[Oe List ...] Pope Francis

Fri May 10 02:57:59 PDT 2013

Jan's comments notwithstanding, I truly emphatize with the response of Wayne M. and Randy to the Pope Francis joke.

I am including a Monday submission on Mother's day.  The section that includes Mary Lou happened in the 60s.  It was traumatic then, there is still discomfort in the telling.

A more intense telling of experienced bigotry is a reflection after the White House correspondents' dinner.  The website link is listed after my laid-back article.

Mother’s Day USA

I’ve already written of my dia de mama mia last Thursday. We do not intend to repeat our parenting tribute.  It is the “mother as a woman” that interestsus now, having touted in my own “political” journey the role of the women’srevolution among the seven that accompanies my lifetime.  

(For the curious, the other six are: ethnic minorities,awakened youth, unified academé, 3rd world assertiveness, business glocalization,and gray panthers.)

I encourage the Chinese students in my class to talk of thesubject they already know about without reading a book – themselves.  As individuals and members of various societiesunder the nebulous but imaginally homogenous China, one of the statisticalitems they live with is that “for every 45 Chinese females, there are 55 males”.  Attributed as a consequence of the one-childfamily policy of China and the preference for boys, where girls are eitheraborted or murdered, it reveals the depth of patriarchal malady embedded in theculture.

However, a surprise came this week when one of the oralEnglish students identified himself in his introduction as Dong Linlin.  The surname, he said, was from his father,but the given name was after his mother. My attention was properly perked up. (I quietly sighed: here is hope for the five-millennia male-dominated qipao/cheongsam wearers after all.)

The normal pattern in China is for a child to be given thefather’s surname, in reference to the identity of “place” of origin as familynames are derived from geographical places. The given name usually describes the pleasant physical features of thechild, or the parents’ hopes and dreams for their offspring, often influencedby the time of birth of the child, or any other incidence of chance or goodfortune, e.g., the year of the dragon.  But, never that of the mother!

I mention in class when I do my intro that the practice ofnaming a child by the father and mother’s names together is the case inHispanic-influenced countries.  NorthernEurope is where the English and the Americans derive their practice where onlythe patriarch’s name applies.  I was SeñorRavelo en España (also in Venezuela, Guatemala, Chile and Peru) in theearly 80s, particularly when I was greeted at the Madrid airport after ourAfrican pedagogical trek was shortened by malaria in Nigeria.  Finding myself recuperating on the plaza delPrado in Madrid after Air Iberia misplaced my luggage, I discovered howsingularly important my mother’s name was in the culture.

Traditional mothers in the Marianas cling to theirpreeminence in the transmittal of real estate ownership.  One of my teacher acquaintances in Saipanbirthed three boys with her husband who she refused to marry in order to clingto the prerogative of determining the disposal of her properties.  Oh, they were a functioning family all right,but sans the blessings del Padre nor the legal strictures of da Judge.  The children carried their mother’s name.

My children are legally registered with their mother’s nameas their middle name.  Thus, it came as adelight to read Clay McCollough-Stearns’ hyphenated name in a report of his athleticprowess on the sports’ page of the Tribunelast week.  I am sure, no one is calling him Clay McColloughat Eye Ess, in the same way I am referred to in some places as Señor Ravelo, but the publishedhyphenated mom-dad-name mirrors a family already ahead of its time when I madetheir acquaintance a decade ago.

Janet McCollough, PhD, and Tony Stearns, MD, champion Hobiesailing duo, were guests at my ecumenical Saipan wedding.   Janet always went by her name; she is known in myChurch that engaged her psychological “counseling” services.  UMC ecclesiastical colleagues determined thatmy personal behavior was ill suited to the Saipan parish requirements, so Ivoluntarily “defrock” myself of ordination.  

Dr. Stearns, in my experience, remained a gentle and everhealth-conscious physician who was never in a hurry to prescribe highlymarketed pharma remedies, nor casually resort to the overrated healingintervention of the scalpel.  

However, the now strapping Clay in the papers was (alongwith his sister) but a stripling twig in my memory.

In the late sixties, grandma of my four grandsons Mary Lou sawwith me Fiddler on the Roof on stagein Chicago.  She lived then in what wasstill lily-white suburban Glen Ellyn, close to an hour’s train ride away.  An awakened product of protected Illini existence,not unlike that of Hillary Rodham (almost her age), when I walked Mary Lou backto the train station, a wino on Madison Avenue came from one of the alleys,grabbed my arm, and with an inebriated glare, asked: “What are you doing withthe white girl, boy?”

For two decades, the “white girl” and I, and a slew of colleagues,staffed the trenches of the seven revolutions of my time, including that of hergender.  She has since turn pro in geriatriccare!

Today is Mother’s Day USA in a-day-behind America.   My macho nod leans heavily toward hailingthe likes of Lin Lin, Janet, and Mary Lou. May they continue to lead sisters in getting their offspring carry theirmother’s names!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seema-jilani/racism-white-house-correspondents-dinner_b_3231561.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

j'aime la vie

Yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate. In all, Celebrate!

-----Original Message-----
From: Janice Ulangca <aulangca at stny.rr.com>
To: Order Ecumenical Community <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
Sent: Wed, May 8, 2013 11:23 am
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Pope Francis

And I agree with everybody - first, with Jaime - then with all who have commented.  What!  How can that be!  

Part of me says " Oh, that was funny - good on you, Jaime.  And good you recognize that it's on an edge ...  not necessarily good for everyone."  The truth in it about the new Pope is that he has  done startling things - like kissing the feet of women at the footwashing ceremony ...   So a mischeivous person could make a joke that would allow him to be even more daring - and maybe he will be someday.  

But then part of me says, "Gee, I'm glad that colleagues are sensitive to people who've been made fun of and demeaned in so many ways -  we all need that awareness ..."  

Thanks to all.
Janice Ulangca

----- Original Message ----- 

From:   Randy Williams   

To: Order Ecumenical Community 

Cc: Order Ecumenical Community 

Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2013 10:39 PM

Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Pope   Francis

Marshall, good point. I agree. 

Randy

Sent from my iPhone

On May 7, 2013, at 9:01 PM, "W. J." <synergi at yahoo.com> wrote:

Instead of complaining about your poor taste in managing     to offend a whole lot of sensitive people with one punch line, Jaime, I     simply quote Little Richard's original lyrics (according to     Wikipedia):

"Tutti Frutti,     good booty

If it don't     fit, don't force it

You can grease     it, make it easy"

This lyric is culturally interesting, but I doubt it would     significantly advance global human evolution to distract this listserv with     jokes or commentary about these words. We can no longer afford to resort to     stereotypes to joke about the imagined sexual activities of any minority     groups. Little Richard was both black and gay. So if you have any     understanding of how these two groups have suffered historically, you     wouldn't resort to humor at their expense. I like watermelon, but I don't     make watermelon jokes. Et cetera.

Marshall

    From: Jaime R Vergara <svesjaime at aol.com>
To: oe at wedgeblade.net
Sent:     Tue, May 7, 2013 5:14:51 PM
Subject:     [Oe List ...] Pope Francis

Subject: A Roman Catholic     Recognition

Here is the latest from our newly     ordained Pope Francis.  If you are Catholic, particularly     a Filipino Catholic who takes controversial issues to the side of levity,     you'll appreciate this.

Pope Francis recently finished     his sermon. He ended it with the Latin phrase, "Tuti Homini" - Blessed be     Mankind.

A Woman's Rights Group approached     the Pope the next day. They noticed that the Pope blessed all Mankind, but     not Womankind.

So the next day, after his     sermon, the Pope concluded by saying, "Tuti Homini, et Tuti Femini" -     Blessed be Mankind and Womankind.

The day after, a Gay Rights Group     approached the Pope. They said that they noticed that he blessed Mankind and     Womankind and asked if he could also bless gay people.

The Pope said, "Sure."

The next day the Pope concluded     his sermon with, "Tuti Homini, et Tuti Femini, et Tuti     Fruiti."     

*****

With apologies to     those who might receive this as beyond the pale of hilarity.

j'aime la vie     

Yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow,     anticipate; today, participate. In all,     Celebrate!

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