Guest guest Posted September 11, 2004 Report Share Posted September 11, 2004 Hi, I am greeing to try to get along with Jerry " the basher " . :-) It was interesting to me to deal with probablities because I could sort of feel the answers jelling in my head unbidden. The professor was an older man with lots of spectrum traits, his usual specialty was engineering or physics or something. This was a summer school class for the city college, so I think he was just picking up some extra money. At any rate, stats weren't his main strength, and occasionally he'd say something and I'd think....I don't think so...but I don't know why I don't think he's right. It was sort like seeing portions of a whole in my head and getting a feel for how big a portion something ought to be. I always pay attention to studies that show how tall men do better in getting hired, etc, it's pretty stupid. As far as I know I am mostly Irish, English, a smidge of German and Cherokee. It's the Cherokee that makes me look not quite white, moreso than my siblings, and my kids look totally anglo. I say I am a very pale pink (red plus lots of white) I really don't like the whole idea of race and I try not to get stuck on it...but I do...sort of in a reaction to it or something. A couple of other people thought I was black based on my name. Camille Cosby is Bill's wife. Chinese people have said I look like the people who live on the border of China and Russia, and Ukrainians have said I look Bulgarian...might be about the same mix as the Central Asians on the border of China and Russia. As for my ASD child. I have a set of ideas that are entirely unproven, but don't involve Martians or the CIA... Xe has a sort of diagnosis of a connective tissue disorder, but the specific kind is not identified...most people know about Marfan's, well Ehlers-Danlos is a cousin of it, and actually, EDS is a collection of disorders that have different etiologies but all are disorders of collagen. this used to be a perseveration of mine, connective tissue disorders. My child has quite stretchy thin pale skin and hyperextensible joints and a ton of other odd little things going on and some big things going on, like one very bad kidney and one slightly bad kidney. That would be coming from my side of the family. No one in the near relations have it like xe doesn, but there are lots of minor versions of it in my dad's siblings, and his dad...it follows the branch that has the most AS traits. My ex probably...I'm thinking....has something up on the 15th chromosome, maybe something like Angelmanns...or insterstitial duplication 15q. time will tell if I am right about that. My other kid has none of this stuff, but has something like mild dyslexia and maybe a few sort of BAP traits, but xe is not autistic. Camille Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 11, 2004 Report Share Posted September 11, 2004 Camille wrote: > As far as I know I am mostly Irish, English, a smidge of > German and Cherokee. It's the Cherokee that makes me look > not quite white, moreso than my siblings, and my kids look > totally anglo. My ex-wife was/is 1/4 Cherokee. Hardly shows on her, not at all on my kids, except my son can't grow a beard. He married a Chicana woman in LA, their daughter looks all anglo. I like the idea of a melting pot. A few more generations, and " What is your ethnic background? " will be just a stupid question, and unanswerable too. Clay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 12, 2004 Report Share Posted September 12, 2004 Hi, Good observation. When I was on my trip last year to Ukraine, a tour guide was commenting on how we are all obsessed with our " roots " ...so American's will ask Ukrainians... " So have your ancestors all come from Ukraine? " or something, but she said most Ukrainians never even think about such a thing and can't answer it. I met a woman when I went to Russia in 1999 who was Mongolian or something like that...she had just bleached her hair blonde, and she didn't really look much more " ethnic " than lots of others I met...but her friends were surprised when she said it. My impression was that no one ever thought to talk about it before. When I was in London at the airport coming back from Ukraine, there was a long delay in getting our plane load through customs and so for some reason I was able to have a short conversation with the customs officer. She said it was disgusting the way so many Americans would say " Irish " or " German American " or " Mexican American " when asked their nationality. She only wanted to hear " American " , that was the correct answer, and she was disgusted by the way we sorted ourselves out like that. The fraction of blood thing is rooted in racism, but Native American's use it all the time. People don't really say, " I'm a quarter African... " , even if they know. With " black " the unspoken and legal rule is, " one drop of black blood and you are black " , that's because " black blood " is seen as a toxic thing the govt. must keep track of. While the sooner a persons children " stop being Iriquois " or whatever...the sooner the govt doesn't owe them anything...plus the " color " blends in more quickly with the white population, as you said with your kids. The chief of the Cherokees at the time of the " trail of tears " was 1/8 or thereabouts (see I'm using the fractions) and he had blue eyes and didn't speak Cherokee, but his wife did, and she was all Cherokee. My dad had kind of the high cheekbones and he tanned really dark and reddish. When he was little he had white-blonde hair, as an adult it was brownish black. I think genetics is so interesting. Camille > > > As far as I know I am mostly Irish, English, a smidge of > > German and Cherokee. It's the Cherokee that makes me look > > not quite white, moreso than my siblings, and my kids look > > totally anglo. > > My ex-wife was/is 1/4 Cherokee. Hardly shows on her, not at > all on my kids, except my son can't grow a beard. He married > a Chicana woman in LA, their daughter looks all anglo. I like > the idea of a melting pot. A few more generations, and " What > is your ethnic background? " will be just a stupid question, and > unanswerable too. > > Clay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 12, 2004 Report Share Posted September 12, 2004 Hi Camille and Clay i thouroughly enjoyed reading this post and found it of great intrest, as here in UK quite a few people do trace their ancestory.And i agree with your comments about , the melting pot aka LadyBear Camille wrote:Hi, Good observation. When I was on my trip last year to Ukraine, a tour guide was commenting on how we are all obsessed with our " roots " ...so American's will ask Ukrainians... " So have your ancestors all come from Ukraine? " or something, but she said most Ukrainians never even think about such a thing and can't answer it. I met a woman when I went to Russia in 1999 who was Mongolian or something like that...she had just bleached her hair blonde, and she didn't really look much more " ethnic " than lots of others I met...but her friends were surprised when she said it. My impression was that no one ever thought to talk about it before. When I was in London at the airport coming back from Ukraine, there was a long delay in getting our plane load through customs and so for some reason I was able to have a short conversation with the customs officer. She said it was disgusting the way so many Americans would say " Irish " or " German American " or " Mexican American " when asked their nationality. She only wanted to hear " American " , that was the correct answer, and she was disgusted by the way we sorted ourselves out like that. The fraction of blood thing is rooted in racism, but Native American's use it all the time. People don't really say, " I'm a quarter African... " , even if they know. With " black " the unspoken and legal rule is, " one drop of black blood and you are black " , that's because " black blood " is seen as a toxic thing the govt. must keep track of. While the sooner a persons children " stop being Iriquois " or whatever...the sooner the govt doesn't owe them anything...plus the " color " blends in more quickly with the white population, as you said with your kids. The chief of the Cherokees at the time of the " trail of tears " was 1/8 or thereabouts (see I'm using the fractions) and he had blue eyes and didn't speak Cherokee, but his wife did, and she was all Cherokee. My dad had kind of the high cheekbones and he tanned really dark and reddish. When he was little he had white-blonde hair, as an adult it was brownish black. I think genetics is so interesting. Camille > > > As far as I know I am mostly Irish, English, a smidge of > > German and Cherokee. It's the Cherokee that makes me look > > not quite white, moreso than my siblings, and my kids look > > totally anglo. > > My ex-wife was/is 1/4 Cherokee. Hardly shows on her, not at > all on my kids, except my son can't grow a beard. He married > a Chicana woman in LA, their daughter looks all anglo. I like > the idea of a melting pot. A few more generations, and " What > is your ethnic background? " will be just a stupid question, and > unanswerable too. > > Clay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 12, 2004 Report Share Posted September 12, 2004 Ladybear wrote: > Hi Camille and Clay i thouroughly enjoyed reading this post > and found it of great intrest, as here in UK quite a few people > do trace their ancestory. And i agree with your comments about, > the melting pot Thanks, and the Treehouse is usually a friendly and supportive place, a fun hangout, but once in awhile somebody says something that Really has to be challenged. I get annoyed as hell when- ever a Mean comment is made to someone else. I suppose it's a hangover from my childhood, because whenever any sort of " trouble " started, then hammers would start flying into TV sets, people got hit over the head with milk bottles, or picture frames were thrown. (Mommie dearest did all that.) > People don't really say, " I'm a quarter African... " , even if > they know. With " black " the unspoken and legal rule is, " one > drop of black blood and you are black " , that's because " black > blood " is seen as a toxic thing the govt. must keep track of. A long time ago, I used to wonder, " What would it be like now if only black men had been brought over here? " Well, there just wouldn't be any blacks here now, because at the time, there would have been no intermarriage or intercourse between the races. And if only black women had been brought over, there Still wouldn't be any discernible black people here, because their genes would be so thoroughly mixed into the population, after 10 to 20 generations. From a genetic standpoint, we'd all be stronger, having added the genes of another race, which is a good thing. From a political standpoint, we'd all be weaker, because their presence continually compels us to live up to the ideals of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, which calls for freedom and equality for Everyone. Eventually, we'll have both advantages. Clay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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