Urban Fable

Looking forward to see Dries Van Noten at the end of the week, in a sold out Interview with Public.
That's what I call Great Expectations! (click photo to enlarge)

Heeelp! : I have an European Accent!

  A serial of later events have lead me to write this post about my accent, and about living with a foreign accent in the big Apple (a.k.a. NYC), in general. Please note: Hispanic accents do not count. Although not officially accepted as the second language of the USA, everywhere you would go, from a public restroom to a national conference site, all signs and directions would be posted bilingually - English - Spanish.

  Just like writing about race, gender or marital status, this is a very challenging topic. No problem, I got the guts! It is more than an essay topic, for me, and that's why I will assume the risk of opening the conversation...

Let's proceed with caution....

  When I was growing up, during the communist Romania, as part of the Soviet Easter-European-block, we were pretty much all the same , very homogeneous: all white, all speaking the same official language (because the formal dictator banned any recognition of a different nationality or ethnicity - as my own mother's family could attest), similar heights and weights, but (honest to God!) most of us were well read and educated; simply because there was not much else to do during those times. No computers, no cell phones (you should have been happy with a land line), only two hours daily TV, etc, you got the picture! Yet, I got a healthy self esteem, which I back up with a solid account of hours of readings of the past 33 years. 

  My attention was totally detained a few weeks ago, while driving a rental car in NJ, and I was in desperate need of something compellingly interesting to listen on the radio for the few hours of driving. I kept on searching the channels till I 'landed" accidentally right in the middle of a conversation about "dumbing of America". And you say...."What??"

  The talk turned out to be incredibly interesting, and I couldn't agree more with all the arguments that were raised during that discussion to sustain this controversial topic. The fact that I enrolled in college, again, in my 

mid-thirties, to complement my passion for marketing and fashion with a formal education, when most people are taking their own kids to school,  probably gives me a bit of an "insider" look at the schooling system and of the younger generations: the Y-ers, the Millenniums, and whichever comes next. 

  The author Ph. D. Maureen Stout argues that [description of the book on Amazon]:

  "The so-called self-esteem movement-a progressive, child-centered, discovery model of schooling-has transformed schools into therapeutic clinics and teachers into counselors, creating a generation of entitled, righteous, underachieving children. An insider's account of the pernicious aspects of this seemingly well-meaning movement,The Feel-Good Curriculum provides devastating evidence that our belief in the power and importance of self-esteem in education is misplaced and without basis.Avoiding political posturing and political correctness, The Feel-Good Curriculum identifies the four specific effects of self-esteem's stranglehold on our schools-narcissism, emotivism, separatism, and cynicism. It prescribes antidotes to them-empathy, rationality and morality, connectedness, and skepticism-and offers a hopeful view of educational philosophy for the next millennium. Professor Stout urges us to replace our coddling, indulgent approach to building self-esteem in children with a sense of authentic self-confidence developed from intellectual, physical, and moral effort and achievement."

  Yeap, it's not as "happy-go-marry" conclusion as we have been programmed  to hear, time and again. And we must admit, that it's also not "for all, included". She is talking about majority's lifestyle trend. She must also have a good/healthy self-confidence in her observations as an assistent professor, in order go at it with such courage. Bravo!

  What this has to do with my accent? Well, here it comes: 

In my second year of college I took a class about consumer behavior.I, by the way, am fascinated by the subject. I love it! For one of my school papers I prepared an extensive research about this very topic (book's topic), mostly based on articles published by the New York Times; funny enough, because that teacher mandated that we subscribe and read the Time. So I wanted to prove to her that I am familiarizing myself with the paper!! My paper ended up with a (bellow) terrible reception when I presented it in the classroom, not only from the students (mostly generation Y) but from the teacher herself. After my presentation she went on to tell me how "smart" and "proficient" is her 5 years old granddaughter with the computer, VCR, DVD and such.

  That very day, I learned a tough lesson. I can say anything (in the name of the first Amendment, which gratifies me the right of free speech, as an American citizen) but, there is a BUT: Don't do it if you have an accent. You must only do it in perfect English, or you risk being labeled something you wouldn't like to ( I let it to my readers imagination). 

  Unfortunately, even today, living in the city which brands itself as "cosmopolitan" I have been repeatedly made it feel that I would be taken more serious if I would say and do what I am doing, minus the European accent. It simply takes away from my credentials, so to speak. Damn it!

  Well, and so I came to create this social joke, which I got the liberty to say it over and over again, and I will share it with you today:

  "Around here, if you have a British accent, no matter how dumb is what you are saying, it will always be perceived as intelligent! For any other European accent: no matter how intelligent is what you are saying, it is always perceived as....let's say, naive and unsophisticated". 

  And by the way, just like Barbara Walters refused to accept that she needed to correct her lisp, if she wanted a career in journalism, I refuse to "correct" my accent if I want a career in New York!
(Click photo to enlarge)

Via Google Reader

*****

If you would like to learn more on the subject, here is the book. With my marketing "nose" I detected that it's very well priced for a book published almost ten years ago. Price, of course is not all, but it's always a good indication of a book market value, probably now more than ever before.
(Click the photo to enlarge, and click the link under to see its page on Amazon:

The direct link to the book here