What-ography?!?

[elpollodiablo]

Nog have you seen these home DNA paternity tests? You can find out if you were really bought from gypsies!

When Westphal was a kid, his mom used to tell him that he'd better behave, or else The Gypsies would come and take him away.

Oh, those Roma!  Such a delightfully earthy, repulsive people!

My parents used to say the same thing!

[Good Intentions]

In my pre-uni course last year there was a girl who did a presentation about a community of gay men in India. According to the presentation these were the only gay men in India, and they dressed as women at all times, and had some fairly colorful habits. For example, apparently they stole babies. Yep, the young woman who gave this presentation, who is of Indian parentage but had only visited a handful of times, explained to the class that there were a group of amateur drag queens who slept with one another by day and stole babies from houses at night. These babies were then either held for ransom, or trained to be street thieves much in the style of Fagin I imagine.

I read a piece of cultural journalism on this, or a very similar, Indian group once, on the BBC I think, except the men weren't gay but castratos, and they are considered even more untouchable than most untouchables. The reason they attracted the Beebs attention was because of the emerging practice of credit agencies to have these castratos dressed as women go around and collect unpaid debt - the idea being that the debtor would be so embarrassed by the visit of these people that they'd pay up just to get rid of them. Such groups of castratos undoubtedly exist in India. Their numbers are kept up by volunteers and, rumour has it, runaways and even kidnap victims who are volunteered for the life.

[Andrew_TSKS]

jesus, so there's factual basis for that? that's way fucked.

[Maaik]

Nog have you seen these home DNA paternity tests? You can find out if you were really bought from gypsies!

When Westphal was a kid, his mom used to tell him that he'd better behave, or else The Gypsies would come and take him away.

Oh, those Roma!  Such a delightfully earthy, repulsive people!

My parents used to say the same thing!

Yeah!  My mom used to threaten to sell me to the Gypsies.  Because caravans of 'em come wheeling through the suburbs of Detroit on an almost weekly basis, apparently.

[Wally]

In my pre-uni course last year there was a girl who did a presentation about a community of gay men in India. According to the presentation these were the only gay men in India, and they dressed as women at all times, and had some fairly colorful habits. For example, apparently they stole babies. Yep, the young woman who gave this presentation, who is of Indian parentage but had only visited a handful of times, explained to the class that there were a group of amateur drag queens who slept with one another by day and stole babies from houses at night. These babies were then either held for ransom, or trained to be street thieves much in the style of Fagin I imagine.

I read a piece of cultural journalism on this, or a very similar, Indian group once, on the BBC I think, except the men weren't gay but castratos, and they are considered even more untouchable than most untouchables. The reason they attracted the Beebs attention was because of the emerging practice of credit agencies to have these castratos dressed as women go around and collect unpaid debt - the idea being that the debtor would be so embarrassed by the visit of these people that they'd pay up just to get rid of them. Such groups of castratos undoubtedly exist in India. Their numbers are kept up by volunteers and, rumour has it, runaways and even kidnap victims who are volunteered for the life.

The chances are that she was meaning castratos, when she was saying gay men, and I don't doubt that the way she'd been told the story the two were interchangable. Whilst there might be groups of castratos in India, it is only a rumour that kidnap victims on occasion become part of the group. And whilst I can't remember the source, I do remember looking into some of this after her presentation and there were signs that a) a decent proportion of those supposedly kidnapped where victims of murder by members of the family who then passed it of as kidnap by a maligned group,b) those kidnapped were often done so by other less ostracised members of society and c) that there were in any event far fewer kidnap children then rumour suggested. For me, the whole story she told was an example of the ways in which gay men are positioned by certain (albeit small, it not silent) portions of the british indian diaspora. And had about as much grounding in truth as the idea that paedophile and homosexuality are related which is still regurgatated by a small but not silent portion of the british populace.

[slow west vultures]

Someone call the Genographic Project, stat!

my friend works for the lab that does a lot of their dna processing.  i was just there this monday.  if any of you foos want your dna processed to tell you your ancestry, it'll probably be run by liquid handlers programmed by my friend. 

[heather marie]

My mom and I just spent a week in PA visiting my great grandparents. Initially, the visit was just to catch up with my great grandmother who I haven't seen in 10 years and to also visit my great grandfather, who's been in a "rehabilitation" center for the past 3 months. He had severe alzheimer's and my (90yr old) great grandmother just couldn't provide for him anymore. The second day we were there, he passed away. So, we helped her plan a funeral, spent a lot of time telling old stories, and so on. She pulled out his old guitar (he played bluegrass, I have faint memories of watching him at a park in Ocala, FL playing with 3 or 4 other dudes) and showed it to me. She told me that once she was gone, I could have it since she knows it would go to someone who would cherish it. Anyway, I guess the words should go in the random thread or something but it was just this really heartbreaking and emotional trip, to watch this incredibly strong woman lose the love of her life, someone she's been with for 67 years. Now she's all alone in this gigantic house with nothing to do and no one to cook for. Her eyesight is pretty much gone thanks to macular degeneration, but besides that she's in great health for her age. I miss her. Here are some pictures I really like:

[difficult]

thanks Heather

[milesofsparks]

wow hm, that is an amazing story and those are amazing photos. 

[peacocks]

thanks Heather

wow hm, that is an amazing story and those are amazing photos. 

[girl]

I'm sorry for your loss, hm. Thanks for sharing that story and the photos with us.

[jebreject]

Sorry for your loss.

[alex]

Let me just echo what everyone else said - thanks for sharing the story and pictures, and condolences and best wishes to you and your family. Your great grandmother sounds like an awesome person.

[Wally]

Adding my voice to the chorus. Thanks for the photos and story, heather. And sorry for your family's loss.

[hannah]

 

I miss you, Heather!

[clare]

At the risk of being repetitive, those photos are magnificent. You do your great grandmother justice there, I'm sorry the trip wasn't all you planned it to be.

[G.C.R]

Thankyou for posting that. I hope you and your family are doing ok, lots of love to you

[alexandra]