Why do any number of sources keep referring to Jesus "Chuy" Garcia and "Chuy" Garcia? If that is a good idea, why not Michael "Mike" Madigan, Edward "Ed" Burke, or "J.B." Pritzker?
The Chicago Reader poll is a joke. It's ridiculous that nominees can "enhance their listing" by paying money to the Reader. If they want the top ballot spot, they should get in line early in the morning like everyone else.
“I see no harm in <some gesture> ...”. Usually this is accurate: the speaker sees no harm in some pointless gesture. But the harm is to speaker themselves, who often looks foolish. I have a FB friend who reposts pointless FB memes telling people to take some action known to be incorrect and useless, and he always defends himself with “there’s no harm in it.” The harm is how shallow he appears.
EZ, many thanks for sharing Mary Schmich's post on Letter from the Birmingham Jail. i had never read it before, and read it just today - powerful, articulate, rational, scathing, uplifting, beautiful. maybe the best ~1/2 hour of reading i've done in a long time.
I think we're missing the real scandal when it comes to "Oriental": the falling out of fashion of Oriental rugs!
One problem with "Oriental" -- in addition to its Eurocentric connotation of mystery and exoticism ascribed to virtually all of Asia -- is that it's confusing! (See, e.g., the Oriental Theater, now Nederlander, a wonderfully kitschy pastiche of South, not East, Asian styles.) I grew up valuing Oriental rugs. I also grew up hearing "Oriental," when referring to people, exclusively reserved for East Asians. I naively thought the rugs and people came from the same place. I now know that what I liked -- and still love -- are rugs from Persia and Central and South Asia. (Actual Chinese rugs didn't look "Oriental" to me, though they count.) They're sumptuous, striking, and, fragile antiques aside, pretty durable too.
I don't really know that these beautiful things have gone out of fashion, but I see troubling evidence. You don't see them much in photo spreads, where the preference seems to be for monochrome monotony. When I sold my condo, the first order of business was to 86 the rugs. (The second order of business was to paint everything gray -- ugh.) Chicago's own Karastan, the company that made really high quality machine-woven Oriental rugs for the masses out of a factory in North Carolina, is basically out of business.
I never saw any issue with the Orient meaning Asian. But it is archaic. I do have a problem with the media and political nonsense of proclaiming Asian as a racial/ethnic group that has some sort of common interests. This came to mind when I was watching a TV news item that said Asians were celebrating the Lunar New Year with video and interviews with Han Chinese heritage celebrants. Less than 30% of Asians celebrate the Lunar New Year and the 40 plus non-Han ethnicities have their own traditions. Over 60% of the global population, with hundreds of ethnic groups are spread across East, Central, South, and Western Asia. All of these ethnic groups have members in the US and pretending that they are the same in any way other than not being European is nonsense.
Why do any number of sources keep referring to Jesus "Chuy" Garcia and "Chuy" Garcia? If that is a good idea, why not Michael "Mike" Madigan, Edward "Ed" Burke, or "J.B." Pritzker?
The Chicago Reader poll is a joke. It's ridiculous that nominees can "enhance their listing" by paying money to the Reader. If they want the top ballot spot, they should get in line early in the morning like everyone else.
This comment is only partly snark.
Marcia C was right. The absence of “I snow a guy” was a travesty.
Ironically, talk of the term "Oriental" a day after this actor passed away.
https://people.com/tv/mchales-navy-actor-yoshio-yoda-dead/
“I see no harm in <some gesture> ...”. Usually this is accurate: the speaker sees no harm in some pointless gesture. But the harm is to speaker themselves, who often looks foolish. I have a FB friend who reposts pointless FB memes telling people to take some action known to be incorrect and useless, and he always defends himself with “there’s no harm in it.” The harm is how shallow he appears.
"tendentious crap"
Come to think of it, that's a good name for a polling firm where the slogan is "What do you want it to equal?"
EZ, many thanks for sharing Mary Schmich's post on Letter from the Birmingham Jail. i had never read it before, and read it just today - powerful, articulate, rational, scathing, uplifting, beautiful. maybe the best ~1/2 hour of reading i've done in a long time.
I think we're missing the real scandal when it comes to "Oriental": the falling out of fashion of Oriental rugs!
One problem with "Oriental" -- in addition to its Eurocentric connotation of mystery and exoticism ascribed to virtually all of Asia -- is that it's confusing! (See, e.g., the Oriental Theater, now Nederlander, a wonderfully kitschy pastiche of South, not East, Asian styles.) I grew up valuing Oriental rugs. I also grew up hearing "Oriental," when referring to people, exclusively reserved for East Asians. I naively thought the rugs and people came from the same place. I now know that what I liked -- and still love -- are rugs from Persia and Central and South Asia. (Actual Chinese rugs didn't look "Oriental" to me, though they count.) They're sumptuous, striking, and, fragile antiques aside, pretty durable too.
I don't really know that these beautiful things have gone out of fashion, but I see troubling evidence. You don't see them much in photo spreads, where the preference seems to be for monochrome monotony. When I sold my condo, the first order of business was to 86 the rugs. (The second order of business was to paint everything gray -- ugh.) Chicago's own Karastan, the company that made really high quality machine-woven Oriental rugs for the masses out of a factory in North Carolina, is basically out of business.
Even the rich are no longer keeping up their end!
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/28/style/why-are-rugs-so-expensive.html
I never saw any issue with the Orient meaning Asian. But it is archaic. I do have a problem with the media and political nonsense of proclaiming Asian as a racial/ethnic group that has some sort of common interests. This came to mind when I was watching a TV news item that said Asians were celebrating the Lunar New Year with video and interviews with Han Chinese heritage celebrants. Less than 30% of Asians celebrate the Lunar New Year and the 40 plus non-Han ethnicities have their own traditions. Over 60% of the global population, with hundreds of ethnic groups are spread across East, Central, South, and Western Asia. All of these ethnic groups have members in the US and pretending that they are the same in any way other than not being European is nonsense.