The "R Word"

Currently, I am nearing page 100 of my Iranian treasure. The vignettes are priceless in Farsi. Although I am not as far into the book as I had hoped by this evening, I am enjoying savoring the time I have spent with it. Once again, as I stated yesterday, Dumas' words are delicious. She is the epitome of schadenfreude meets Sykes, Griffin and Lampanelli. I would have to say Jeanette Walls' The Glass Castle and Dumas' Funny in Farsi rank as the best autobiographical sketches I have read. Now there is a big reason for this: neither write about life altering experiences (which reminds me I have had so many of those according to my friend Justin b/c of the ling lings and chili I was served and the Thai restaurant I ate at last week). The topics they write about stem from the everyday human experience. I am beginning to believe that it is no longer about what you have experienced in terms of greatness that matters in writing, it is your ability to write extremely well about the small things that have happened that complete the bigger picture.

Out of all of my reading today, one vignette stands out in particular. I laugh because it applies to my family name. Dumas describes her experiences growing up and having to tolerate no one knowing how to pronounce her name. Her first was impossible so people would not even attempt her last. She was called things like Frizzy and Froozy, Fritzy and Fiorucci, but never Firoozeh. So, she decided at the age of 10 to change her name to the Americanized Julie. Julie was easy to remember and she never had to correct anyone on the pronunciation. Now, my last name has wielded things such as Rodent, Rodin (this is where my name descends...Hyacinth Bucket would love being the descendant of a great sculptor...but not the French), Roodeen, Rotten, Roland, Rodney, Rodman (I told you we were related), Rodham (she is my mom) and a plethora of others. Many of these names have come from the tele-marketing bullshitters, but some have also come from my students.

Probably my favorite last name story comes from teaching Company Show Choir last year. One of my students walked up to me and said "Hey, P-Rod, I have a question." Everyone immediately shut their mouths (hard to do for a choir of 40 adolescent girls) and looked up. The girl caught what she said and did one of those suck air in quickly/startled breaths and looked at me like a deer in headlights. The rest of the choir, in unison, said "EEEEWWWWWWWW." They all caught on that my name sounds like a porn star when said like that. But ya know what? It stayed. Students, faculty, staff and administrators all called me that for the rest of the year.

Maybe that is not as exciting as Firoozeh's name change, but it is still good. An introspective moment does follow afterward, though. She speaks of how people never questioned her about being Iranian when she changed her name to Julie. In fact, they never even thought of her as being Iranian. Problems started to rise when people would openly bash Iranians around her because they never suspected her of being Iranian (she described her skin color as being "porcelain"). She decided she was only lying to herself and went back to Firoozeh for school in Berkeley where she met her husband Francois and realized how easy he had it being French versus her Iranian self.

The funniest comment made from the whole name text was how a mom at her elementary school gave up on learning her name. She was simply referred to as the "F Word" from then out.

My two cents: I am pissed that no one learns names or has the patience. This is where xenophobia comes in. Let's Americanize everything because we are afraid of names, too. Last year, I taught students of every nationality. One class alone had 11 nationalities mixed in alone (Pakistan, Ireland, England, Poland, El Salvador, Spain, Japan, Zimbabwe, Argentina, India and Taiwan). Although some of their names were so hard to pronounce (especially the Polish), I managed to do it. A name is something sacred. It is who we are. If someone doesn't have the patience to learn your name, then they don't have the patience to respect you. We are tied to our names. They are just as much of a part of us as our body, mind and spirit.

I also love Dumas' description of her father cheating time share opportunities. He would attend "seminars" just to receive free stuff. HAHA. She also talked about frequent vacations to Las Vegas as a child. There was also a vignette on learning how to swim and how she milked not being able to for everything it was worth.

This is such a good read.

Today, after the gym, my friend Brian (friend and workout partner from time to time) and I took the bus home. Mind you, this is the 147 bus. Begins in Rogers Park. One simple word: characters. From the beginning of the bus ride (right at the Bosworth stop...Bosworth is right next to the Rogers/Howard/Greenleaf intersection) a man stepped on the bus. You know how you have a moment where you think "OH GOD...please don't let him sit next to me" moments? Well, I had one of those and told Brian to start talking to me. I was sitting in an area that made it easy for him to sit next to me if he wanted. The man was so FRICKIN obnoxious and loud. Now, I know I am loud and obnoxious at times, well a lot of times, but this is PT for the love. He got on and started flirting with every woman on the bus and was LOUD as HELL. Well, finally, he did what I prayed for to NOT happen. He sat next to me. As I was engaged in conversation with Brian, I could hear the man talking/flirting/being obnoxious to this beautiful young girl. When he finished talking to her, he turned to me and said "Where you from? You Russian or somethin? I hear and accent." Point 1) Was this man Sarah Palin secretly disguised as a Chicago citizen? 2) Is he deaf? 3) Why Russian? 4) Do I look foreign...Does Brian look foreign (I guess you have to see a pic of Brian to know). Answers: 1) Probably, you never know what that dumbass is up to and she can apparently sense them from miles away. 2) Probably. He talked so damned loud it probably blew his eardrums out at some time and everyone else's on the bus (including mine). 3) Maybe it is the skin/eye color. 4) We do look European, yes, but a lot of us light-skinned-no summer tan people yet look like that...and we have good haircuts and dress nicely (even though we were in gym clothes). Well, he was startled when I said no. He said "Where you stay?" Ok. Stay. Really? How about live? Where do you live? I said "I LIVE in Rogers Park." "Well where you from?" I said "I am from South Carolina and live in Chicago now." Brian said "I am originally from Texas and live up here now, too." The man said "Well I thought you was Russian or somethin. Are you sure you weren't speakin in no accent." Did we have to clear it up again? Wasn't the fact that we said no ONCE enough? No. "Wellden I must have been blinded by this young woman's beauty and thought I heard you speakin in some differnt (yes, differnt) language." What a tool. He was dressed like one, too. Sorry to that girl, too. Wherever you are, I hope you had a peaceful ride home, although I doubt it. Like I said, pretty sure he was not Sarah Palin, although Chicago weather conditions today probably looked like those of Alaska.

This morning, I woke to SNOW. It is still snowing even as I write right now. I think by the time it is over we are supposed to have a foot. We finally got our big snow this year. I walked to the gym...a mile in it...to show my dedication. Now I can share stories of walking a mile in the snow to get somewhere with elderly. Oh and btw...if you are a resolutioner, stop going to the gym, I want my equipment back...and if you invent exercises, you need to stop b/c it takes up too much room. AND, if you are not doing my prescribed amount of weight, then you need to move on.

This is a picture from early this morning. The lake is behind the trees. Good luck finding it because it has been an ice sheet the past few days.
One last bit of info that made me really excited!! Costa Rica just voted their first ever female president: Laura Chinchilla!!!!!!! LOVE IT. This is me congratulating her.
Have a wonderful night! :)