Return-Path: <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id i318w9m11906; Thu, 1 Apr 2004 03:58:09 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 03:58:09 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <200404010852.i318qDm11712@literacy.nifl.gov> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Fiona Frank" <fionafrank@soundboard.f9.co.uk> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-ESL:10184] postings X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook, Build 11.0.5510 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; Status: O Content-Length: 2169 Lines: 38 Thanks everyone for your great postings - including Ujwala-the-peacemaker (!). I've only just caught up with the list again. I love it when people start expressing your REAL feelings... It happens when someone inadvertently expresses something which can be taken as racist thinking by someone else - and everyone suddenly wants to stand up and be counted. But don't forget we all have 'first thoughts' about other groups that we're not part of - especially those which we're not members of and don't count as personal friends. We can't HELP having those thoughts, because (especially here in England but I bet in the US too and wherever else you are) the media throw them down our throats all the time. At the moment in England, if you only listened to the radio and read the tabloid press, you would think that all muslims were potential terrorists. Last year it was all about how all asylum seekers are 'illegal' and therefore 'abusing our country'.... Someone said you found it difficult sitting in Jewish ritual ceremonies. Could you say more about that? I am doing a big seder night (passover supper) coming up this Monday. It turns out that it's going to be all women, including two and a half gay couples. Most people are Jewish or partners of Jewish women, two are of 'Jewish heritage', one currently going through the process of converting. [I am wondering if my mum will notice about the gay thing by the way, but that's by the bye!]. I usually have a large mixed group for my seder, as I go round Lancaster in the months before inviting various people who have a tenuous connection with Judaism.... I never like doing it as a 'performance' for non-Jews (it was strange, for example, when my daughter's schoolteacher and his girlfriend came one year). I much prefer doing it as a ritual for 'ourselves'. Maybe that's why you find it uncomfortable? Because the people hosting it might be uncomfortable with your presence? Maybe it's not your fault! Best Fiona Frank Hon Research Fellow Educational Research Dept Lancaster University (and PhD Student, Centre for Jewish Studies, Manchester University) England fionafrank@soundboard.f9.co.uk
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