one thing or another thing because that's the thing that's most readily apparent to them. My whole, impressively vast family is mixed-race. Most of my brothers or sisters get identified as black. This is something that is done to them, not something they take on. We *are* black. We are also white and indian. A couple of us get identified as indian. We *are* indian. We are also white and black. A couple of us get identified as white. We *are* white. We are also black and indian. I hear this sentiment over and over again from other mixed-race people.

I think your perception of mixed race people is fairly refective of how invisible we are, and why I can buy a black Barbie, but not a mixed-race one. You are a perceptive, intelligent person, but mixed-race people just tend to get lumped by society into one category or another and that's how we're seen by most.

And yes, you are right, most black people in America are mixed-race, as are (hold onto your seats!) most white people. But there are a LOT of people who were raised to respect and identify with all their heritage, and we just sort of don't get counted. How many people would have just called Tiger Woods "black" and thought no further, if he hadn't made a point of stating his identity as a mixed-race person?

Some other countries actually have a designation for mixed-race people. Maybe someday the US will let us just be mixed, instead of trying to force us to choose just one ancestry to identify with.

My mom had that EXACT experience! She's STILL pissed about it!

I didn't want to take shop -- I just wanted NOT to take home ec. My 8th-grade year, the school instituted a new plan whereby students could elect non-academic classes. I signed up for art and music, but not for home ec. Came the first day of class, and what's on my schedule? No art. No music. But by ghod, I was in home ec. I went home in tears -- and of course my parents wouldn't back me up. The School did this, and The School must be right.

I'm still pissed about it too.

Celine

Yes, he's the primary person I was thinking of when I said that black/Asian mixes are just labeled "black".

I've read two mystery novels within the past few years in which a white person having the gene for sickle-cell anemia -- thus proving that there was "a n***** in the woodpile" sometime back there -- was a turning point. One of them was set in rural Virginia, the other in Cincinnati.

The 2000 Census was the first one in which it was permitted to mark more than one category for "race". I don't know how many people did, but that they were

*allowed* to do so is at least a start!

Celine

Chilton's has manuals for all makes of cars and they are a great thing to have. Get them at you parts place. Susan W

consistently

do you know that almost every white person I know claims Indian blood, but doesn't consider themselves mixed?

Interesting, is it not.

Becki "In between the moon and you, the angels have a better view of the crumbling difference between wrong and right.." -- Counting Crows

My grandparent were all born in Europe. I used to be so disappointed to have no "Indian blood". Especially since I feel to close to Aboriginal beliefs and life-view. I figure I must be related instead to European aboriginals, like the Hungarians and Finns.

Tina

I guess I'm about as "White" as you can get. (Judeo-)Christian background and Danish and German forefathers. But I don't think "white" describes me. Or that it means much of anything at all.

When I use the term, I use it to describe a culture -- the whole American culture. Here in Alaska, I think of there being 3 "races". People who live the lifestyle and values of Natives. People who live the life style of most Americans (including blacks, most Asian, etc) whom I think of as Whites. And Military, who have some life styles and thinking styles that are somewhat different.

By the way, the most muti-racial/ethnic place I know of is Oakland, Calif. It doesn't have much of a Little Italy or Chinatown. Instead you see people interacting without making much of differences.

Tina

Maybe part of the reason I don't make much of different backgrounds is that among some of the WW2 generation I was treated with contempt for "being a German". Huh?

black/Asian

Ah, but Indians are hip and trendy right now! Fifty years ago, they'd have been called "halfbreeds" -- cf. Cher's song.

My friends and I joke about all the members of the "Wannabee" tribe...

Celine