Does the fact that I can see two sides (at least) to situations and arguments make me indecisive and unable to take a stand? Sometimes, I think so. I, like a lot of people, used to see the world as black and white. There's wrong and there's right. No two ways about it. As I grow older and (at least in my viewpoint) wiser, I am becoming more and more convinced that it really is about shades of gray, and that very few things are black and white or written in stone. I guess that's what makes me less and less able to understand conservatives and religious extremists.
Right now, some people are in an uproar over the recently passed law in Arizona that allows police to essentially stop and question anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant. The governor of Arizona insists this is not about racial profiling. She says she has no idea what an illegal immigrant looks like (hint: they are from a neighbouring country). So I suppose police will, for instance, be stopping people who are standing on street corners waiting to be picked up for day labour, regardless of their race, because that's one of the places illegal immigrants hang out.
Now, coming from Malaysia, where identity cards are the norm and we learn from our teenage years to carry them around with us, I can't really relate to those who find that offensive. In fact, when I first got my green card, I used to carry it everywhere with me because the idea of carrying some form of identification with me at all times was ingrained. I didn't even think twice about it. After I got my driver's licence, I carried both that and the green card around for a while. Slowly, I got used to the idea of carrying around just the driver's licence. But if I lived in Arizona, I'd have to go back to carrying both forms of identification, to prove that I'm there legally. Since I went through a lot of red tape (and money) to get that card, I wouldn't find that a big deal. But, I can understand why some people find that outrageous.
For one thing, if Bruce and I were walking down on opposite sides of a street in Arizona (so that people wouldn't think we were a couple), and there were cops ahead of us on the lookout for illegal immigrants, I suspect that the police would stop me to ask for proof I'm a citizen or legal resident. I also suspect they would let Bruce keep walking without a second glance, simple because of his skin colour (or rather, the lack of colour). I think that way largely because, despite protests by some, my impression is that people still tend to think of Americans as Caucasians, for the most part. Perhaps that is prejudice on my part, caused by the fact that despite having been born in Malaysia, despite the fact that both my parents were born in Malaysia, despite the fact that I think of myself as Malaysian first and Indian second, I know that there are some people who think of Malays (not the orang asli) as the "real" Malaysians and the rest of us as outsiders. In the same way, I think some people think of those who came over on the Mayflower, etc. (not the native Americans) as the "real" Americans. And I think some Americans are as prejudiced against Mexicans as some Malaysians are against Indonesians. You know, those who cross the Straits of Melaka in boats and enter Malaysia illegally to take the jobs that Malaysians would do (if they were paid more). The Indonesians are blamed for the bulk of crimes in Malaysia, just as illegal Mexican immigrants in the US are blamed for crimes in states like Arizona.
I understand that mindset. I understand the fear and anger. Any large group of immigrants, illegal or otherwise, in any country, experiences the same reaction from groups of citizens in any country. But that doesn't mean the Arizona law isn't wrong. Although, as I said, I don't think it's a big deal to carry proof of legal residence with you (especially after having worked so hard for it), I've lived here long enough now to understand the outrage by some, who see it as yet another encroachment on rights, yet another stranglehold on freedom. Arizona's biggest illegal immigrant problem is from South America, largely Mexico. Anyone with a fair amount of brain cells would be able to deduce that police on the lookout for illegal immigrants will be looking first at those of Hispanic descent. That means even if you are an American of Mexican/Hispanic descent -- someone born here, like your parents and maybe even grandparents -- you could be stopped and asked for proof of citizenship. That is what people are outraged about, because that hasn't happened since people of African descent were asked to show proof that they weren't slaves who had run away, that they were emancipated.
But when reading comments in response to an article in today's Los Angeles Times about how some people were proposing boycotts of Arizona (tourism, products, etc.), I was a little startled by the anger coming from people living in that state. Outrage at their fellow Americans for daring to protest the law; outrage that their socialist President was denouncing the law; outrage that the illegals, who are committing crimes and taking away jobs, are being defended; outrage that people are describing this as racial profiling ... I'm all for entering the country legally, and for stopping illegal immigrants if they indeed are coming here only to commit crimes. But to not be able to grasp that this law will definitely make people of certain races (i.e. non-Caucasians) feel like non-citizens, even if they were born here and legally have the right to be here -- I think that is disingenuous. Why can't the outraged people see that side of the argument?
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Yellow (and other thoughts)
If you saw my little island/giant flowerbed, which is currently filled with an abundance of yellow flowers (yellow Asiatic lillies and marigolds, soon to be joined by yellow day lillies), you'd think that I like the colour yellow. Ordinarily, you'd be right - it's such a sunny, cheerful colour. But right now, not so much. For the past few weeks, this part of the world has been blanketed in cough- and sneeze-inducing pollen. There has been yellow pollen everywhere, getting into my eyes and dust whenever I'm outside (making walking and working in the garden rather unpleasant, instead of enjoyable). The abundance is apparently thanks to the many days of rain we had in the winter months. It's lovely to see so many trees flowering and covered with green leaves, but enough with the pollen, already! We had quite a bit of rain yesterday - hopefully that has washed away the bulk of the powder.
The flowers are looking pretty and very colourful, but weeds are also flourishing because of the recent rain we've had, so I'm going to have to launch a counter-attack. Some neighbourhood cats seem to think my flowerbed is a huge litterbox just for them, which is extremely aggravating (not to mention disgustingly smelly), so I'm also trying to outsmart them. I read something a few weeks ago about using pine cones to keep cats out of gardens, because the thorns hurt their paws, so Jonathan has been collecting pine cones from our backyard to put in the island.
Bruce and I bought "Seeds in a Blanket" two weeks ago and are now waiting to see if it works. The "blanket" is a roll of flower seeds that you unroll and lay on a bed of earth and then water twice a day until the seeds start sprouting. The assortment of flowers are supposed to attract butterflies and hummingbirds. We put it in the sideyard in order to add some colour to that bare spot, but that area is not very sunny because of two big trees, so I'm not sure if the seeds will get enough sun to flourish. Since this is an experiment, I might find another growing spot next year if this one isn't a success. But I enjoy the experience of planting something and waiting to see what happens, so even if this doesn't work, at least I'll have learned something.
We went to the Dogwood Festival with the Jacksons last Sunday morning. The Dogwood Festival (http://www.dogwood.org/About_Us.php), an arts and crafts exhibition/sale at Piedmont Park in Atlanta, is one of the biggest of its kind in this part of the country, according to Bruce. There were some really incredible pieces on display/sale - made me wish we had oodles of money. There were beautiful paintings, photographs, glass lamps and wall hangings, woven aluminium, pottery, jewellery ... among my favourites: paintings of African wildlife by a woman who draws large portraits of different animals (giraffe, zebra, elephant) and then fills them with tiny drawings of everything relevant to that animal. For example, in a close-up of a giraffe's face, which in itself was beautifully done, she drew a small giraffe in one of the eyes, symbolising the mother's connection to her baby, who was reflected in that eye. She drew the trees that the giraffe pulls leaves from for food, aboriginal drawings found in caves near where the giraffes live, a drawing of a lion, which is the main predator of the giraffe ... the details were amazing and beautifully rendered. If I remember correctly, she even made the parchment, on which the animals were drawn, herself.
Another woman painted lovely depictions of people on hammocks, and then took that a step further by attaching the ends of real hammocks to the edges of the painting, so that they looked like they were joined to the painted hammock in her artwork. That's the same sort of theme in another of my favourites, that I've seen before - a husband and wife team combining painting and photography: the husband takes photos (nature shots) and frames them, and then the wife carries the photo outwards onto the frame by painting the same rocks, trees, etc. on the frame. Such a good idea and very well rendered.
The weather made it a perfect day to be wandering around outside - clear blue sky, warm (but not hot) sunshine and a cool breeze to keep temperatures enjoyable. I'm glad we were there in the morning, before it got too crowded. I don't particularly enjoy having to push my way through throngs of people in order to be able to look at art.
I had more thoughts, but I'll save that for another post - this one is already a week late and Beau is nagging me because it's already almost 10:00 in the morning here and we haven't got walking yet.
The flowers are looking pretty and very colourful, but weeds are also flourishing because of the recent rain we've had, so I'm going to have to launch a counter-attack. Some neighbourhood cats seem to think my flowerbed is a huge litterbox just for them, which is extremely aggravating (not to mention disgustingly smelly), so I'm also trying to outsmart them. I read something a few weeks ago about using pine cones to keep cats out of gardens, because the thorns hurt their paws, so Jonathan has been collecting pine cones from our backyard to put in the island.
Bruce and I bought "Seeds in a Blanket" two weeks ago and are now waiting to see if it works. The "blanket" is a roll of flower seeds that you unroll and lay on a bed of earth and then water twice a day until the seeds start sprouting. The assortment of flowers are supposed to attract butterflies and hummingbirds. We put it in the sideyard in order to add some colour to that bare spot, but that area is not very sunny because of two big trees, so I'm not sure if the seeds will get enough sun to flourish. Since this is an experiment, I might find another growing spot next year if this one isn't a success. But I enjoy the experience of planting something and waiting to see what happens, so even if this doesn't work, at least I'll have learned something.
We went to the Dogwood Festival with the Jacksons last Sunday morning. The Dogwood Festival (http://www.dogwood.org/About_Us.php), an arts and crafts exhibition/sale at Piedmont Park in Atlanta, is one of the biggest of its kind in this part of the country, according to Bruce. There were some really incredible pieces on display/sale - made me wish we had oodles of money. There were beautiful paintings, photographs, glass lamps and wall hangings, woven aluminium, pottery, jewellery ... among my favourites: paintings of African wildlife by a woman who draws large portraits of different animals (giraffe, zebra, elephant) and then fills them with tiny drawings of everything relevant to that animal. For example, in a close-up of a giraffe's face, which in itself was beautifully done, she drew a small giraffe in one of the eyes, symbolising the mother's connection to her baby, who was reflected in that eye. She drew the trees that the giraffe pulls leaves from for food, aboriginal drawings found in caves near where the giraffes live, a drawing of a lion, which is the main predator of the giraffe ... the details were amazing and beautifully rendered. If I remember correctly, she even made the parchment, on which the animals were drawn, herself.
Another woman painted lovely depictions of people on hammocks, and then took that a step further by attaching the ends of real hammocks to the edges of the painting, so that they looked like they were joined to the painted hammock in her artwork. That's the same sort of theme in another of my favourites, that I've seen before - a husband and wife team combining painting and photography: the husband takes photos (nature shots) and frames them, and then the wife carries the photo outwards onto the frame by painting the same rocks, trees, etc. on the frame. Such a good idea and very well rendered.
The weather made it a perfect day to be wandering around outside - clear blue sky, warm (but not hot) sunshine and a cool breeze to keep temperatures enjoyable. I'm glad we were there in the morning, before it got too crowded. I don't particularly enjoy having to push my way through throngs of people in order to be able to look at art.
I had more thoughts, but I'll save that for another post - this one is already a week late and Beau is nagging me because it's already almost 10:00 in the morning here and we haven't got walking yet.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Colour, colour, everywhere ...
... and spring once again renews spirits dulled by cold, gray winter.
I spent hours this weekend in the garden, digging up weeds and uprooting the encroaching grass in the little island that is my oversized flower bed. For months now the island has been looking brown and sad, covered by dead leaves and leafless branches. I left it unraked because my theory is that leaves fall and coat the floor of a forest all winter to protect the bulbs and roots in the ground until the earth warms as spring approaches, so they shouldn't be removed until winter is over. Of course, with the way temperatures have been jumping and then diving in the last few weeks, it didn't seem very safe to go by the calendar when deciding if spring was actually here towards the end of March. We usually have warmer temperatures followed by a day or two of below freezing temperatures in April, so I'm never sure when it's safe to plant spring flowers. But the last week has been so warm, with temperatures in the high 70s to low 80s F ( (about 25-27 Celsius), that I couldn't resist the incredibly colourful flowers any longer.
Bruce and I bought several different kinds of flowers (not enough, in his opinion, but since I was the one doing all the digging and planting, he didn't really have a say in the amount) - three yellow Asiatic lillies, two bunches of purple petunias(with white borders), 18 little bunches of yellow marigolds and a mixture of red, pink and white impatiens (also 18 small bunches of those). There was one more tall flowering plant with pretty orange flowers, but it had no label so I'll have to find out what it's called when we buy some more.
There was such a lot of raking to be done that I decided to do it in small amounts. I raked and cleared an area in the island and planted several bunches of flowers, watering them as they were planed. Then I moved on to the next area. It was tiring, back-hurting work and my legs & shoulders are aching now, but because I did the clearing, digging and planting (not to mention watering) over two days, it wasn't too bad and the beautiful flowers were definitely worth the hard work. It is amazing what a difference flowers make to a garden. The colours are so cheerful and the garden suddenly looks so different. I love looking out the window now, and also love the way the garden looks as we drive towards the house.
We're trying something new this year. One of the stores is selling seeds in a blanket-type thing. You are supposed to unroll the "blanket", lay it on the ground where you want the flowers and then water it. The embedded seeds are supposed to grow over several weeks and then suddenly you have a flower garden for butterflies and hummingbirds! It sounds too good to be true but I wanted to give it a try, so that will be my project next weekend. If it works, I'll post photos. I'll take some of the flowers I planted this weekend, as well - wanted to give the plants a chance to take root.
I spent hours this weekend in the garden, digging up weeds and uprooting the encroaching grass in the little island that is my oversized flower bed. For months now the island has been looking brown and sad, covered by dead leaves and leafless branches. I left it unraked because my theory is that leaves fall and coat the floor of a forest all winter to protect the bulbs and roots in the ground until the earth warms as spring approaches, so they shouldn't be removed until winter is over. Of course, with the way temperatures have been jumping and then diving in the last few weeks, it didn't seem very safe to go by the calendar when deciding if spring was actually here towards the end of March. We usually have warmer temperatures followed by a day or two of below freezing temperatures in April, so I'm never sure when it's safe to plant spring flowers. But the last week has been so warm, with temperatures in the high 70s to low 80s F ( (about 25-27 Celsius), that I couldn't resist the incredibly colourful flowers any longer.
Bruce and I bought several different kinds of flowers (not enough, in his opinion, but since I was the one doing all the digging and planting, he didn't really have a say in the amount) - three yellow Asiatic lillies, two bunches of purple petunias(with white borders), 18 little bunches of yellow marigolds and a mixture of red, pink and white impatiens (also 18 small bunches of those). There was one more tall flowering plant with pretty orange flowers, but it had no label so I'll have to find out what it's called when we buy some more.
There was such a lot of raking to be done that I decided to do it in small amounts. I raked and cleared an area in the island and planted several bunches of flowers, watering them as they were planed. Then I moved on to the next area. It was tiring, back-hurting work and my legs & shoulders are aching now, but because I did the clearing, digging and planting (not to mention watering) over two days, it wasn't too bad and the beautiful flowers were definitely worth the hard work. It is amazing what a difference flowers make to a garden. The colours are so cheerful and the garden suddenly looks so different. I love looking out the window now, and also love the way the garden looks as we drive towards the house.
We're trying something new this year. One of the stores is selling seeds in a blanket-type thing. You are supposed to unroll the "blanket", lay it on the ground where you want the flowers and then water it. The embedded seeds are supposed to grow over several weeks and then suddenly you have a flower garden for butterflies and hummingbirds! It sounds too good to be true but I wanted to give it a try, so that will be my project next weekend. If it works, I'll post photos. I'll take some of the flowers I planted this weekend, as well - wanted to give the plants a chance to take root.
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