I suppose I would describe myself as agnostic when it comes to God and religion, but being a Jew is sort of "who you are" and really goes beyond religion.
When I was in college one of my mentors described herself as culturally Jewish but religiously atheist when asked; I remember another friend at the time not understanding how that was possible, but it made perfect sense to me and still does. Maybe because I've been all over the map in terms of religion although my history and background are a "fixed point".
I remember the long struggle for small gains
Ah, you have the "long view" and I appreciate that so much. George Santayana wrote "Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it" (full disclosure: I had to look that up, I was getting it confused with something Henry Ford said *smacks forehead*) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_of_Reason But I think that could be altered to "those who ignore the past..." as well, and human beings are awfully good at doing just that, myself included. f.ex. I've recently watched some documentaries about labor and class struggles in America and Europe in the late 19th century, an area where my knowledge is woefully lacking, and realized how closely it resembled what's going on right now. None of this is new. I had no idea that the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1915, for instance, followed months of labor struggles by female employees for better wages and conditions, fought with little to no support from male labor unions.
It's easy to get complacent and say "oh it's all good now". (And I'm being incredibly uneloquent right now, sorry for the word salad.) I guess what I'm trying to say is, it's important to remember where we've been, who came before us, to honor those who fought so we could have the rights and benefits we now take for granted. To appreciate that it's a struggle, and a PROCESS, as you say.
I would really love to know what it's like in North Carolina.
Oh! It took me quite a while to re-acclimate to living in the North. On a visit home from NC my family remarked that I walked and talked slower; my friends down there called me an honorary southerner. Now I guess people could call me an honorary New Englander, but there is a difference in pace. It's not the "deep south" (at the risk of being accused of stereotyping, I have my South-Carolina born and raised sweetheart's word on that). There actually is a slower, more relaxed pace, but this was when I lived in Greensboro, NC - the biggest cities there like Charlotte, or Raleigh-Durham; or towns where a lot of northerns have moved to, like Asheville, are another story.
It is - or was - very temperate weather for the most part (but that was 20 years ago, keep in mind); a lot of people were moving to NC either to retire or for the economic advantages because of the combination of weather, MUCH cheaper real estate and overall cost of living (although food and gas and other things have also evened out with the north I think, so it's mostly the real estate that's a factor), good hospital and medical systems in the larger towns set up to draw retirees. Asheville and greensboro, where I lived 3-1/2 years each, have metastasized since we lived there - we visited two years ago and hardly recognized parts of those towns. (And too bad about Asheville because it's in the mountains so it's beautiful, has great architecture, nifty shops and galleries, a co-op grocery 30+ years old and going strong but oh my is the traffic downtown a nightmare.)
You have the conservativism of the laws down there strangely at odds with a lot of progressive ideas being practiced in fact; my first encounters with alternative healing and nutrition, with Thai and vietnamese cuisine, with gay and lesbian activism and support groups, with Wicca and paganism, all occured down there - not in suppposedly-progressive Asheville, but in middle-of-nowhere Greensboro of all places. It gets more conservative as you get to more rural areas. When I moved down there I was nervous because I'd just come out as a lesbian but Greensboro turned out to be a good place to "land" - a decades-long established LGBT support network (Alternative Resources of the Triad), three colleges in town, etc.
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branchandroot
I did ask...(pt1)
Date: 2013-12-31 05:55 pm (UTC)When I was in college one of my mentors described herself as culturally Jewish but religiously atheist when asked; I remember another friend at the time not understanding how that was possible, but it made perfect sense to me and still does. Maybe because I've been all over the map in terms of religion although my history and background are a "fixed point".
I remember the long struggle for small gains
Ah, you have the "long view" and I appreciate that so much. George Santayana wrote "Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it" (full disclosure: I had to look that up, I was getting it confused with something Henry Ford said *smacks forehead*) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_of_Reason But I think that could be altered to "those who ignore the past..." as well, and human beings are awfully good at doing just that, myself included. f.ex. I've recently watched some documentaries about labor and class struggles in America and Europe in the late 19th century, an area where my knowledge is woefully lacking, and realized how closely it resembled what's going on right now. None of this is new. I had no idea that the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1915, for instance, followed months of labor struggles by female employees for better wages and conditions, fought with little to no support from male labor unions.
It's easy to get complacent and say "oh it's all good now". (And I'm being incredibly uneloquent right now, sorry for the word salad.) I guess what I'm trying to say is, it's important to remember where we've been, who came before us, to honor those who fought so we could have the rights and benefits we now take for granted. To appreciate that it's a struggle, and a PROCESS, as you say.
I would really love to know what it's like in North Carolina.
Oh! It took me quite a while to re-acclimate to living in the North. On a visit home from NC my family remarked that I walked and talked slower; my friends down there called me an honorary southerner. Now I guess people could call me an honorary New Englander, but there is a difference in pace. It's not the "deep south" (at the risk of being accused of stereotyping, I have my South-Carolina born and raised sweetheart's word on that). There actually is a slower, more relaxed pace, but this was when I lived in Greensboro, NC - the biggest cities there like Charlotte, or Raleigh-Durham; or towns where a lot of northerns have moved to, like Asheville, are another story.
It is - or was - very temperate weather for the most part (but that was 20 years ago, keep in mind); a lot of people were moving to NC either to retire or for the economic advantages because of the combination of weather, MUCH cheaper real estate and overall cost of living (although food and gas and other things have also evened out with the north I think, so it's mostly the real estate that's a factor), good hospital and medical systems in the larger towns set up to draw retirees. Asheville and greensboro, where I lived 3-1/2 years each, have metastasized since we lived there - we visited two years ago and hardly recognized parts of those towns. (And too bad about Asheville because it's in the mountains so it's beautiful, has great architecture, nifty shops and galleries, a co-op grocery 30+ years old and going strong but oh my is the traffic downtown a nightmare.)
You have the conservativism of the laws down there strangely at odds with a lot of progressive ideas being practiced in fact; my first encounters with alternative healing and nutrition, with Thai and vietnamese cuisine, with gay and lesbian activism and support groups, with Wicca and paganism, all occured down there - not in suppposedly-progressive Asheville, but in middle-of-nowhere Greensboro of all places. It gets more conservative as you get to more rural areas. When I moved down there I was nervous because I'd just come out as a lesbian but Greensboro turned out to be a good place to "land" - a decades-long established LGBT support network (Alternative Resources of the Triad), three colleges in town, etc.