rape, racism, hate crimes, and dumplings

2004-09-21

"5 women needed in opening scene of drinking and debauchery. Costumes will be revealing."

"1 woman is needed to trigger action of the entire opera. At the beginning of the opera Monterone's daughter is abducted & raped by the Duke. ... Super will be VERY scantily dressed from the waist up."

Who could say no to those parts? Everyone knows how I love to whore it up, especially in public. And I excel at drinking AND debauchery. Why, oh why do I have to be pregnant when they are doing Rigoletto?

I had another parish council meeting (isn't it great how I go from debauchery to talking about church?). Popeye the angry sailor man brought his girlfriend to our TWO HOUR long meeting. I'm sure she was thrilled. I ended up sitting next to him and he was as angry as ever. He is starting an angry letter writing campaign to the archdiocese because he feels we are being "over taxed" by them. And if that doesn't work, he is "going downtown himself". If it came to fisticuffs, the Cardinal vs. Popeye, my money would definitely be on Popeye.

The meeting also got me thinking about racism and old people. There are 10 people on the council, all in their 70's or older (besides me, of course). Several comments were made about how "Orientals" are doing this, that or the other (all were good things so nothing derogatory was meant, I just couldn't believe that several people said "Orientals" in relation to people). Then we talked about the new member directory and someone made some snide remark about how we should print it in another language because of how many Nigerians are joining the church. I pointed out that Nigeria is an English speaking country (wasn't it a British colony? I don't actually know, but I think it was). OK, I guess not knowing what language Nigerians speak isn't necessarily racism, but I didn't like the way he said it.

So can one ever just excuse ignorance and racism because people are old? My grandma was fairly racially progressive in her day but she was far behind the times in the '90's. Once, by the time she had forgotten how to effectively whisper, she pointed out a worker in her retirement home by saying "see that big black girl over there?". I'm sure the "big black girl" heard this and Schwest and I were horrified (and mortified). Grandma meant nothing at all derogatory about this remark, she had simply grown up calling black adults "boy" and "girl" (and pointing out people as "big", apparently). I suppose that there was a time in this country when people called Asians "oriental". That time is long, long gone.

So should I have corrected them? I need an after-school special to tell me what to do. I didn't correct them. I just sat there with my jaw wide open with a shocked look on my face. And shouldn't we be pleased as punch to have so many new members (from Nigeria)? And how can we have such a friendly church when the parish council is just so, well, crotchety. I'll need to figure out my plan of action because, unfortunately, I know these comments will happen again. And the next time I won't be so paralyzed by shock.

Speaking of racism, check this story out (courtesy of Mrs. W): Detroit council OKs plan that touts racial separation. My favorite part is the proposed businesses for "African Town": a fish factory with its own hatchery, black hair-care supplier, popcorn factory and fruit juice producers. Yeah.

Let's move from rape to racism to hate crimes, shall we? The church's meditation/reflection bell tower has been repeatedly vandalized. The statues have been defaced and someone even drew stuff on Jesus. It is so sad. Being as crazy as they are, the parish council proposed putting in a state of the art surveillance system. You know, because our church is only something like $100,000 in debt.

I'll end on a far lighter note: Schwest has unveiled my baby shower theme. It's Dumplings from Around the World. Who doesn't love a dumpling? To make it more baby-ish we are calling it Bundles of Joy. The "joy" being assorted sweet and savory stuffings. And the baby. Who is a lot like a dumpling.

I'm off on my crazy vacation which starts in Norfolk and ends in Hartford. Basically, I'll be vacationing in a rental car along the coast.

See you on Monday.

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