August 31, 2007
PAST AND PRESENT
Erin just recounted
an interesting story: a girl she went to high school with contacted her via MySpace...and this girl is now a boy. Hmmm.
Leaving completely aside the issue of transgenderism, I started to think how bold it was of this person to contact Erin. Seems to me it might be awful hard to reach out to people you went to high school with and tell them you've changed genders. Not bumping into them in the grocery store and having to explain yourself, but actively reaching out and seeing if people accept you. Wow. Made me feel pretty silly to be scared of letting people in on my blog.
So thanks to Erin's friend for bashing me over the head with perspective. And best of luck to him as he tries to mesh his old life with his new one.
Posted by: Sarah at
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I had that exact experience, but I didn't get stared at in class.
Posted by: Green at August 31, 2007 01:34 PM (VqW06)
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Aww. That's so nice of you, Sarah.
I must admit I wasn't quite as accepting and understanding as you when I first found out the news. I'm fairly accepting of lifestyles that may be considered "sinful" to some, but this one really threw me for a loop. And maybe it's because I can't grasp the concept of literally wanting to live as a man. Yeah, I talk about how cool it would be to pee standing up, and I love guns and hunting. And I like football and beer, which are all stereotyped as "man things." But I really can't imagine wanting to be a gender other than my own. It really does perplex me. I don't grok transgenderism.
Posted by: Erin at August 31, 2007 05:31 PM (XRza7)
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At an all-girl college not too far from here, there is exactly one male registered, who has begun the process of changing from female to male. As far as I can tell, he's unconditionally accepted as is by the other students, which I think is wonderful.
Erin, I agree with you about not grokking transgenderism. But from reading about transgender issues online, I gather that means that we are the right sex inside the right body type. Someone doesn't just decide to change sex because they'd rather be the other, it's more like a woman decides to change her body in the male form because her brain is male. She thinks like a male, feels like a male, sees herself as male, etc. It's adjusting the outer shell to what it should have been all along. Male to female works the same way, just in reverse.
A.E. Brain (on my blogroll) is going through the process now in Australia. Zoe - used to be Alan - writes about the process, the mental health issues, the problems with family, society, and all that. Very intelligent writing and very informative. Zoe has embraced her change, although nature "forced her hand" so to speak. She's a walking medical textbook study since her body more or less spontaneously began the hormonal adjustments a few years ago. She began to change, and it took doctors several months to figure out just what it was that was going on. Her body did on its own in less than a year what most have to do with medication over several years.
She's post-op now, dealing with red tape and an unbelievable amount of government nonsense. Like I said, if you're at all interested, it's a great place to learn about it from someone who's been there.
Posted by: Ted at September 01, 2007 03:10 AM (yRolC)
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Sorry to be negative but I feel I have to add - there is a huge movement right now in the US that is not based on 'gender identity disfunction' as Ted describes above, but is about 'smashing the gender binary', far more political, by extreme feminists (mostly lesbians, but not always), often in the punk scene, that are transitioning from f to m. My daughter (25) was involved with them for awhile and dated one for a few months, so I heard and read a lot about it. They reject the concept of there being 2 genders (thus 'smashing the gender binary") and see gender as a fluid and evolving thing. Some of them live between genders, identifying as neither, some have surgery and/or hormone therapy, and many others just bind their breasts flat, take a male name and live as a male. The whole thing was very political and much more of a movement than people suffering and struggling with a serious problem. They seemed like very troubled and unhappy people and I was glad when my daughter's life moved in a different direction. Your friend may or may not be part of this movement, but I thought it was worth adding that this is going on. If you google transgender or any term like that, you will see a lot of these highly political sites as well, as it is a very current thing in the larger cities now. So, sadly, I don't see it as brave necessarily, as much as another issue to be an activist about. Of course the person in question in the post may not be part of this movement at all. Just adding my experience....
Posted by: Amy at September 01, 2007 05:51 AM (I9LMv)
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Amy -- Point well taken. I have no experience with anything like this before, so I'm probably quite naive about the whole thing.
Posted by: Sarah at September 01, 2007 07:26 AM (TWet1)
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Yeah I was too, until my daughter got involved in this subculture. I was so shaken up that I went back to see the counselor we had seen a few times when she had had some earlier problems. The counselor wasn't familiar with it either. I had to say "Would you read these websites before our meeting?" and she did and said she learned a lot! Anyway, her advice was to wait it out and my daughter would find that world too limiting and move on, which is exactly what happened. But I did learn more than I wanted to know about it along the way!
Posted by: Amy at September 02, 2007 12:49 PM (I9LMv)
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NO WORDS, JUST CLICKING NEEDLES
I haven't had anything to say for a few days. I have not been online much, and even when I have been, I don't ever come up with anything to say. Except knitting stuff, and I'm not sure how many of you are interested in knitting stuff. But I was looking for patterns for chemo caps (found some good ones here at
Head Huggers) and somehow stumbled across
the cutest baby bib. I love peas, they're probably my favorite veggie, so I thought this was magnificent.
Now if you'll excuse me, my lion needs a mane and my snowman hat needs a carrot nose.
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Thanks for the link! It has crochet patterns too! YAY!
Posted by: Green at August 31, 2007 01:36 PM (VqW06)
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Sick. You like peas? Our friendship is so over.
How come I never knew that about you?
Posted by: Erin at August 31, 2007 05:33 PM (XRza7)
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an interesting side note to the "Eat Your Peas" bibs - the first 2 bibs went to babies whose daddy's hate peas . . . I had no idea people hate peas!
Suze - a pea lover herself
Posted by: Suzanne at September 10, 2007 12:53 PM (RwJ1Z)
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August 28, 2007
KLEENEX ALERT
This article needs no introduction. Just go read it.
My Cousin Frankie
Posted by: Sarah at
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Thanks for noting, and the kleenex alert. No words seem adequate. Frankie and his fellow Marines will not be forgotten.
Posted by: jck at August 29, 2007 11:30 AM (xtjKZ)
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Thanks for the heads up; It is not often that people get to hear about contractors that are in Iraq/Afghanistan that are there for more then just the money. Sometimes itÂ’s to pay off a debt to a family member that can never be repaid. I hope Mr De Locia stays safe and gets home as soon as the job is done.
Posted by: dagamore at August 30, 2007 02:30 AM (vdcdn)
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IT DOESN'T HURT AS MUCH AS YOU'D LIKE
While I'm admittedly
over-sensitive, there are some criticisms that are just too laughable to let them bother me. It appears that my "nemesis" has rediscovered all the reasons he fell in hate with me in the first place. Ha. I've never linked to him before because he doesn't really deserve any traffic, but what the heck. Go see how much I get under his skin, for some hilarious reason. You can just
feel how much it galls him that I like Walmart.
War Cheerleaders, Laptop Warriors, and Other Everyday Loons
How touching that he hasn't posted since February but took the time today to crank out an entry on me. Gosh, I feel so special.
I guess I'm supposed to feel bad that there's a war on and I'm knitting instead of running to the nearest recruiter's station. Sorry, that's not as unique of a jab as it may seem. Besides, all those squares I crocheted will be assembled into an afghan for wounded servicemembers, so even my yarnwork is doing its part for the war. Plus, saying my husband's service isn't enough and that I need to join too, isn't that the grown-up equivalent of playground logic: "If you love the war so much, why don't you marry it?"
So thanks to No Name Person for coming out of blog retirement to make fun of me again. And thanks a bunch for coming and leaving a comment for me so I would be sure to see the post; it was such a classy move, and otherwise I would never have known that your precious little site was still in operation.
And let me know when you come up with more material for ridiculing me in the future. I can't wait!
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Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage
Most likely causes:
Your Options not set to accept twerpsites.
The website is encountering problems of idiocy.
There might be unreadable foolishness in the site.
What you can try:
Common sense and reason
Ignoring the jerk
Both of the above
Posted by: Anwyn at August 28, 2007 06:37 AM (dzxw9)
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I really couldn't get to the site, though. And good on you for not letting him bother you.
Posted by: Anwyn at August 28, 2007 06:39 AM (dzxw9)
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Sarah,
The dude vaca's in France, 'nuff said.
Ignore him.
Posted by: tim at August 28, 2007 07:08 AM (nno0f)
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Sarah - Shaking my head in disbelief that someone would actually take the time to be so hurtful. What a jackass. Not sure the other words I would use to describe him should be printed here.
Posted by: keri at August 28, 2007 07:27 AM (l3uZP)
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Hmm. Considering that his heroes appear to be cowards who enlisted in the Army, then refused to serve and fled to Canada and other places, you might want to consider his dislike of you as a supreme compliment.
LIKING the sarcasm, Sarah! Give me more!
Posted by: Oda Mae at August 28, 2007 08:22 AM (WprLw)
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"The insults of an enemy are a tribute to the brave."
--old Afghan saying
Posted by: david foster at August 28, 2007 10:22 AM (gguM0)
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even more insulting "the once popular". Oh my! Does he not know you are even more popular than EVER now, and that you are still the number one war cheerleader?
If not, maybe he will read this and take note.
Posted by: armywifetoddlermom at August 28, 2007 11:24 AM (/xeap)
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I am not as nice as other people and I always add that I am ok with that. Grin!
What a friggin moron and asshat! I couldn't even find a place to comment over there or believe me, I would have.
Screw the haters! Keep at what you are doing. I love ya for sharing your life, opinions and thoughts with all of us and driving on.
Posted by: LMT at August 28, 2007 02:13 PM (ASoq0)
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Ohh, THERE the site is! I was looking for it a while back. He's not very witty or interesting, is he?
I love the you're not doing enough argument myself.
What? You're married to a soldier and you make sure that everything is taken care of and their mental health level remains in a place where he can do his job? NOT ENOUGH!
You knit blankets for wounded soldiers? STILL NOT ENOUGH!
You work with Soldier's Angels to help the wounded? NOT EVEN ENOUGH!
People like this argue with my husband, too. You deployed twice in the GWoT? NOT ENOUGH! It's not like you were wounded or anything!
He's just jealous because you are cuter than he is. Also, you have original ideas, not just the whining of someone who can only manage to complain about what others accomplish rather than going out and creating a better world himself.
Posted by: airforcewife at August 28, 2007 03:39 PM (emgKQ)
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Hey WCW, I tried to access your stat counter to see how many visits you get, but it's set to private. Can you set it to public so I can get an idea of what kind of traffic you get? I am just curious about what affect Sarah's linking to you had on inceasing your visits?
Would you agree to playing along to satisfy my curiosity?
Posted by: CaliValleyGirl at August 28, 2007 04:38 PM (deur4)
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It's typical illogical logic. No one is a cheerleader for war. But I am personally a cheerleader against others that want to destroy my way of life or try to kill my fellow citizens.
It's the chickenhawk BS. If you believe in the war then enlist. Well guess what? I know you'll be shocked, but the Army doesn't actually take everyone who volunteers.
He's winding you up. Ignore him. He probably did it to get traffic on his blog.
Posted by: Mare at August 28, 2007 04:49 PM (NVYkg)
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Mare -- That's what's so perfect about the chickenhawk argument: only one side has to do anything. If you're for the war, you have to enlist. If you're against the war, you don't have to do anything except type on a blog.
Posted by: Sarah at August 28, 2007 06:00 PM (TWet1)
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No blogging from February until late August? Let me see if I can come up with the likely narrative for this douche. Spring break and then Finals were a killer so no time to write. Summer of living at home with mom and dad and catching up with my high school friends while working the ol' job at pizza hut. Late August-time to move back to the dorms with a fast internet connection-good for porno and catching up on all that blogging. Ten bucks says this dude is 19, Sarah. Offer to buy him some beer and maybe he'll be a little nicer.
Posted by: Mike D at August 29, 2007 05:02 AM (TWet1)
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No comments, private sitemeter. Gutsy "man," that one.
Posted by: Anwyn at August 29, 2007 07:05 AM (dzxw9)
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Seems like he & his junior high buddies do this kind of thing for fun. I took a screen shot so even if it goes away, I still have it.
His website is listed on this comments page as one of the participants.
What losers.
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/kaplancd/112448480758481914/
"Agent Moonbat" is a busy boy.
Posted by: Guard Wife at August 29, 2007 03:17 PM (mMRvT)
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He doesn't even allow comments. What a weenie. Think he's afraid of something? Like -- finding out he isn't the be-all and end-all of the universe and we're not all out here nodding our heads in agreement with his stupid assertions?
He's pathetic.
Posted by: JT at August 30, 2007 08:17 AM (iSmSD)
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IN AWE
Ack, I've totally met my Better when it comes to stuffed animals! Look at
Amethyst's turtle. I better get cracking on that lion so I can hold my own.
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August 27, 2007
ME TO A T
Are You Too Sensitive?
I bet you're not the least bit surprised that I clicked on that link.
I have no idea if I was a "fretful toddler" -- I always figured that my oversensitivity stemmed from an overly-controlling former boyfriend -- but I sure nodded at this part:
Cruelty, at least, is a malady that rarely strikes the sensitive. And, in fact, while it's easy to dwell on the downside of being thin-skinned, the pluses are many and varied. "Sensitive people encourage others to feel that their opinions matter, they're usually good listeners and they're naturally empathetic," Dr. Jacobson says. "And because they are so acutely aware of their own imperfections, they tend to be patient with the imperfections of others."
...
But the pendulum can easily swing the other way, too -- where, like the princess and the pea, you feel every tiny bump so intensely that you suffer more than is reasonable. The key, as with so much else in life, is keeping things in perspective.
Been working on that perspective for about four years now. Don't know I've made much progress though.
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Oh, you better not read the "hatesite" "dedicated" to you then.
Posted by: WCW at August 28, 2007 03:07 AM (OIxDY)
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I am a sensitive person. I try to focus on the postitive aspects mentioned there. I try to keep things in perspective and not internalize other people's stuff and issues (first, I have to identify that it is not my stuff). Not always possible, but I am continuously working on it.
Posted by: Butterfly Wife at August 28, 2007 03:29 AM (+2qii)
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Keep working on it Sarah. I promise it gets better.
Posted by: tim at August 28, 2007 03:43 AM (nno0f)
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You were not a fretful toddler at all. You were a very outgoing, sweet-dispositioned little girl, and you were soo smart! You were very mature for your age too. You'd always "take care" of your little friends, read to them, and look after them, and you were like a second mother to your little brothers. You probably inherited your sensitivity from me, but over the years I've learned to "hold my own." I'd say you do pretty well yourself. I love you.
Your Mama
Posted by: Nancy at August 28, 2007 10:03 PM (5mt/4)
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I know that I am still licking my wounds.... And quite relunctant to visit or have much to do with SpouseBuzz folks anymore....
Posted by: allicadem at August 31, 2007 07:44 PM (m78F6)
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August 26, 2007
CUTE AFTER ALL
OK, the octopus is finished. He's not as cute and chubby as
this crocheted one, but I'll be darned if he doesn't look like a smiling octopus. Well, maybe more like a squid, but whatever. And nevermind that he's three times the size of
the rhinoceros I made. Charlie immediately took a liking to him and decided to curl up like best buds.
Now to finish the lion I started...
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Posted by: Green at August 27, 2007 06:35 AM (VqW06)
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Dang, he's cute.
I'm at work (and will be for the next 240 or so hours), so I'll call you this weekend. Promise.
Posted by: Erin at August 27, 2007 09:30 AM (ElP9U)
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Very cute. The octopus, the dog, and the two of them together.
Posted by: Butterfly Wife at August 27, 2007 10:15 AM (/LiOe)
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He's pretty cute (and I really like that rhinoceros). The octopus's legs must have taken quite a while.
And thanks for the comment on my octopus.
Posted by: Amethyst at August 28, 2007 04:00 AM (IvGyM)
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Our pig has a special place in our hearts and home. Are you going for a Noah's Arc theme?
Posted by: jennifer at September 01, 2007 10:20 AM (TMBJh)
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RECOMMENDATIONS
I could use some movie and book recommendations. Here are some recent finds of mine, for what it's worth. Movies:
Stranger than Fiction and
Hot Fuzz. Books: Michael Crichton's
Airframe and Surowiecki's
The Wisdom of Crowds. What do you have for me?
Posted by: Sarah at
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"Gates of the Alamo," an excellent historical novel, told as much from the Mexican as from the Texan side. "Troublesome Young Men," about the Brits (some of whom were acually women) who fought against appeasement during the late 1930s. "The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy," which puts some texture into the concept of globalization. "747" by the man who led the engineering development of this airplane.
Posted by: david foster at August 26, 2007 05:42 AM (gguM0)
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Harry Po ... um. Letsee. Have you read Jane Austen? If so, _Persuasion_ starring Ciaran Hinds and Amanda Root is a far lesser known than Emma Thompson's _Sense and Sensibility_ but almost as good, including Thompson's sister as Mary Musgrove. And if not, well, read her.
Otherwise, I need a little more background ... do you like history? Biography? Fiction? Sports? All of the above? Movies only on DVD or out in theaters?
Posted by: Anwyn at August 26, 2007 09:25 AM (dzxw9)
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Ha, Anwyn, any goodies will do. We don't normally shell out theater money, but I can always see it when it comes to video. And I'm up for any genre; there's always something out there worth learning about.
Posted by: Sarah at August 26, 2007 09:42 AM (TWet1)
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Anything by David McCullough, particularly his _John Adams_ or _Path Between the Seas_ (about the building of the Panama Canal), William Manchester's Churchill biography, _The Last Lion_, two huge volumes (his post-stroke health and eventual death prevented his completing the third, most unfortunately, so it is really Churchill's life before WWII), _Once_ (indy movie recently in theaters), _Miss Potter_, out on DVD, _Come Early Morning_, should be out on DVD, _No Reservations_, romantic light drama either in theaters now or only recently, _Team of Rivals_, a Lincoln bio/history of his administration members.
Seems like I should have more movies than that, but I have a bunch stacked up on Tivo that I have yet to watch. If you like to get TV shows on DVD, get _Firefly_ and _Veronica Mars_ if you haven't seen them--_Firefly_ only has 15 hours or so, so it's a quick watch, and VM has only three seasons.
Posted by: Anwyn at August 26, 2007 10:30 AM (dzxw9)
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Laura Lippman's What the Dead Know. Jennifer Niesslein's Practically Perfect: My life through self-help and back.
I just saw "The Sea Inside" and loved it.
Posted by: Non-Essential Equipment at August 26, 2007 11:18 AM (tXp+s)
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Anwyn, we're watching Firefly right now. My husband is LOVING it. He can't get the discs fast enough in the mail.
Posted by: Sarah at August 26, 2007 12:03 PM (TWet1)
Posted by: Anwyn at August 26, 2007 01:17 PM (dzxw9)
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Firefly is the shiznit! Remember to get "Serenity" afterwards, the movie that ties it all up.
I can recommend a good author, Orson Scott Card, but to list the books of his that I like would take its own blog post.
Oh! And take a look at "The Dangerous Book for Boys" chapter by chapter... it's great!
Posted by: Green at August 26, 2007 02:59 PM (VqW06)
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PS, are YOU liking Firefly as well?
Posted by: Anwyn at August 26, 2007 03:25 PM (dzxw9)
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Anwyn -- HA, yes, of course. I loved the one where Jayne was a folk hero. It's just so nice to see my husband get excited about something. Me, I'm full of passion for every little thing, but he's not like that.
Posted by: Sarah at August 27, 2007 02:41 AM (TWet1)
Posted by: David Boxenhorn at August 27, 2007 04:45 AM (LKLcc)
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We need to go to the crap town where *I'm* a hero.
Posted by: Anwyn at August 27, 2007 06:40 AM (dzxw9)
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What? No Brad Thor on your reading list?
Posted by: airforcewife at August 27, 2007 08:23 AM (emgKQ)
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Sarah -
For you and your husband, try Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Team of Rivals: The political genius of Abraham Lincoln". She has a Pulitzer prize. Her book describes how Lincoln put everyone of his significant rivals on his cabinet. See it
here
Posted by: Tim at August 27, 2007 06:31 PM (Nki/C)
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I just finished "Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. I don't really know how to describe it other than to say I just loved it. I can send it to you if you'd like
Posted by: Angie at August 27, 2007 06:41 PM (4DpOk)
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GRANDPA RAMBO
A man affectionately called "Grandpa Rambo" is
deploying to Iraq. He's been trying to get there for two years. His wife's reaction is so cute; it reminds me of that
old couple on the airplane:
HorneÂ’s wife Sydney West, also a public defender, said he gave her no advance notice of his decision to re-enlist, and she wasnÂ’t surprised that he opted for a combat job over anything else, including putting his legal background to use.
“I wouldn’t think he’d want to go over there to write wills,” she told the newspaper. “If he gets back alive, I’m going to kill him.”
But here's how this feel-good article ended:
As for those who might call him irresponsible for heading off to combat with two children at home, Horne said: “I can’t think of a better example to set for them.”
Good for Grandpa Rambo for answering that question the only way you can. Irresponsible? About half of people in Iraq and Afghanistan right now have children. Are we really suggesting that everyone in the armed forces is irresponsible for putting their country before their children? We wouldn't have an Army if that were the case.
Can we please stop hiding anti-military sentiment behind nonsense phrases like "As for those who might call him" (blank)? You call him that, weinery reporter, or give a full quote where he addresses the topic. Stop hiding your bias behind phrases like "some people think."
(Thanks to Conservative Grapevine for the link.)
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ack! my ex's main problem with my husband (so he claims) is that my husband "abandoned his daughter" by joining the army. but i guess that's what you'd expect from a yellow bellied draft dodging malcontented hippie (not that i'm biased).
teaching your children about honor, courage and duty is more important than being at every baseball game. this is a hard life, i miss him, i worry about him, our kids miss him and the older ones worry, too. it's not that the country is more important than the children. the country is important BECAUSE of the children, and that is why my husband enlisted.
irresponsible. ha! i bet that reporter is a yellow bellied draft dodger too.
Posted by: Sis B at August 26, 2007 08:31 AM (6qNPu)
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Doing Our Part in a Time of War
That's a column I wrote for my school paper during my last semester at CU, describing my struggle with the same question. I'd go back Reserves, too. The difference is that I'm younger and single, I was an MI troop - not a snake-eater or shooter - and I'd like to go back in as a Civil Affairs specialist. Like "Grandpa Rambo", though, that means I'd have to re-enlist rather than seek a commission.
Posted by: Eric at August 26, 2007 09:00 PM (q9wmr)
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"You call him that, weinery reporter, or give a full quote where he addresses the topic. Stop hiding your bias behind phrases like "some people think."
You nailed it Sarah!
Posted by: tim at August 27, 2007 06:17 AM (nno0f)
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August 24, 2007
HEH
This experiment was really interesting:
Six weeks without a wash: The soapless experiment
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Ewww....that wouldn't be the experiment for me, that's for sure. My ultra curly hair would probably have to be shaved off after the first week! Interesting article.
Posted by: ABW at August 24, 2007 09:15 AM (kQWmi)
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Uh, yuck.
The skin thing, though, could have easily been tested without her getting all nasty.
Just look at what happens to women in the third world where they don't have Oil of Olay. Then, look at Sophia Loren.
I'm going to stick with my moisturizer, thank-you-very-much.
Posted by: airforcewife at August 24, 2007 11:49 AM (emgKQ)
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Freakin' gross. She missed a friend's wedding for that crap? Stuuupid.
That said, anyone that spends 2,000 pounds (that's what, $4,000?) a year on beauty products has bigger issues than that experiment can address.
Posted by: Erin at August 24, 2007 06:01 PM (XRza7)
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August 23, 2007
I AM JOE'S BREAKING HEART
I didn't even have to make it to the article body to feel a lump in my throat over this one (via
LMT):
Family Loses Second Son in Iraq War
And what came to mind was this:
Executive Mansion,
Washington, Nov. 21, 1864.
Dear Madam,--
I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.
I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.
I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.
Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,
A. Lincoln
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=477259&in_page_id=1811
The British covered it as well with some moving photos. Very sad.
Posted by: Oda Mae at August 24, 2007 12:14 AM (SLyCG)
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Your post touched me and I wish the story of military casualties did not have to be replayed but I had to link this post to mine about another fallen member. Your letter from Lincoln reminds me that although there have been many others who have gone before, they are all unique and worthy of remembrance. Thank you for posting this.
Posted by: Lemon Stand at August 30, 2007 05:56 AM (DIsMj)
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August 22, 2007
HE FILLS GAPS
Leela: "Fry, this isn't TV. It's real life. Can't you tell the difference?"
Fry: "Sure. I just like TV better.
I'm always fascinated by our modern-day tales and legends, by the fictional characters we hold up as our inspiration for greatness. Sadly when I write about this, I often get insulted by people who think that I can't tell the difference between a TV character and a real person. But apparently a Serbian village is looking for inspiration in our modern-day heroes as well:
A Serbian village is hoping to channel some of Rocky BalboaÂ’s fighting spirit with a 10-foot-tall statue of the fictional boxer portrayed by actor Sylvester Stallone.
...
Zitiste has repeatedly suffered flooding and landslides, gaining a disaster-prone reputation. Fed up, the locals contemplated how to change that image and revive the village — one of the poorest in northern Serbia — and came up with the idea of a statue of the tenacious fictional fighter.
I think that's pretty cool. If we have to be a cultural hegemon, at least we're exporting Rocky.
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IIRC, there's a statue honoring Gojira in a park in Tokyo.
Posted by: Patrick Chester at August 22, 2007 01:56 PM (MKaa5)
2
I personally like exporting Elvis. He WAS the king, you know.
Posted by: airforcewife at August 22, 2007 04:31 PM (emgKQ)
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Maybe it's because we don't seem actively to value a life of character as much as we did in the past that we don't have quite as many "real-life 'heros' "? That said, though, I think we've always had TALES of heroic deeds and lives of great character that we've told and re-told, just to give us something to shoot for. . . to aspire to.
I love the scene in the Lord of the Rings where Frodo and Sam are walking along, having a light moment imagining the other in subsequent folklore and the kids clamoring for Dad to tell it one more time - about Frodo the brave, and Sam-wise the faithful. . . .
I guess we take what inspiration we can find, wherever we find it. And I hope you're not insulted for what you wrote this time, Sarah! For all you nay-sayers, I look up to Sam-wise, the non-existent, mythical Hobbit. So there. For courage, perseverence, faithfulness, selflessness, and getting the job done, he's hard to beat.
Maybe that's a more important question: WHAT do we admire in our heroes? (real or fictional) And why?
Posted by: prophet at August 22, 2007 06:31 PM (Yagmr)
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August 21, 2007
I LIKED IT
I'm going to do something completely insane here and link to something at Daily Kos. Because I
liked it. I suppose I liked it because I thought the telling made the Marine look classy and the lefty look like a drunk pseudo-intellectual, but that's neither here nor there. I too sing daily praises that I was born in Oklahoma instead of...anywhere else in the world.
Fat and Happy and No One Trying to Blow Us Up
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August 20, 2007
GO YE AND READ
CaliValleyGirl found a
great article on Iraq translated from German. It's quite long, but worth the read. And, as
she says, it's even-handed. It starts with
Ramadi is an irritating contradiction of almost everything the world thinks it knows about Iraq -- it is proof that the US military is more successful than the world wants to believe. Ramadi demonstrates that large parts of Iraq -- not just Anbar Province, but also many other rural areas along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers -- are essentially pacified today. This is news the world doesn't hear: Ramadi, long a hotbed of unrest, a city that once formed the southwestern tip of the notorious "Sunni Triangle," is now telling a different story, a story of Americans who came here as liberators, became hated occupiers and are now the protectors of Iraqi reconstruction.
and gets both better and worse from there. Please go read it.
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WHEN AND HOW?
I know everyone's BS detector is running on high after Scott Beauchamp, so maybe I'm treading heavily. But I'm puzzled by a
Newsweek article on MSNBC today. The reporter's cousin just came home from Iraq, so a homecoming article was in order. It seemed like an ordinary tale of happiness and relief until she delineated her family's fears during the previous year. And then this odd paragraph appeared:
I’d read reports of some female soldiers allegedly being raped by Iraqi insurgents—some 50 to 75 rapes, according to The New York Times. Alexia assured us that several male soldiers had volunteered to walk her home after she stood post at night. But that reassurance still couldn’t erase the images of assaults, bombs and corpses.
In the quiet words of the Virgin Mary...come again?
A google search of "raped by insurgent" brought nothing but tales from Sierra Leone. A search of "raped by Iraqi" brought horrible tales from Iraqi women, and a hit on Jessica Lynch. But aside from her, do you know of any story of a captured female coalition soldier who was raped? Who are these 50-75 women and how are they getting raped in Iraq? Getting raped by an insurgent means getting caught and captured, and I don't remember hearing about this. Please point me in the direction of the stories if I have missed them, but for now I remain completely puzzled.
My husband also pointed out that an escort on the way home from the guard tower wouldn't exactly prevent insurgent rape. Soldier-on-soldier crime, perhaps, but surely these insurgents are not scaling the walls and raping American females on duty. Something is just not right here.
I also find it hard to believe there are heat-of-the-battle rapes going on in Iraq, where females are getting raped while their male counterparts are too busy firing at the bad guys. We certainly would've heard of this, right? It's the anti-war left's dream story.
If you can find this Times article or any leads on such rape stories, please let me know. Until then, I'm having a hard time believing insurgents are raping our female soldiers and getting away with it.
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Two lines go good together in your post; “…according to The New York Times” and “Something is just not right here.”
‘Nuff said.
Posted by: tim at August 20, 2007 09:50 AM (nno0f)
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I hadn't read anything about Iraqi insurgent rapes either, and hubby's field would have heard about it first to investigate.
What I have heard about was Colonel Karpinski's claims of how all allied female soldiers are being raped and beaten and tortured and dying from bladder infections because of our own guys.
Posted by: airforcewife at August 20, 2007 10:05 AM (emgKQ)
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I read that too and had the SAME reaction. My BS monitor clicked into overdrive.....
Posted by: Tammi at August 21, 2007 02:30 AM (F/bmV)
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Huh? Why is it rare for news agencies to check the facts of their articles BEFORE they publish them? Probably because it is easier to just give an insincere apology when they are caught. Unfortunately my BS meter seems to go off in conjunction with just about ANY of the big news agencies.
I totally agree with Tim.
Posted by: Lemon Stand at August 21, 2007 06:33 AM (JROsA)
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It is easy to confuse a Jihadi website with the New York Times. Surely the person that is writing the article was confusing the two. There are plenty reports of Jihadi's raping US female soldiers on jihadi websites.
Honest mistake. NY Times...Jihadi Today...who can tell the difference?
Posted by: Soldier's Dad at August 21, 2007 11:19 AM (wZlP1)
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Remember, this is from the same profession that reported the capture of a 12-inch American action figure and accuses Coalition troops of throwing unfired bullets at Iraqi crones.
Posted by: Tom W. at August 21, 2007 12:43 PM (rvJjw)
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"walk her home after she stood post" presumably, she stood her post with a waepon, most likely an M-16. how was she not able to defend herself while walking but she could defend the post from attack. This story is completely false. I will tell you if a single American woman had been reported to have been raped by an insurgent, our troops would gone into overdrive to both protect these women and find the perpetrators.
Posted by: a guy at August 21, 2007 03:32 PM (JMrDo)
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August 18, 2007
CRAFTING AMBIDEXTERITY
I've been tempted by the Dark Side.
Craft-minded readers will notice that this stack of squares is not knitting but...gulp...crochet.
A friend of mine is compiling afghans for a charity. She asked for 6x6 squares, and she goaded me into trying my hand at crocheting them. At first I hated it with a passion, starting and ripping and starting and ripping. I did more un-crocheting than crocheting. But eventually I got the hang of it and figured out how to read the patterns. I got a lot of practice in on these squares, and boy howdy does crochet use up a lot of yarn. Stash depletion for a good cause = awesome.
I picked up my knitting again last night, and it sure felt good. But I think I will venture into crochet again sometime in the future. Especially to make the Exchange Bag from the Happy Hooker book.
And this girl's octopus is turning out waaay cuter than mine. Mine, I fear, is going to look more like a real octopus than a cartoon one (i.e. ugly and scary). I have images of my infant wrapped up in it à la 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Maybe once I put a smile on him, he will seem like a friendly overbearing monster...
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I do hope you're still planning to teach me to knit at the next spousebuzz. I'm DYING to learn. I already crochet - a LOT- but I'm really missing out on a lot of cute patterns by not knowing how to knit.
I can bring an offering.
Posted by: airforcewife at August 18, 2007 12:30 PM (emgKQ)
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Nooooo...Use the Force Luke, do not turn to the Dark Side.
Posted by: Mare at August 18, 2007 12:53 PM (NVYkg)
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YAY!!! Another crocheter! I just posted pictures of my projects...
Posted by: Green at August 19, 2007 07:52 AM (HFGqC)
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I want to learn how to knit, too. My grandmother was very crafty. She taught me how to crochet, paint, cross-stitch, etc., but I never learned how to knit.
One of my most prized possessions is an afghan that my grandmother and I made together one summer when I was sick and had to stay indoors. She died many years ago. Each time I look at our afghan, I am reminded of the many hours that I was able to spend with my grandmother as we made the afghan together, and it's a wonderful memory.
Posted by: Andi at August 20, 2007 04:53 AM (41i5Y)
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August 16, 2007
NOT GOOD WITH THE CHANGES
I'm a woman who likes her routine. I've pretty much done the same thing every day since we moved into this house. In fact, on days that I have a dentist appointment or a knitting class, I often feel really thrown off and have to start mentally preparing myself a few days prior for the change in routine.
Yeah, my mom can't wait to see me saddled with kids. She'll laugh herself silly.
Anyway, I'm all thrown off right now because my husband's Farsi course is running on second shift. For some unknown and odd reason, they're meeting from 2:00-9:00PM every day. That throws us way for a loop, and I'm still trying to wrap my brain around my new schedule. We're eating dinner for lunch and sandwiches for dinner, and last night felt more like he was in the field than at work. This morning we kept looking at each other wondering what we're supposed to do with each other at 11AM. Every day feels like Saturday.
It also throws our computer time way out of whack, so I haven't quite figured out how to arrange my blog reading and writing into this new schedule. Normally it's the first thing I do after he leaves in the morning, but now he doesn't leave until after lunch. Er, dinner. Bear with me as we adjust to this. I haven't read a blog or article in days.
But the husband's already thriving in his class. It's only the second day and he's already memorized all his flashcards for the free-standing alphabet (the initial and medial forms are another story.) And we've been singing our Alef Be Pe's all morning!
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I'm with you there - we're having work done on the house - which has turned into a major project. It's thrown my husband and I completely off our schedules - I know it needs to be done... but I hate it.
It's sad how much of my life is in a rut. Heh.
Posted by: Teresa at August 16, 2007 10:41 AM (gsbs5)
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"the initial and medial forms are another story."
Fortunately most of the final forms are identical to the isolated forms.
I thought he already knew the Arabic alphabet, so he just had to add the Persian-only variants (ک instead of ك for kaaf) and letters to the inventory (پ pe, چ che, ژ zhe, گ gaaf).
Arabic would have had letters for p and g if only earlier p and g hadn't shifted to f and j (though Egyptian still has g: Gamal for جمال Jamal).
I hope he isn't too troubled by homophonous letters in Persian spelling. Since Persian didn't have a lot of Arabic consonants, Persians borrowed the spellings of Arabic words but pronounced them in a Persianized way without the Arabic sounds absent in Persian: e.g., Arabic ﺙ th and emphatic ﺹ s were Persianized as
. So if one hears in Persian, one can't be sure if it's spelled with ﺙ se, ﺹ saad, or the regular -letter ﺱ sin. [z] is even worse, with four spellings: the basic ز ze and ذ zaal, ض zaad, ظ zaa for Arabic words.
Persian spelling is overspecified on the one hand (due to the adherence to Arabic spelling) and yet underspecified on the other (due to the lack of full vowel representation). It's as if English had spellings like psychlgy and ptrdctyl which preserve Latinizations of Greek (ps = ψ, ch = χ, pt = πτ
but leave some vowels unwritten.
Here's a table listing the homophonous letters and indicating whether a given letter is used for Arabic borrowings or native Persian:
http://www.unics.uni-hannover.de/nhtcapri/persian-alphabet.html
Paul Sprachman's (speak-man - what a name!) book Language and Culture in Persian delves into the issues of Persian writing in a style accessible to nonlinguists:
http://www.amazon.com/Language-Culture-Persian-Bibliotheca-Iranica/dp/1568591446/
Reading LACIP is an entertaining way to learn about Persian without actually studying the language. The author himself e-mailed me out of the blue to recommend it and here I am, four years later, recommending it to you. The book may be even more fun if one is studying Persian.
Posted by: Amritas at August 16, 2007 11:31 AM (+nV09)
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Arabic ﺙ th and emphatic ﺹ s were Persianized as .
That reminds me: it seems that Persian underwent a th > s shift at some point (presumably before the introduction of the Arabic script), which is why سه se 'three' now has initial s- and is spelled with Arabic س s- instead of ث th-. In Avestan (a sort of grandaunt to modern Persian), 'three' had initial thr-, which in turn came from an earlier tr- still preserved in Sanskrit (and Greek and Latin).
Germanic and Avestan developed their thr- independently from tr-. English kept Germanic thr-, but most of Germanic gave up the difficult th-sound: hence Swedish
tre, German
drei, and Dutch
drie (but Icelandic
ÞrÃr still has th-!).
I just noticed that Pashto has adopted the German/Dutch strategy of changing th- to d-, at least in dre 'three' according to this table:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Iranian_Languages
Other Iranian languages have weakened th- to h-.
I would imagine you've heard second-language speakers of English pronounce th- as s-. The Japanized version of 'three' is スリー
surii and the Koreanized version is 스리
sUri.
Maybe I should put this on my blog instead of yours ...
Posted by: Amritas at August 16, 2007 11:55 AM (+nV09)
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Amritas -- My husband never learned to read or write Arabic, only to speak a little bit. So this is a new process for him. He did mention the other night how kind it is of you to comment about this and take an interest in his studies. I'm sure he will be fascinated by all your info.
Posted by: Sarah at August 16, 2007 12:29 PM (TWet1)
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Maybe I should put this on my blog instead of yours ...
Now I have yet another reason to come here!
Posted by: David Boxenhorn at August 16, 2007 10:36 PM (Pu/86)
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Do you really think your mother would laugh herself silly?!? It doesn't take long to realize that with a new baby, you just roll with the punches! I know you'll do fine! You're much more organized than I am, and if I survived raising three children, you'll be able to also! Then when you're my age, you'll look back and think about all the silly things you stressed about. Wish I had been wiser then! I have sooo mellowed in my old age!!
I love you!
Your Mama
Posted by: nancy at August 17, 2007 07:28 PM (5mt/4)
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Actually, my son has put me more into a routine. He's much happier when we keep to a schedule. So all may not be lost!
Posted by: Non-Essential Equipment at August 19, 2007 09:41 AM (dHtzl)
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August 14, 2007
FARSI BEGINS
My husband starts his Farsi training today. Things should get interesting around here. It's hard for me to imagine learning a whole language in six months, but I guess if you're at it for eight hours a day, it's a little different than the three hours per week deal I did all through college. And apparently the Army is wising up to how badly they need competent speakers, so they've changed the final test from all multiple choice (sheesh) to reading and aural comprehension. My husband is determined to clobber this puppy and get the highest score ever.
It's funny the reactions you get when you tell civilians that you're going to start learning Farsi. There are two main choices: "What's Farsi?" and "Are we invading Iran?"
Our old neighbors from when we first got married are Iranian, and we got to meet up with them last week. They were just tickled pink hearing what my husband has already managed to learn on his own via the Rosetta Stone program. They about fell over when their daughter toddled into the living room and my husband said, "The girl has on a shirt but no pants." And he just floors them with his knowledge of the region, such as when he found out what city the wife is from and said, "Oh, so you're Azeri and not Persian?" Most of the people they meet in the US can't tell Iraq from Iran, but my husband knows the different Iranian ethnic groups and their corresponding geography.
Can you tell how much this man amazes me too?
Everyone asks if I am going to try to learn Farsi alongside him, and I haven't really decided yet. I can count to ten and nearly recite the alphabet, but maybe I will try to glean more than that.
And when our friends asked, "So are you going to invade Iran?", you could tell they were half-joking, but you could also hear some wistfulness in their words.
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Sarah - We need more people like your husband. Good luck to him!
Posted by: keri at August 14, 2007 04:30 AM (l3uZP)
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Rosetta Stone is awesome.
We use it for Russian, and because I need to brush up on the French I haven't used for 10 years. It's amazing how much you forget, even when you have forced yourself to watch those horrible French-Canadian programs on TV.
Posted by: airforcewife at August 14, 2007 05:03 AM (emgKQ)
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The day I've been waiting for is finally here!
The bad news: Some of your readers might think it's possible to learn (meaning master) a language in six months, even at the rate of eight hours a day. It's not. Eight hours a day amounts to 40 hours a week, 160 hours a month, and 960 hours in six months, not including homework, of course.
I don't know if these figures are still valid, but here's what the Defense Language Institute expected out of its students in 1973:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~wbaxter/howhard.html
After 720 hours of instruction, a "a student with superior language aptitude" is supposed to be able to achieve a speaking proficiency level of 2+ or 3 (using what I presume is the ILR scale).
Here's the ILR scale for speaking:
http://www.govtilr.org/ILRscale2.htm
Level 5 is "equivalent to that of a highly articulate well-educated native speaker". I call this the 'impersonator level'.
Level 2+ and 3 are still way, way ahead of what most Americans can do with foreign languages, though. So I guess that's still good news.
The good news I originally had in mind: Farsi is the English of the Iranian languages in two senses: not only is it the biggest, but AFAIK it's also the simplest. It doesn't have grammatical gender or case endings like Pashto. It's also easier to pronounce than Pashto. And Farsi is easier than Modern Standard Arabic - the DLI has the figures to prove it. (According to the chart I linked to above, after 720 hours [18 weeks?], the best students of Arabic are still at the elementary level, way behind those taking Farsi.)
I look forward to reading more about your husband's progress in Farsi - and maybe even yours!
PS: Counting to ten in Farsi isn't that much different from counting to ten in Sanskrit:
1 - F yek / S eka
2 - F do / S dvi (cf. duo-)
3 - F seh / S tri (cf. three)
4 - F chahaar / S chatur (cf. quarter)
5 - F panj / S pañcha (cf. penta)
6 - F shesh / S ShaSh (cf. six)
7 - F haft / S sapta (cf. sept-, hepta)
8 - F hasht / S aShTa (cf. octo-)
9 - F noh / S nava (cf. nove-)
10 - F dah / S dasha (cf. deca-)
The relationship between the two languages (and between them and Greek, Latin, and English) is still apparent after millennia.
For the bigger picture, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_numbers_in_various_languages#Indo-European_languages
Posted by: Amritas at August 14, 2007 11:59 AM (+nV09)
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(Hi Amritas!)
As Amritas says, it is much harder to learn a foreign language than most people think. However, there is a great deal of variance in language learning ability, so if you are talented it might be easy for you.
More bad news: Language learning ability is not well correlated with other kinds of learning ability, meaning that people who used to being good at learning things in general often fail at this. Think of it like musical ability.
In any case, good luck!
Posted by: David Boxenhorn at August 14, 2007 10:22 PM (LKLcc)
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