Hi all of you.

[SANDRO43]

Lord Acton in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887 said "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."

Giulio Andreotti, for decades a prominent figure of our Christian Democrats and several times a Minister and Prime Minister, is famous for having cynically quipped:

Il potere corrompe chi non ce l'ha

Power corrupts those who don't have it .

The raised middle finger is not to be interpreted in the traditional Anglo-Saxon way , he was counting down to 3.

[Sculpto]

I figured it was Mississippi...

Would have been a much different result in LA or many other American cities.

65 Russian kids in any predominantly black school in any part of the country would have had basically the same experience, and, had it been in an inner city, perhaps even worse.

[Simoni]

This tells me you have never lived or worked in Mississippi...

And by LA, I did not mean the central school district, but schools like they have in Pasadena, where the ethnic mix is not predominately African American.

[GQBlues]

I wonder how much of Angela Davis influenced Yeltsin's decision to send those people into Biloxi, Mississippi of all places in the US. Angela Davis, of course, was politically championed by the Soviets during post-war America.

That seem a rather strange decision for the Kremlim to make, or at the very least ~ interesting.

[SANDRO43]

The photo I posted upthread reminded me that there are different ways of using fingers to count.

We start from the thumb as #1, IINM in the Anglo-Saxon world one starts from the little finger. Anyway, we cannot count over 10 - or 20 using feet as well .

I discovered recently that the Romans were much cleverer in this, they could count up to 10,000 using their two hands . Attached is an illustration scanned from a book called Una giornata nell'antica Roma (An ordinary day in Ancient Rome) explaining the process. Sorry it doesn't show #1-9, their fingerings are in the first column at left, top to bottom.

[Sculpto]

This tells me you have never lived or worked in Mississippi...

And by LA, I did not mean the central school district, but schools like they have in Pasadena, where the ethnic mix is not predominately African American.

I have not been to Mississippi though I would like to visit at some point.  But, I have spent time in predominantly black communities in many major cities.  The dynamics of being white in a black area are pretty consistent across the board.  Some places are more aggressive than others.  I have not spent much time in rural black communities.

In all my travels.. the ONLY place I ever got into a sticky situation was in Belize City.  White guy in an all black and very poor town.  I wanted to go for a walk around the city.. a guy came up and offered to walk with me.. I wasn't against it.  When were finished seeing the tiny downtown he demanded a "guide payment" of 2 Belize dollars.  It wasn't the amount, it was the principle.  Had he told me in advance I would have either said no thanks or sure.. but he surprised me with it.  When I said I wouldnt pay I was IMMEDIATELY surrounded by about 20-30 young men.  I have no idea where they came from.. half were on little bikes.  I paid him off (price doubled) and hurried back to my hotel 3 blocks away.. departing the scene to taunts and racial slurs and watching over my shoulder the whole time to make sure I wasn't being followed.

[Sculpto]

And by LA, I did not mean the central school district, but schools like they have in Pasadena, where the ethnic mix is not predominately African American.

What I wonder was Yeltsin just naive about what those kids would experience in Biloxi.. or did he send them there to show them something and build up the self image of Russia?

[groovlstk]

There was a documentary last night on HBO called Prom Night in Mississippi, about the first-ever integrated prom at one of the local high schools.

[Faux Pas]

This tells me you have never lived or worked in Mississippi...

And by LA, I did not mean the central school district, but schools like they have in Pasadena, where the ethnic mix is not predominately African American.

Actually Simoni, I have lived, worked and raised children in Mississippi and was a bit perplexed at your remark. I sense that you haven't lived or worked in Mississippi and seem to believe the misconceptions of Mississippi being a backwards state. I can assure you, it is not. My take from your descriptions in many of your posts is that you probably live in an affluent area or neighborhood. I would be willing to make a wager that not 5 miles from your safe home in the gated community are half of a dozen of schools that Utrobina described in Biloxi.

I grew up in a small southern town much like the place I live in now. The population is largely black and the public schools in which I attended were 90%+ black. Trust me here, there is certainly a difference in education and a drumming of black culture.

There was a documentary last night on HBO called Prom Night in Mississippi, about the first-ever integrated prom at one of the local high schools.

I saw that too. That town is not far from me. I travel through it often. It was a bit surprising that they've went that long without an intergrated prom as most of those kind of things ended in the 70's. I remember when our entire school system intergrated. It was a tense time but, that was years ago

[UTRO]

It was an all black school that Sveta went to in Biloxi. Not sure if it was made this way on purpose?? Haven't any experience with this type of situation in Canada. Anyway, these poor black Kids came back to Kirov as part of the exchange. Oh, they hated it! Disgusted with the food, weather.... Sveta has photos of these poor kids in the snow, completely underdressed!

[UTRO]

Actually, to tell you a story.... The girl that stayed at Sveta's parents flat was so disgusted with the food, that one night at dinner she took her glass and poured the contents all over her food on the plate Poor Sveta's Mum!
Can you imagine the stereotype and nervousness, that Sveta's parents had in their heads, the first couple of times that they had me over for dinner?!? I had to overcome that obstacle!!
For the most part, when Sveta was in the USA, her hosts served frozen prepared foods from a box. Even today very few Russians purchase such food!

[Simoni]

Actually Simoni, I have lived, worked and raised children in Mississippi and was a bit perplexed at your remark. I sense that you haven't lived or worked in Mississippi and seem to believe the misconceptions of Mississippi being a backwards state. I can assure you, it is not. My take from your descriptions in many of your posts is that you probably live in an affluent area or neighborhood. I would be willing to make a wager that not 5 miles from your safe home in the gated community are half of a dozen of schools that Utrobina described in Biloxi.

First of all, my post was not directed at you, so why are you telling me that YOU indeed lived in Mississippi???  I was speaking to Sculpto, not you, so your response is meaningless.

Second, yes, I am a boy of the South, and know her well.  And as an adult, I have worked extensively in Mississippi.   The education system in Mississippi is one of the worst in the US; check the stats.

The state has major poverty issues, and racial issues as well.  Worse when Utrobina's girl was there than now.

My point was that Mississippi was NOT the place those Russian kids should have been sent.

BTW-- I do love the fried catfish in Mississippi...

[dokrog]

You guys need to start your own thread titled " Mississippi"

BTW. catfish is excellent deep fried in little strips. damn I love that.

[myrddin]

Actually, to tell you a story.... The girl that stayed at Sveta's parents flat was so disgusted with the food, that one night at dinner she took her glass and poured the contents all over her food on the plate Poor Sveta's Mum!
Can you imagine the stereotype and nervousness, that Sveta's parents had in their heads, the first couple of times that they had me over for dinner?!? I had to overcome that obstacle!!
For the most part, when Sveta was in the USA, her hosts served frozen prepared foods from a box. Even today very few Russians purchase such food!

Probably irrelevant reflection, but this contrasts to my experience in Russia as a student.  Granted my class mostly came from majority-white suburbs in the midwest, but I don't think we give a bad impression of Americans.  Though I was a pretty picky eater and I think my host family was disappointed I didn't try more of their concoctions.  I wasn't rude about it, but compared to a host who spends 2 hours hunting down some Pepsi (this was 1990) in 90+ degree heat (Fahrenheit) after an offhand remark on the second day I wonder....

None of the host families from my group had bad experiences, though I never got the full story about my classmate whose host family had a couple KGB visits (so I just make up those stories in my head  )

The host mother swore I'd be back within 3 years, but apparently the collapse of the USSR and my own veerrrrrrry sllloooooooow brain delayed that by an extra 15 years... D'oh!