Saturday, August 20, 2005

World Youth Days I was talking to Tran the other day, well teasing her really, why she hadn't gone off to Cologne Germany for World Youth day Youth gather for 'Catholic Woodstock' | csmonitor.com. She had gone a few years ago when Pope John Paul came to Toronto. World Youth Day began in 1984. Now its Pope Benedict XVI's first shot at filling his predecessor's big populist shoes. Tran who I suspect knew I was teasing her retorted that she had sung with her church choir for an event at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception over the weekend. The event was some sort of national gathering for Vietnamese Catholics. This, she advised me, was just as important to her as going off to Cologne. She has hinted darkly she has a dvd recording of event. Looking over the coverage of Cologne it seems to have carried on its tradition with sufficient flair. And seems to be shaping up to become the Catholic Church's flagship outreach event. I saw that the 2008 WYD is going to be in Australia. [ Here on Monday I notice that when you look at newspaper's front pages Today's front pages - Newseum , the Washington Post has a picture of the Pope on the FP, though separate from the story Sea of Youth Embraces New Pope. The Boston Globe has Mick Jagger, story on WYD has no accompanying pic Pope ends Germany trip with Mass for 1 million - The Boston Globe.] A mostly unrelated topic I saw this Piece in Slate AlterNet: WireTap: Why I'm Still 'Thuy' and not 'Jane' or 'Susie' and felt increasing implicated as I read through it. I have no idea whether I pronounce Tran's name correctly. I hope it is as it seems to me: T + ran, but how would I know? She actively discourages me generally from trying to pronounce Vietnamese words - including the full version of her given name Huyen-Tran. I take this is a sign what whatever I am saying is painful to her or I'm saying it in the wrong order. In any event, when I get the idea I am causing her distress I try to stop. Causing people distress is no longer my primary aim in life. I suppose I should try to make an independent study of this; names at least. Rather than continue to proceed in the most clueless way possible. 11:54:55 PM    comment [];trackback [];

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. 2005 Paul Bushmiller. Last update: 8/23/05; 12:47:07 AM.