Corn snakes in the classroom...periodic updates to my Chgo classroom donation :)

About the races: I always get pretty P.O.ed when I have to pick what race I am. There is no "Other" on our California State Standards Tests. My friend Madelyn always gets pretty mad, too, because all European races get lumped under "White/Caucasian". She is German and she is proud. (I'm a bit German too, but it doesn't really show. Madelyn looks completely German--blond with really beautiful blue eyes.) I'm exactly half Japanese and exactly half "white". But I'm more Japanese than any other ethnicity in my blood. I'm an eigth Italian, and eigth Scottish (Scotch?), and other stuff. So it's always hard to pick either "Japanese" or "White". If Italian, Scottish, and the other European ethnicities were included, I'd pick Japanese in an instant, because that's what I mostly am. But it really makes things difficult when it's all lumped under "White".

However, recently, my father and I were talking about this. We were having a lot of fun discussing this. Why? Because of what my dad marked as his ethnicity year after year. Apparently, one year, he was Mexican, another year Eskimo, and yet another year black. He said that he did this because it shouldn't matter what ethnicity you are. They shouldn't ask you the question at all. Your ethnicity shouldn't affect your future. You shouldn't be considered better if you're a certain ethnicity. That make a lot of sense to me, but I'd never really thought about it that way before.

So. From now on, I'm any random ethnicity that I fancy. Maybe I'll be "Middle Eastern" this year. That should make the government happy.

About Hermione: Hermione was apparently given to Mrs. Beamer as a Chrismas gift from a former student. I highly doubt that Beamer's been to any forum. I'm not even sure if she can use the internet. She can barely make a Powerpoint presentation.

But anyway, she's not a complete reptile dunce. At least I think she isn't. Hermione's alive and seems reasonably happy and healthy with a nice fat tail. Beamer's also had a Red Tail boa before. I'm not sure what happened to the poor snake, though. She said that the snake was the best pet she'd ever had, so I like to think that the snake lived a long, happy life and died of old age.

Mrs. Beamer creeps me out a lot of the time, though. I mean, who goes around saying "Well, I'll be tickled pink to do that!" and "That's a hum-dinger!"???

And the umlaut: Those are the two dots that you put over the "u", right? And then they make the "gwe" sound? We learned that in Spanish 2 this year, but I forgot what they were called. :/ It was in the word "nicaraguense". We were leaning about how to say where you're from. I am estadounidense, like many of you here.

Originally Posted by PnyKlr

We've got one for "white" people in Hawai'i: Haole (pronounced how-lee). But now it refers more to "mainlanders" than just white folks.

Isn't the literal translation something like, "not people" or "not us"? Hawaiians, in common with many isolated ethnic groups, refer to themselves by a word meaning, "people" or "us", and refer to all outsiders as "not us".

The sad part about Hawaii is the dwindling away of the Hawaiian people. More of the population is of Japanese extraction than of Hawaiian. Maybe I'm just bitter over the three Samoan guys who mugged my on Queens Surf back in 1978 Pretty much ruined the place for me.

Originally Posted by PnyKlr

You have Portuguese relatives? Then you might know that Portuguese is not considered Hispanic (and many Portuguese would be offended at being considered this) and that there is not a good defining category in the US census to claim. "Other" always seems the most appropriate.

Neither my Portuguese aunt nor my Portugeuse best friend are offended: both describe themselves as Hispanic. Yes, I have Portuguese relatives, Mexican relatives, Filipino relatives: my grandmother remarried after the death of her first husband. Grandpa Carlos Parnella was born in Manilla. Of he and Grandma Parnella's nine children, 8 married Mexicans, and the other married a Portuguese woman. I am none of the above, but my cousins, aunts and uncles are.

"Hispanic" is basically an American term referring to a person who lives in the United States but who originally came from, or whose family came from, South America, Mexico, Cuba or Puerto Rico. It is also used to refer to people from Spain (although they would be Spanish) or the culture of Spain.

The US Government includes as "Hispanic" any persons descended from and speaking the languages of the Iberian peninsula, Mexico, Central America and South America, as well as the Caribean islands. It is an ethnic group, not a race.

Hispanic (Spanish Hispano, from Latin Hispānus, adjective from Hispānia, "Iberian Peninsula")

Ok well Ive learned alot about different races in the past few posts but lets stop this races thing before it gets out of hand.
Let's talk about thanksgiving break, where are some of you going?

Originally Posted by jaxom1957

The sad part about Hawaii is the dwindling away of the Hawaiian people.

I know! The government has been trying to "revitalize" the Hawaiian culture and language, and there are actually schools that are being taught in Hawaiian-only at a certain age, and Hawaiian-English at other ages (I don't remeber which age gets what). The language has been nearly forgotton (in the general sense of use) and replaced with "Pigin," basically the Hawaiian Ebonics that was originally used as a means of communication between English and Hawaiian speakers.

Originally Posted by jaxom1957

It is an ethnic group, not a race.

Hispanic (Spanish Hispano, from Latin Hispānus, adjective from Hispānia, "Iberian Peninsula")

Right, and the argument (I believe) being that Portugal is not included in this territory. I also remember my grandmother being very insistant that she was NOT hispanic! But you know how grumpy old folks can be...


chibitamalove: Claiming "Japanese" will really help you out later on when it comes to funding for college. I was a minority, but not the "right kind" (Hispanic, Asian, Black). My dad was retired Air Force and was in a war or two, but not the right war (Korea, Vietnam, WWII). My mom retired from the Air Force partially disabled, but not disabled enough (go figure). With the cost of college now (tuition has risen over 12,000/year at the school I went to 5 years ago!) you would do yourself a great injustice if you didn't pursue EVERY opportunity for scholarships. That is, if you plan on attending college; it's not for everyone (my husband, for example).

Cegninedorf: But, back on topic: I will love my Thanksgiving...and your leopard geckos are SO CUTE! That beardie is adorable as well. A friend of mine wants to get one, and I told her about the former Lee Watson's (and what ever they have turned into) and told her to go there instead of the pet store (both for price and quality reasons).

Originally Posted by chibitamalove

And the umlaut: Those are the two dots that you put over the "u", right? And then they make the "gwe" sound? We learned that in Spanish 2 this year, but I forgot what they were called. :/ It was in the word "nicaraguense". We were leaning about how to say where you're from. I am estadounidense, like many of you here.

Races: I put "Other." Makes me happy, so I do it.

Reptiles/Beamer: At least your teacher is bringing them into the classroom. I just hope that Hermione doesn't have motion-sickness, especially after all of that waving at the board.

"Umlaut": I only remember the name of the accent mark in German, because, well, hey -- that's what you get for having a German mother and grow-up calling it that. Anyway, in Spanish it's called "la diéresis"... (Ever see "Legends of the Fall" dubbed in Spanish? I had nightmares about the diéresis because the youngest son's character kept his name in English, but pronounced in Spanish: "Sam-WELL", which would've used the diéresis, and to be honest, I couldn't wait for his unfortunate ending because I was so tired of hearing his name said that way...I saw it on a bus trip coming back to Madrid from Sevilla, and I was exhausted, too...)

Originally Posted by PnyKlr

chibitamalove: Claiming "Japanese" will really help you out later on when it comes to funding for college. I was a minority, but not the "right kind" (Hispanic, Asian, Black). My dad was retired Air Force and was in a war or two, but not the right war (Korea, Vietnam, WWII). My mom retired from the Air Force partially disabled, but not disabled enough (go figure). With the cost of college now (tuition has risen over 12,000/year at the school I went to 5 years ago!) you would do yourself a great injustice if you didn't pursue EVERY opportunity for scholarships. That is, if you plan on attending college; it's not for everyone (my husband, for example).

Cegninedorf: But, back on topic: I will love my Thanksgiving...and your leopard geckos are SO CUTE! That beardie is adorable as well. A friend of mine wants to get one, and I told her about the former Lee Watson's (and what ever they have turned into) and told her to go there instead of the pet store (both for price and quality reasons).

About college...absolutely! In talking about future children with my boyfriend, I told him that our children will be "Hispanic" because I've already paid enough for my college years and for their college years already, too. Thinking about that, I better get to work on those kids before my lil'kids are no longer the minority... (Please take my words with an enormous grain of sarcastic salt...I do make fun of everything, including myself, because life is so boring otherwise if it can't be laughed at...)

And, thanks for the kind words on my leopard geckos & baby beardie...I do recommend a bearded dragon as a pet. Jolie has been so easy to take care of, and it's great, too, because they're diurnal -- they have requisite bedtimes! The only downsides might be the enormous poos that they have & the claws -- they don't purposely scratch you, but it happens as they cling to you...trimming them can be as delicate as cutting a cat's claws -- you have to watch out for the vein that runs through them. I keep tiles in Jolie's tank to help with wearing them down...she's been fun, as they all have been. Just like having kids...

As for Thanksgiving break, I'm staying home, working on a graduate class project on Animal Adaptations (a class through the local nature museum, it's been fun... ) and cleaning my bloody apt. Hopefully packing some books for my impending move next spring. Eating yummy food. Sleeping. I'd be thankful enough just to sleep. Early happy Thanksgiving to all of you & yours, y'all!

Originally Posted by Cegninedorf

As for Thanksgiving break, I'm staying home, working on a graduate class project on Animal Adaptations (a class through the local nature museum, it's been fun... ) and cleaning my bloody apt. Hopefully packing some books for my impending move next spring. Eating yummy food. Sleeping. I'd be thankful enough just to sleep. Early happy Thanksgiving to all of you & yours, y'all!

Cool, I'm staying home too. I guess theres not many places to go when you don't have much family. Happy Early Thanksgiving to you too. Have fun with your class because there are so many things to do that involve thanksgiving, especially with younger kids. Have a great short week.

Woo Hoo! Three day work week...and Wednesday is an early dismissal day. I'm out at 1:00. YES!

Then I fast for my Italian mother-in-law's FANTASTIC cooking. It's an all-day event with her.

Oh, YUM! To have *anyone* cook for me is a wonderful, delicious thing (most of the time!)...I'm going to cook & eat at home with the boyfriend. He doesn't mind if I eat too much, which is lovely...

The game plan for this short week is lots of "thank you" activities, discussion about Pilgrims and Native Americans, a turkey/"what I'm thankful for" project and I'll probably have the students observe TicTac & draw him when they finish whatever they're doing...that definitely keeps them busy for quite awhile. Oh, and we're going to start learning our "Holiday Assembly" song: O Tannenbaum. Last year, my kids sang "Jingle Bells" in French, much to the pride of my principal. This year, I'd like for them to learn one verse in English, the next in either French or German -- I haven't decided. I'd like to do French because of my Congolese student...I think it would be more fun for the kids. So, we'll see...