Zoe: I thought you wanted to spend more time off-ship this visit. Wash: Out there is seems like it's all fancy parties. I like our party better. The dress code is easier and I know all the steps.

'Shindig'


Natter 78: I might need to watch some Buffy for inspiration

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, butt kicking, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


Theodosia - Oct 21, 2024 3:20:28 am PDT #3021 of 4159
'we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn't end any time soon"

Simon Whistler did a pretty amazing video about it on YouTube, so I've heard some about it. It ranks up right there with the ass-backwards establishment of Israel in a way that set them up for generations of strife, in the lengthy list of bad political decisions made by the British.

Still have heat this morning! That is not getting old just yet.


dcp - Oct 21, 2024 4:03:11 am PDT #3022 of 4159
The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.

in the lengthy list of bad political decisions made by the British

Clip from Yes, Prime Minister [link]
(From 1986! How little things have changed.)

My (great-) Uncle Bill was a mechanic in the China-Burma-India theater of operations in WWII [link] , so I learned about Kunming, and Chongqing by extension, as part of learning about that era.

Uncle Bill came back from the war with very strong and overt bigotry about Indians, Burmese, Chinese, "furriners" in general, and a lingering case of malaria. He could never understand my Dad's interest in that part of the world.

My Dad was a political anthropologist. He did his Ph. D. research in the mid-1960s in Rajasthan. I lived in northern Pakistan starting in 1974, was there for 5th grade through 10th grade, then northern India for 11th and 12th grade. So I grew up in the culture of the aftermath of Partition in much the same way that my Dad grew up in the culture of the aftermath of the U.S. Civil War in western Arkansas -- hearing the (many and varied) stories, seeing the effects, enduring the endless arguments, but emotionally removed.


meara - Oct 21, 2024 6:29:43 am PDT #3023 of 4159

Thats fascinating dcp! Tell us more!!

David I had heard of that city because of crazy pics and videos. But don’t know much about it. I do not know much at all about partition.


dcp - Oct 21, 2024 6:51:14 am PDT #3024 of 4159
The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.

Tell us more!!

Dangerous invitation. 😏 I could go on, and on, and on....

In Pakistan and India we were wealthy and privileged in ways we wouldn't be in the U.S., got to go places and do things and meet people that are experiences I treasure now, but didn't appreciate at the time.

The culture shock I went through when I returned to the U.S. full time was...difficult.

Dad retired from USAID [link] in the early 2000s. In late 2020 he started doing a series of interviews for the archives of the U.S. State Department. The intro is here: [link]

There are a lot of good (IMHO) stories in the transcript: [link]


sj - Oct 21, 2024 7:32:25 am PDT #3025 of 4159
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."

TCG is still sick and is actually taking a sick day from work, which never ever happens.


Matt the Bruins fan - Oct 21, 2024 7:35:30 am PDT #3026 of 4159
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand

I was vaguely aware of The Partition (thanks, Doctor Who!), but Chongquing was just a place name to me with no details attached.

In other news, I forgot to put my trash out last night and can now hear the garbage truck booming its way around the surrounding streets as if to taunt me. "Boom! Ha ha, picked up your street first! Boom!"


Calli - Oct 21, 2024 9:36:43 am PDT #3027 of 4159
I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul—Calvin and Hobbs

Thanks for the birthday wishes, y’all! My sister came down for a visit, so I’ve been mostly off-line for a few days.


JenP - Oct 21, 2024 9:37:20 am PDT #3028 of 4159

Post Deleted!


JenP - Oct 21, 2024 9:38:01 am PDT #3029 of 4159

That's so cool, dcp! You're a third culture kid -- do you identify with that? We lived in Germany until I was six (Argentina before that, where I was born, but we left when I was months old), so my transition back to the States was pretty easy -- I think my older two sisters identify more with the third culture kid profile, especially the eldest -- she was abroad from maybe 9 or 10 until 17. My dad worked for Dupont. We came back in '74 after his colon cancer diagnosis.


-t - Oct 21, 2024 10:57:50 am PDT #3030 of 4159
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration

Are y'all familiar with Chongqing? I was not.

I saw Chungking Express but I don't actually know if that refers to the same place. And that's the extent of my knowledge, such as it is.

The Partition of India was covered a little bit in one of my history classes during my second attempt at a master's, so I know a bit about that, although not much. It was actually a British History class, iirc, so that informs what I know.