Re: Salon/Spice of Life/On raising Indian-American kids

I'm not a real doofus, but I play one at a national laboratory. (BAISLEY@fndcd.fnal.gov)
Fri, 22 Aug 1997 23:48:19 -0500


Poignant post. I had no trouble relating to it.

> I felt a surprising twinge in my heart, as though
> I were losing something very dear all over again.

> There was something else I needed to say, something important about the
> complexities of culture and allegiance and patriotism and ancestry,

I've been listening to Churchill's History of the English-Speaking
Peoples as I make my 25-30 minute commutes. Just listening to a British
view of our Independence and Civil Wars, I can't help think that much
has been lost. And England, where I'm from a few short centuries back,
holds an intense fascination for me, but with a twinge of utter
separation.

> We are all too busy here, and family gatherings have
> to be carefully orchestrated.

They're not even what you'd call easy when it's only 1700 miles.

> And yet ... Will my children ever fit into
> this country in the way a person of European background can?

Certainly. They can be just as isolated and lonely as the rest of us!
Seriously, though, this place isn't a heaven of close relationships.
But you already knew that, or you wouldn't be reading this. ;-)

> Even though they were born in America no less than Bruce Springsteen,
> many people will look at them and always see foreigners.

Sigh. (And I don't even like Springsteen's music.)

> Call me parochial

Okay, you're a parochial, world traveling, bit sponge of widely ranging
cultural background and tastes. Does that help?

Cheers,
Wayne