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To: MissAmericanPie
Every year at this time my kids' public school (located, by the way, in what is supposed to be among the finest school systems in the US) has some kind of "Diversity Day" or "Heritage Day" or some such. At these events one is supposed to dress in one's exotic native costume and bring native foods to put on a card table for the other parents and children to sample, then talk about one's rich ethnic heritage. This is supposed to generate mutual understanding and admiration. Note that there is a presupposition that everybody is so newly off the boat that they have a native costume still tucked in the closet.

Well, my kids and I got sick of being left out of the fun, so we decided that we were going to take part and celebrate diversity, too. We would get a card table and dress in our unusual native costumes and talk about our ethnic heritage like everyone else at the school. So we put on native clothing that most of the people there had never seen--I wore a wool plaid skirt, a cashmere sweater, a navy blazer, and Great-Grandmama's pearls, with plain flats; my son wore his navy blazer, a baggy white cotton button-down shirt, and a simple silk tie. We made a Yorkshire pudding, Sally Lunn bread, and a few other English odds and ends, and set up a display about quaint native customs from our ethnic heritage. Our little display showcased charming ethnic folkways like the Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, writs of habeas corpus, and trial by jury. We also put up pictures of those who contributed to our quaint native culture. I chose pictures of Shakespeare, Jefferson, Marshall, Washington, Wren, Newton, Reagan, and Churchill, to name a few. We had a boombox playing Purcell and Dowland.

Nobody thought this was in any way amusing, for some reason. Our gesture was not appreciated. We are just insensitive white racists, after all.

92 posted on 12/09/2003 10:15:24 PM PST by Capriole (Foi vainquera)
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To: Capriole
Nobody thought this was in any way amusing, for some reason. Our gesture was not appreciated. We are just insensitive white racists, after all.

I think it was great. I guess they would have been more impressed by some spicy food or idiotic dancing. The Magna Carta, Bill of Rights or Shakespeare just can't compare I guess. LOL @ the idiots.

95 posted on 12/09/2003 11:53:52 PM PST by dougherty (I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. -Michelangelo)
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To: Capriole
I would have loved to be a fly on the wall for that event. At least you have them something to think about, and your stock went up with your children.

100 posted on 12/10/2003 5:21:43 AM PST by MissAmericanPie
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