[AAACE-NLA] Mother's skill level

[AWilder106@aol.com]

Hi Catherine,

Yes, the word "Asian" to describe a variety of cultures in one part of the 
world is confusing.   I think I should specify where people are from.

By "Asian" I mean: Korea, China, Japan.   Southeast Asia is Vietnam, Laos, 
Cambodia, Malaysia. Burma/Myanmar.   I call Bangladesh, India and Pakistan the 
sub-continent.   I've left some countries out, so be it, this is general.   
Usage changes.

My Japanese tenant and I were talking last night and she remarked that China, 
Korea and Japan were influenced by Confucian thinking.   This may/may not 
explain a drive for school success.

On a "sub-continent," note, though, I do have   a success story, "typically 
immigrant."   My other tenant is from an Indian-Moslem background, her family 
now resides in Houston, both parents were born in East Africa as part of the 
Indian Diaspora.  Her father has cancer, has had it for 14 years, continues to 
have operations.   He is a pharmacist, got a degree in pharmacology in 
Louisiana.   All three of the family's children intend to be doctors.   One is already 
in med school.   Their home language is English   with "mother tongue" 
Gujarati used in the kitchen.   They are Ismaili's, very tied to their tradition, 
very devout.   Fabulous people, they came to check me out before their daughter 
moved in.

"Jewish" I take to mean a member of the tribe of Judah (possibly Levi), hence 
the word "Jew." Jews can be religious, secular, or forgetful, but their 
close-to-the-bone allegiance is to the Jewish tribe.   Even so, I think it is the 
Talmud which says they must conform to the customs of the country where they 
live, dress their women appropriately, and pay taxes.The Tradition actually 
isn't very varied, there is a core set of religious practices and a way of looking 
at the world once one names oneself as Jewish.   When the individual doesn't 
follow the core practices, they are often still enacted in the person's   life 
and life work.

The word "appropriate" (accent on last syllable) as currently used in the 
vernacular is imprecise, as it suggests light fingered thievery when the meaning 
is decontextualized.   However, legislatures normally   "appropriate" money 
for a project.   The word has a meaning in social science and meanings outside 
of social science.   As I recall, perhaps from George, the word was first used 
in the social science sense by Dewey.   So "appropriate"   when used casually 
may suggest light fingered thievery.   The difficulty is that the listener 
(me, in this case) doesn't know which meaning is being used.   So, yes, I 
absorbed and assimilated elements of Judiasm;   so, no, I didn't steal anything.   

Good to hear from you.

Andrea



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