tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post8844597776624991411..comments2024-03-29T09:08:05.850+00:00Comments on THE SMALL THINGS: In which a small rant blows up out of the westTania Kindersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18355967725006605825noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-78860650305020698742012-02-12T17:04:27.649+00:002012-02-12T17:04:27.649+00:00I truly wanted to construct a quick remark so as t...<b>I truly wanted to construct a quick remark so as to appreciate you for those fantastic recommendations you are writing on this website. My time consuming internet research has at the end of the day been rewarded with excellent insight to go over with my partners. I would assert that we site visitors actually are definitely endowed to be in a really good network with many outstanding professionals with insightful opinions. 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Thank you for sharing.</b><br><a href="https://sites.google.com/a/cheap.bestfuturebright.co.cc/where-to-buy-rings-competition-equipment-sportinggoods-for-sale/best-offer-cff-wood-olympic-rings---18-black-extra-wide-numbered-straps-for-87-95" rel="nofollow">CFF Wood Olympic Rings - 18' Black Extra Wide Numbered Straps</a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-36276245102417659452012-01-07T17:05:01.144+00:002012-01-07T17:05:01.144+00:00Michelle - so lovely to hear from you again. The a...Michelle - so lovely to hear from you again. The aftershocks sound terrible; I had no idea. But I am so glad you are finding some solace in your garden. Happy New Year to you too. :)Tania Kindersleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18355967725006605825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-66918120831409593632012-01-07T11:35:00.811+00:002012-01-07T11:35:00.811+00:00Tania - I have turned to the garden these past few...Tania - I have turned to the garden these past few months, and eschewed anything vaguely techhy. How wonderful to discover you are still writing with such elegance and grace on humanity, juxtaposed with images of the gorgeous Pigeon and your amazing grounds. <br /><br />Unfortunately, nothing much to report here. We are still shaking - more thsn 9,500 aftershocks since September 2010. That's been the biggest learning curve. It just keeps coming. Thus the gardening focus. There's something calming about repetitive clipping, snipping & weeding.<br /><br />Happy New Year to you. Michelle xMichelle Trusttumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07884862204260428780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-21867737363262121702012-01-06T14:42:56.937+00:002012-01-06T14:42:56.937+00:00365 - WELCOME. So lovely to have new readers. And ...365 - WELCOME. So lovely to have new readers. And anyone who admires the dog is clearly a person of great discernment. Rather agree about the wine, by the way. :)<br /><br />Bird - interesting question. At the time,it seemed there was no historical context, although afterwards Abbott did say that she was thinking of 19th century colonialism. This may indicate the danger of Twitter, as well as sweeping statements.<br /><br />Pat - LOVE the Iris Murdoch quote.<br /><br />Robyn - it is always so fascinating for me to get responses from readers who have lived in such different and interesting places. And so glad you like the dear old beech avenue.<br /><br />Em - oh, oh, your comment makes my heart break. Can't bear the idea of anyone being cruel to such a Dear Reader. I salute you and thank you so much for bringing a personal note to what can be a bit of a theoretical debate. And you know that I can never get enough Pigeon love. :) :)<br /><br />Erika - LOVE the quite capable of disliking people bit. It made me laugh a lot.<br /><br />Sue - how very kind you are. Thank you so much.Tania Kindersleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18355967725006605825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-51934476436998511102012-01-06T09:22:09.543+00:002012-01-06T09:22:09.543+00:00One of your most interesting posts:lucid, thoughtf...One of your most interesting posts:lucid, thoughtful and full of the best kind of humanity. You are a talented advocate for the importance of precision and meaning in language. <br /><br />Pats to Pigeon.Suenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-51149843644413131872012-01-06T07:21:09.885+00:002012-01-06T07:21:09.885+00:00The Pigeon is gorgeous, whetherin colour, black an...The Pigeon is gorgeous, whetherin colour, black and white or sepia tone :)<br /><br />At "So too with Abbott", for some reason, I thought you meant Tony Abbott, the current leader of the Opposition here in Australia. He's also known as the Mad Monk (was a priest in training) and is given to saying similar things. Particularly about refugees. And his promises only count if they are scripted, not if they are part of an impromptu speech. He really does believe in catering to the lowest common denominator.<br /><br />I'm quite capable of disliking people, but that's based on who they are and what they do, not their skin colour, gender or sexuality.Erikahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08181307209370955942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-19905819736151108722012-01-06T03:43:56.066+00:002012-01-06T03:43:56.066+00:00To robyn ~ LOL, you can't disagree with me; I ...To robyn ~ LOL, you can't disagree with me; I was asking for opinions, not advancing them. My question related only to the possible usefulness (if any) of assigning labels to past actions. I think we all agree that generalizing about people in the present is pointless and sad.<br /><br />BirdAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-45871544617743183642012-01-06T02:59:41.260+00:002012-01-06T02:59:41.260+00:00Tania, this post is close to my heart having enoug...Tania, this post is close to my heart having enough skin colour for people to make assumptions about me based purely on that. I was brought up with my 'european' family and had no contact with my other parent's culture until I instigated it when my daughter was a baby. <br />When you're surrounded by people who love you dearly and see you as colourless, all is well and good, however the outside world is less kind. I think my family and friends would be utterly astounded to think I had experienced racism, let alone taken to heart the sometimes careless statements from those close to me. It's the subtle nuances that are particularly deadly.<br /><br />Not an easy topic and you, as always, manage to get to the heart of it with such grace. I can just imagine all the Dear Readers nodding along like me!<br />Sorry, bit long and I have to say the Pigeon looks stunning in black and white. :)Emnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-1281290992306616442012-01-06T00:50:33.214+00:002012-01-06T00:50:33.214+00:00Well said, Tania! "Intellectually lazy" ...Well said, Tania! "Intellectually lazy" is the perfect description of prejudice based on skin color, or any other physical attribute.<br /><br />I was born and lived in the deep South for 35 years. From there I moved to New York, and I currently live in Arizona. I've found the same degree of racism in all 3 places, whether it's directed toward black people, Puerto Ricans, or Mexicans. Or women, obese people, or the disabled. I must disagree with anonymous when he/she asks if "making sweeping statements about segments of the population" are justified. I refuse to be held responsible for actions of others that I've always known were inherently wrong. And thank you for pointing out that our world is a much more interesting place because of the diverse cultures that we humans should all celebrate and respect.<br /><br />Still can't get enough of your Beech avenue! And that beautiful Pigeon, of course.<br /><br />robynAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-83421974687685018992012-01-05T23:52:00.312+00:002012-01-05T23:52:00.312+00:00"The careful responsible skilled use of words..."The careful responsible skilled use of words is our highest instrument of thought and one of our highest modes of being: an idea which might seem obvious but which is not by any means universally accepted."<br /> -- Iris Murdoch<br /><br />Diane Abbott made a careless mistake and is apparently getting slammed for it.<br />Rick Santorum continues to twist language as Ellie so beautifully describes and gets votes for it (and not a lot of criticism in the mainstream media?).<br /><br />I keep thinking of that comment (and, knowing me, I probably heard it in a B movie late at night...), paraphrasing: when you cut people we all bleed red.Pat (in Belgium)https://www.blogger.com/profile/02367089351412953926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-65284625749069917362012-01-05T20:29:02.000+00:002012-01-05T20:29:02.000+00:00Not only is it disturbing when someone lumps toget...Not only is it disturbing when someone lumps together a segment of the population by skin color, but also it's infuriating when so many others, denying that person’s record of service, burst into loud squawks of "She's got to go! Racism!" blah, blah, blah. If everything were just peachy-wonderful, that would be one thing, but given the amount of trouble in the world today, don't they have anything better to do? <br /><br />Abbott says she meant to analyze historical trends, so I have a question. Speaking historically, it seems clear in the U.S. that there were certain things 'white' people did to 'black' people (slavery comes to mind). In the contemporary sense, making sweeping statements about segments of the population is stupidly divisive, but speaking of the past, is there justification?<br /><br />Again, thank you for The Pigeon. <br /><br />Bird<br />PS Ellie perfectly describes Rick Santorum and his stance on black people. His comments employ shorthand for a part of the population that he seeks to demonize, particularly with the receptive Tea Partiers who want to blame anyone unlike themselves for all the country's troubles.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-3719884301575034262012-01-05T19:17:04.138+00:002012-01-05T19:17:04.138+00:00I haven't read your blog before, but Cassie se...I haven't read your blog before, but Cassie sent me a copy of your book, so when I saw she'd posted to your blog on twitter, I figured I'd take a look. <br /><br />I find the whole idea of colour very difficult - as an East Anglian who has spent time in various parts of France and Romania, I have met any number of different people of different backgrounds, languages, races and so on, and I have to say that the colour of their skin is the least important of all those. It provides so much less talking point than a person's history, than their specific linguistic turns of phrase, than their way of presenting themself, and so on. <br /><br />In the same way (and as a wine merchant) I find it infuriating when people write off a whole country's wine ("I hate French wine") or a colour ("I can't stand white wine") - OK this lessens the argument, but it's another way of dividing things that don't need dividing, things that should each be taken on their own merit.<br /><br />Beautiful dog, by the way!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-79311163504888392242012-01-05T17:43:44.216+00:002012-01-05T17:43:44.216+00:00Aurora - oh, oh, the chicken rice. I have never be...Aurora - oh, oh, the chicken rice. I have never been able to reproduce it here, and there is not a single place even in London which makes it, as far as I can tell. I remember getting it from hatchet-faced old ladies from a hole in the wall, and they always looked as if they would rather eat their arms off than give you the recipe. Which I presume was passed down through the generations.Tania Kindersleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18355967725006605825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-12924535066120464742012-01-05T16:58:19.072+00:002012-01-05T16:58:19.072+00:00An excellent post today- measured and thought prov...An excellent post today- measured and thought provoking -and as always tempered with stunning photographs...<br /><br />.I also found your comments most interesting too- having lived two years in Singapore teaching in a bilingual Higher Mandarin girls' school and eating chicken rice most days in the school canteen! <br />AND we are off to South Carolina shortly to stay with friends so Ellie' s comments are pertinent.aurora rabynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-2772663654020720382012-01-05T16:49:47.295+00:002012-01-05T16:49:47.295+00:00Cassie - oh, oh, so agree about the youth of today...Cassie - oh, oh, so agree about the youth of today. Although I probably make the same mistake on the other side by occasionally declaring, on the blog, that I love The Young People. If one does it with slight irony, does that make it all right? Very happy new year to you, too. :)Tania Kindersleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18355967725006605825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-85710222328546549262012-01-05T16:44:18.511+00:002012-01-05T16:44:18.511+00:00Tania: oh, how right, how very right you are.
I ...Tania: oh, how right, how very right you are. <br /><br />I have great difficulty biting my lip when older members of the family - usually ones that I love dearly and hold in the highest regard - do any kind of 'lumping together', whether it's based on race, colour, religion, age or anything else.<br /><br />This Christmas, in an otherwise amiable and enjoyable bit of socialising, two of my older male relatives started banging on about some dreadful episode in modern life - I can't even remember what it was - that was clearly ALL THE FAULT OF THE YOUTH OF TODAY. (Well, as we all know, there are similar accusations being made back at least a couple of thousand years.) But what really saddened me was the unintelligent dismissal of a vast sector of society in an appallingly convenient bit of shorthand.<br /><br />I suppose I can only be grateful that my own life experience has rendered me incapable of making assumptions based on skin colour, as I was educated alongside my four best friends: a West Indian, an Asian, a Pole and an 'English' (whatever that may mean) Caucasian. The only noticeable differences to me were the outfits they chose on non-uniform days - and I so envied Sima those gorgeous saris, shimmering with vivid hues. [All four of them got higher academic grades than me, by the way.]<br /><br />I despair when I hear such comments; but my faith is renewed when I return to your writing.<br /><br />Happy New Year, by the way.<br /><br />PS: I've done the genealogy bit on all sides of my family - all of whom are 'very English' - and I don't think one particular side were best pleased when I found conclusive proof that they arrived with the Huguenots.Cassiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07531093715654362821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-84677067639032162712012-01-05T15:26:54.160+00:002012-01-05T15:26:54.160+00:00Christine - how absolutely lovely. I used to go an...Christine - how absolutely lovely. I used to go and stay with friends in Singapore, and have very happy memories of it, especially the wet markets and the chicken rice. <br /><br />niinpa niin - How very kind you are. And welcome. You have no idea how thrilled I get by new readers.Tania Kindersleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18355967725006605825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-46402301714145506632012-01-05T15:21:59.160+00:002012-01-05T15:21:59.160+00:00The best thing about this January is stumbling on ...The best thing about this January is stumbling on this blog! Thank you, thank you. And oh how many older posts still to read...niinpä niin...https://www.blogger.com/profile/12766187679812782244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-43703167846262262442012-01-05T14:51:32.819+00:002012-01-05T14:51:32.819+00:00Tania, thoroughly enjoyed this post, thoughtful an...Tania, thoroughly enjoyed this post, thoughtful and well reasoned, looking in from outside the hype. I have been a fan of your writing for years ( since first reading Goodbye Johnny Thunders) and am delighted you are now blogging regularly! From Christine in SingaporeChristine Knight-Maundernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-91005243182622975002012-01-05T14:39:16.933+00:002012-01-05T14:39:16.933+00:00Anna - how kind you are. Hope cold gets better.
E...Anna - how kind you are. Hope cold gets better.<br /><br />Ellie - you always enlighten me. I think I might have had a batsqueak suspicion that Santorum was doing something like this, but reading your list still does make me quite shocked. I always think, or hope, that such mad prejudices and suspicions cannot still exist in public thought, but I'm afraid I think you are quite right. You are also right that Santorum cannot last, but that he even exists as a candidate, and has been a Senator, still does make me feel quite strange. Thank you, as always, for your bulletins from across the pond. <br /><br />Helen - you are so kind. Do hope that TCP works.Tania Kindersleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18355967725006605825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-82135535404615511222012-01-05T14:31:05.245+00:002012-01-05T14:31:05.245+00:00Wise, wise words. Wonderful pictures. Despite pers...Wise, wise words. Wonderful pictures. Despite persistent and painful tonsilitis, I feel uplifted. Now, off I go to gargle with TCP.Helennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-11671498867066616232012-01-05T14:30:53.429+00:002012-01-05T14:30:53.429+00:00"Black" in the United States, when used ..."Black" in the United States, when used as Santorum uses it, has a very specific set of connotations which will be well understood by the people to whom he is speaking. I am not sure when this came to be accepted in public discourse as short-hand (and to be fair, it is not accepted by most thinking Americans, but then they're not likely to vote for Santorum either), but it means this: welfare checks, loud conversations and thumping music, gang violence, urban culture ("urban" is a whole different set of connotations-- how long do you have today?), and a whole set of things surviving from slavery days: unbridled sexual energy, these days taking the form of babies born out of wedlock; charismatic religion (I have been reading old Episcopal journals from South Carolina in the Civil War era and they are very upset about what the slaves do for religion if you leave them alone with it); low levels of education, resulting in... I'm not sure what, but it's bad. Rick Santorum's "black" people have no roots, no provenance, no corporeal form necessarily-- they exist as a sort of dark opposition to that which Santorum and his ilk hold dear. And I'm not sure in turn what THAT is, but I have an unpleasant feeling that we're all going to find out very soon. <br /><br />I could go on about this for hours. Santorum is fascinating because he is the last of the nut-jobs who hasn't been discredited yet-- give him another week and we'll see. <br /><br />How interesting about Diana Abbott. I will have to look into that today, in between my South Carolinian journals!Elliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04888019230555832929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-45213319052271698552012-01-05T14:22:47.314+00:002012-01-05T14:22:47.314+00:00You've put your finger exactly on what was bot...You've put your finger exactly on what was bothering me about what she said but couldn't articulate due to cold brain.Anna Belshamnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-23431716497742059652012-01-05T13:44:32.240+00:002012-01-05T13:44:32.240+00:00Dash - thank you so much. Happy new year to you to...Dash - thank you so much. Happy new year to you too. :)Tania Kindersleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18355967725006605825noreply@blogger.com