A Meme

[spicedogs]

stolen from boheme06 :

The problem with LJ: we all think we are so close, but really, we know nothing about each other.

So I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Or something completely random. Ask away.

Then post this in your LJ and find out what people don't know about you!
 

 

Comments

[mooncove.livejournal.com]

OK, this is probably a silly question and not exactly random ... What is "Sephardim"? And, non-random question #2: Can you still speak Portuguese after all those formative years in Brazil? And really silly question #2: With all that travelling you've done, what does your accent sound like? (I'm really into accents.) Thanks!

PS: Sorry this belated, but I hope you gave the hospital administration a piece of your mind (sorry, I still don't quite get "Twitters," but I won't burden you with yet another silly question!) and mom continues to be on the mend. Sounds like they're just trying to save money, hiring high school students to push wheelchairs around without thinking about how she's actually going to from the chair to the car. Good for you insisting that they dress her. How ridiculous they expect her to go outdoors in just a flimsy hospital gown. (Reminds me of how I got wheeled to the car and then dumped at the curb just an hour after my gallbladder surgery, when I couldn't even stand up, let alone get myself into a car! I guess American hospitals are the same all over.)

PPS: I hate winter too!

[spicedogs.livejournal.com]

Answer to Question # 1:

Sephardim are Jews from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). Sephardim is the plural of Sephardi or as we know them in the United States, Sephardic Jews.Unlike other European Jews (Ashkenazic) who speak Yiddish (a mixture of German and Hebrew), Sephardim speak Ladino (a mixture of Spanish, Portuguese, and Hebrew). During the Inquisition, some Sephardim converted to Catholicism, but secretly worshiped Judaism; others dispersed throughout Europe (Diaspora). My family dispersed first to France and then to Eastern Europe.

Unlike the Ashkenazim, who are matriarchal, Sephardim are patriarchal. Hence, according to the Sephardim, if your father is Jewish, you are automatically Jewish. In my family, my mother (who was Calvinist) married into a Jewish family and I am considered Jewish (but don't practice it).

Answer to Question # 2:

Yes, I am still fluent in Portuguese. I need to be among Brazilians for about 15 to 20 minutes and I quickly go back to speaking the language. Unfortunately, my vocabulary is that of a 13 year old. I did take Portuguese in college, but I am still not able to hold a very adult intellectual or political conversation. My lexicon lacks those words.

Want to hear my voice? Here's a sample of a clip I made for a podcast:

http://michaelemerson.net/Storage/cliff.wav

Answers to Non-Questions:

1. I am making a formal complaint to the hospital. Their behavior was uncalled for.

2. They did not hire the high school student. He was a volunteer. In our area, students have to have a number of volunteering hours in order to graduate high school. This kid was forced to volunteer by the school department and then given a task that was difficult for him to perform.

3. What they did with you was horrible as well. Health care should never be a profit-making enterprise, but it is in our country. Therefore, the patients are treated horribly.

4. Twitter is a way of instant messaging with a number of people. I am involved with podcasters (I don't podcast, though), hence, I can keep up with them. Try it, it's another way of getting addicted to the Internet.