Journal Chacham's Journal: Chronicle: New girl on the block oddity. 13
My apartment's building is one of many around a circle. That is, the circle is surrounded by a square of lots, with apartment buildings on all four sides. As it so happens, i am now in my third apartment there, and on a third side.
Well before my arrival on the scene, the center of the circle was a pool and pool house, The pool has since been filled in and is mostly grass now. The pool house was at first the apartment office, which has moved to one of the apartments, and now is used for storage and also for housing the washing machine and dryer electric card machine refiller. It's a nice area and a few kids play there. The same kids usually, the ones that live in the circle.
Aside from the toddlers, most of the kids are black girls. I don't know if this is due to the population or just those are the ones more likely to play there, but that is irrelevant. It just makes others stand out. Until recently, there were three white girls playing outside, of which i know the two Jewish ones who are, iirc, 9 and 10 years old. I know them mostly because they play with my upstairs neighbor's kids when they (the upstairs kids) come on the weekends. The other girl has said hello to me once or twice in passing, but her family left to some other state. As it so happens, her father is black and her mother, white.
On Thursday i saw a new girl across the circle riding a bike. I thought her new because she was white, making it remarkable even at a distance. By her dress i could tell she was not Jewish (at least not Orthodox) and wondered if someone else had moved into the complex. The fact that it wasn't the beginning of the month didn't seem to bother me. Late afternoon on Friday, as i was going to a program, this girl saw me, and, looking scared, ran in between two parked cars so i could not see her. That was odd. A moment later, the black girl she had been playing with turned to me and said hello, which got my shy response. Since she was around at least one of the Jewish girls (who seem to be popular amongst the circle's kids), i asked them the following day what had happened.
Samantha has a white father and black mother. Her mother's sister lives in the circle and she visits her cousin (the girl that said hello to me on Friday) once in a while. She is Indian (this part makes no sense to me), flatulates when she gets nervous (these were not her exact words), and Xian. I am amazed at a girl's ability to learn so much in such a short time.
When Samantha saw me, she noted i was Jewish and thought i was going to curse her. (Really?!) She also doesn't like me because i don't accept her god. I asked the two girls if she played with them. Apparently, Samantha stipulated that they would have to accept her god, at least for the day, in order for her to play with them. IIUC, the older girl did not play with her, the younger one kind of ignored the topic and played with her. I did not get that last part so clearly. Though, their parents seemed to weigh in on the matter at some point.
And here i thought fundamentalist Xians tended to dress more conservatively. This girl had short shorts and a loose top. That's just plain odd. On a related note, i used to think that couples where one was black and the other white were rare, and ones where the woman was black rarer still. Yet, i see that more often now.
Not so rare (Score:2)
Where do you live? I for one, oppose same-race marriage. :-)
You bring up some intriguing observations, 'tho.
How'd the girl spot you were Jewish? Jews tend to have "jewdar", but my experience is that not many Goys do... ;-)
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I live in a Detroit suburb.
I was dressed for the Sabbath already, in my suit, tie, and hat. That's was probably enough already.
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Oddly in reference:
http://videolinkz.us/mu.php?url=ox60w8tg5plk [videolinkz.us]
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And some context for the link, if not clear:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/review-only-decent-people-the-netherlands-continued-dehumanization-of-black-people [indiewire.com]
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A little too much for me.
But i think i got the point. (Assuming there was one. :) )
On fundamentalists (Score:1)
There are all different flavors of fundamentalists, and while many hold to "conservative dress" as a doctrine, it's definitely not universal. The same goes for the idea of not associating with "non-believers" (bucket group, everyone that does not adhere to the set of beliefs the particular brand of fundamentalism says are required for salvation), some preach that, while others will explicitly preach evangelical immersion (go meet "non-believers" and make them want to convert by being the best friend ever!).
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I hope i am not making judgement calls in the JE. I just wanted to convey my state of mind.
I would have expected a high correlation between the the Conservative Dress bucket and Non-Believers bucket. Though, i guess that is more likely due to my own background.
I also wonder about that cursing thing. She was scared of me thinking i might curse her. Where did that even come from?
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The cursing thing *might* have come from a bit of reverse semitic paranoia. In some far out fundamentalist theologies- Jews are actually revered and considered *closer* to God than Christians ( a strict literal interpretation of the events of the Pentateuch).
Oddly enough, I've noticed this in non-fundamentalist forms of Christianity as well, especially my own Catholicism. There is a reason why Pope Benedict XVI forbade the sacred name from being spoken in Mass, out of respect for our older brethren, and w
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Thanx for the note!
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I hope i am not making judgement calls in the JE. I just wanted to convey my state of mind.
No, didn't sound judgmental to me, just wanted to offer my view of how diverse the mores of American Evangelical Fundamentalists can be (my view from having been in a fundamentalist community for a long time).
I would have expected a high correlation between the the Conservative Dress bucket and Non-Believers bucket.
I think there is a correlation so your expectation is justified, but there are all sorts of surprises from individual sects.
I also wonder about that cursing thing. She was scared of me thinking i might curse her. Where did that even come from?
That is very strange, who knows whether it was just childish imagination, doctrine or culture from the home or the church, or what?
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but there are all sorts of surprises
I think you just summed up all of life.
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Had a girl who acted like this in my wife's daycare. One day, due to misbehaving, I put her in what we call a "Daddy time out", which is one of the more serious corrective actions we take (spanking's not allowed in our state, and you can even get your own kid taken away). Instead of sitting with me on the couch, she spent the whole four minutes (a minute per year of age) standing ramrod straight, as if I was about to do something to her.
I found out later she had been abused, and her mother had converted t
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Wow. Sad state of affairs they are. :(