I felt today was appropriate to address something that has been more and more noticeable and annoying, in particular since it seems to concern mainly women.
In the last ten to fifteen years, it has become the norm to identify public figures, political or otherwise, by their full and complete names. Just not the female counterparts.
So where JFK would routinely be addressed as John Fitzgerald Kennedy in the press, his wife would only be called Jackie Bouvier Kennedy. And this goes beyond reading off some unknown's id for the first time. It is systematic.
Now, before I go into a partial, slightly rambling analysis of this phenomenon, let's do a little Local Naming Customs 101.
For a long time, it was the tradition among the predominantly Catholic population to give their children two or more baptismal names, usually that of the particular Saint the parents prayed to or the one on whose feast the child was born, or the name of a beloved (sometimes deceased but not always) family elder, in addition to what the French call the "prénom usuel" ie the given name the person usually responds to.
The name order used to be that the given name was the one closest to the family name. I have three baptismal names myself, my brother has four (parental enthusiasm towards the first born, obviously). Our names both start with Marie. As does my mother's, and most of my maternal aunts.
In the last generation or so, however, this has changed dramatically. While some people continue to name their children in this manner, whether they are Catholic or not, others have adopted a new naming style.
You see, it has become de rigueur to give birth in North America, that coveted foreign passport being seen as "giving the child a future" as a coworker once told me and so, worth any sacrifice.
Including our old naming tradition which has proved problematic to foreign immigration services.
Think about it. If you remove all the names after Marie, it is impossible, at first glance, to distinguish me from my brother based on our names alone. In order to simplify and adapt, parents now name their children in the Anglo-Saxon style (?) of First Name, Middle Name/Initial and Last Name.
These names, how ever many they may be, are all printed on your birth certificate, your id, your driver's license, passport, voter's card etc.
So how does this relate to the main topic of this post i.e. naming women?
Because the difference when addressing the sexes is so marked. Whenever the government is presented, both the President and the Prime Minister are each announced by First Name 1, First Name 2, and Last Name but the only woman "super minister", as they call them now, is listed as First Name, Maiden Name and Last Name.
This triumvirate, by the way, tends to project the image of being the "only one(s) who do any work".
Yes, several women of that cabinet are simply called by First and Last Name. Strangely enough, some of them are single, married or divorced so the logic escapes me.
Interesting fact: one of them never uses her maiden name because her parent was a high profile member of the Duvalier government. Seems as though she hides behind her husband's name even if my parents never fail to remind me of who she is Daughter Of. Given that parent's bloody reputation, I can almost understand.
However, usually, it seems, men are referred to in a way distinct from women. And given the current government's overwhelming love of photo ops and "good" press, I cannot help but notice this.
Where did this naming fashion come from? I am not sure. A friend suggests that it started with the Ex-President and that it was a way for him to fudge the issue of his real name. Yes, paranoia is rampant around here so both the thesis and the real could be true.
You might have guessed that I personally put a more feminist spin on this issue. Spitting out the entire baptismal name of someone gives their address a certain Old School flair. As if the litany of their names give the men in question more weight or more stature. For those who need it. Who can doubt that certain elected officials (and candidates) are so...unexpected in their posts that they need some measure of legitimacy that elections alone cannot give them?
As for women, I am torn. Either including their maiden name is considered the modern, feminist thing to do by not erasing their identity in favor of that of their husbands.
Or, to the contrary, it is a way of showing that she has political clout despite being a mere woman. Proving her worthiness by way of blood or marriage? That she got this job because of Who She Is (Daughter Of) and Where she Comes From (What Political or Social Sector)?
But how to explain those public/famous women who have only First and Las Name? Should I understand that they are old fashioned and cannot bother with all these verbal gymnastics? that their lineage is so obscure, it isn't worth the bother? or, worse still, that they are just placeholders who do not deserve more than their share of the limelight?
What's in a name? asked the playwright. Good question.
Showing posts with label gvt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gvt. Show all posts
Friday, March 08, 2013
Friday, June 12, 2009
Stir It Up
Author's note: I had planned to post this on the 9th but the internet did not cooperate.
Here we are, almost 10 days into the hurricane season and people are actually not looking at the sky. Oh, sure, even before June started, they were scrutinizing the mearest cloud, all worried frowns and pinched mouths. May was unusually rainy. But now, they seem to have almost forgotten the seasonal threat for a more immediat if familiar one.
Students are rioting, you see. What had started months ago as a low grumble has now spread through four different colleges. Discontented voices have become angry and confrontational protesters.
At first, it was to denounce the disconcerting changes in one school's program has become a rally around the recent law to raise the minimum wage.
You know how things happen in this country. We're one year into the Hope law and nothing seems to be moving forward. And now that the law is voted, increasing the daily minimum wage from 72 to 200 gourdes ($1.85 to $4.97 USD), everybody is upset. Industrials say they will have to fire half their personnel (a meager 25,000 factory workers). The more vocal senators and representatives are talking about " social injustices being righted". Economists are reiterating their calls to caution, competitivity with our neighbors and a progressive increase rather than a one-time boom.
The government, on the other hand, is silent. But that's how Rinse Repeat rolls. Mum's the word as a communication policy. You should try it. Really.
Of course, this whole wage debate isn't recent. Back on May 1st, while at the annual Agricultural Fair on the main square, protesters in favor of a 500gdes minimum had invested the plaza. A bit scary but this nice avocado grower explained to me, sotto voce, that she agreed with them. Things were too hard, these days, she said, and people need the money.
But now, the difference is that the alleged students are throwing rocks and burning cars. I'm on my fourth day of tear gas fumes. Yes, I live close enough to one faculty to enjoy the benefits of democracy in action.There's nothing like home, indeed.
The simple truth is we are not happy. There's the fact that the patch-up school year is closing with an upcoming gas rise (on top of the last one). And that several neighborhoods in the metropolitan area are without any electricity after suspicious fires at two major plants.
And before that, there were the elections, played out to an almost empty theatre. In the capital, anyway. The rest of the country seems to have been motivated enough. If you can call more or less 10% of voter turn-out a "success". I didn't vote but I do wonder *where* the government found the 5 MILLION dollars they contributed to the 16 MILLION DOLLAR budget. Act two, scene 1 is at the end of the month. (as if we care)
And even before that, there was the gas crisis of the New Year, and before that, the 2008 hurricane victims who are still waiting for help, and bridges, around the country.
Rumor has it that the next step is to as Rinse Repeat to step down.
Nope, we're not happy. Not happy at all.
Here we are, almost 10 days into the hurricane season and people are actually not looking at the sky. Oh, sure, even before June started, they were scrutinizing the mearest cloud, all worried frowns and pinched mouths. May was unusually rainy. But now, they seem to have almost forgotten the seasonal threat for a more immediat if familiar one.
Students are rioting, you see. What had started months ago as a low grumble has now spread through four different colleges. Discontented voices have become angry and confrontational protesters.
At first, it was to denounce the disconcerting changes in one school's program has become a rally around the recent law to raise the minimum wage.
You know how things happen in this country. We're one year into the Hope law and nothing seems to be moving forward. And now that the law is voted, increasing the daily minimum wage from 72 to 200 gourdes ($1.85 to $4.97 USD), everybody is upset. Industrials say they will have to fire half their personnel (a meager 25,000 factory workers). The more vocal senators and representatives are talking about " social injustices being righted". Economists are reiterating their calls to caution, competitivity with our neighbors and a progressive increase rather than a one-time boom.
The government, on the other hand, is silent. But that's how Rinse Repeat rolls. Mum's the word as a communication policy. You should try it. Really.
Of course, this whole wage debate isn't recent. Back on May 1st, while at the annual Agricultural Fair on the main square, protesters in favor of a 500gdes minimum had invested the plaza. A bit scary but this nice avocado grower explained to me, sotto voce, that she agreed with them. Things were too hard, these days, she said, and people need the money.
But now, the difference is that the alleged students are throwing rocks and burning cars. I'm on my fourth day of tear gas fumes. Yes, I live close enough to one faculty to enjoy the benefits of democracy in action.There's nothing like home, indeed.
The simple truth is we are not happy. There's the fact that the patch-up school year is closing with an upcoming gas rise (on top of the last one). And that several neighborhoods in the metropolitan area are without any electricity after suspicious fires at two major plants.
And before that, there were the elections, played out to an almost empty theatre. In the capital, anyway. The rest of the country seems to have been motivated enough. If you can call more or less 10% of voter turn-out a "success". I didn't vote but I do wonder *where* the government found the 5 MILLION dollars they contributed to the 16 MILLION DOLLAR budget. Act two, scene 1 is at the end of the month. (as if we care)
And even before that, there was the gas crisis of the New Year, and before that, the 2008 hurricane victims who are still waiting for help, and bridges, around the country.
Rumor has it that the next step is to as Rinse Repeat to step down.
Nope, we're not happy. Not happy at all.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Back, From Outerspace
Well, not really. I apologize to all my readers who were dispairing of ever seeing me write her again. I had lost my mojo...and my internet access.
My apologies also to those who left comments and hoped for replies. I'm bad at checking comments even when I post (somewhat) regularly!
Anyway, with luck, next week, I will have dial-up at home again and so, will return to the ranting you are used to (if not, get to it!)
Meanwhile, in the Real World...
- Still no Prime Minister. Since Whatshisface got the boot, mid-April, we have been treated to yet another wonderful interpretive art piece by Rince Repeat. I like to call it "Mirages". Rinse calls them candidates. Go figure...
- The price of gas has officially risen. Super is 270 gourdes ($6.75*), Regular is 265 gourdes ($6.62*) and Diesel is 194 gourdes ($4.85*). Public transportation fare is up too. I myself took a taxi to work this morning for 30 gourdes. Will get back to you with the full list of new fares.
- Official exams are almost over. This year, both 12th and 13th grades had their tests the same week. As always, the numbers speak for themselves: 247,000 students for 6th grade, 180, 523 for 9th grade, and 92, 129 students for the combined final two grades. Nevermind that 50% of these kids live here, in the capital.
- Kidnappings have again increased their daily rates, despite showy police arrests. Why bother, if the kidnappers are released within a few days...without a trial? The one good thing is that school is out. I know several parents were counting the days. I myself feel a little twichy going in and out of my house.
So, there you have it, fodder for future posts. Thank you for being patient.
* at a 40 gdes exchange rate
My apologies also to those who left comments and hoped for replies. I'm bad at checking comments even when I post (somewhat) regularly!
Anyway, with luck, next week, I will have dial-up at home again and so, will return to the ranting you are used to (if not, get to it!)
Meanwhile, in the Real World...
- Still no Prime Minister. Since Whatshisface got the boot, mid-April, we have been treated to yet another wonderful interpretive art piece by Rince Repeat. I like to call it "Mirages". Rinse calls them candidates. Go figure...
- The price of gas has officially risen. Super is 270 gourdes ($6.75*), Regular is 265 gourdes ($6.62*) and Diesel is 194 gourdes ($4.85*). Public transportation fare is up too. I myself took a taxi to work this morning for 30 gourdes. Will get back to you with the full list of new fares.
- Official exams are almost over. This year, both 12th and 13th grades had their tests the same week. As always, the numbers speak for themselves: 247,000 students for 6th grade, 180, 523 for 9th grade, and 92, 129 students for the combined final two grades. Nevermind that 50% of these kids live here, in the capital.
- Kidnappings have again increased their daily rates, despite showy police arrests. Why bother, if the kidnappers are released within a few days...without a trial? The one good thing is that school is out. I know several parents were counting the days. I myself feel a little twichy going in and out of my house.
So, there you have it, fodder for future posts. Thank you for being patient.
* at a 40 gdes exchange rate
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Like Taking a Grass Snake to School
According to the Ministry of Education, Monday was the first day of the new school year.
According to real life, it wasn't.
I'm very aware of school issues because I have the (mis)fortune of living on a street that boasts three (3) kindergartens and one (1) high school. So I always know when school is in or not.
Well, it's been very quiet both Monday and Tuesday. This morning, the kindergarten across the street from my house was open but the mustn't have received all their students yet. Though I could hear the children's voices and they played the usual songs about ducks, and boats and cuckoos in the forest, there wasn't nearly as much traffic or even pedestrian activity as on a regular school day.
My mother also works in a kindergarten and she tells me that her back-t0-school day is set for next Monday. And, if things go according to the same pattern as the last few years, she'll still be receiving kids as late as October.
Nothing I've cited above is surprising, or even new. All through my own schooling, the official starting date was almost never respected by the nuns. Parents, for their part, rutinely sent their kids abroad on vacation for the summer, without a second thought for the school schedule.
What is changing, though, is the number of people who cannot afford to pay for school. The numbers are growing and we cannot deny this truth.
Of course, there is the dichotomy between "good", usually private, schools and the state schools.
The more elite private or foreign schools are, of course, proportionally more expensive. A former coworker paid 25,000 Gdes (about $685 US) per semester for Kindergarten for her son at the French school. This was two or three years ago.
And then there are the Catholic schools. About five (5) of them are both elite (and elitist) and have a very good ranking in the national exams. I went to "the best". Well, we were (and still are) fighting for that title with our Arch-Enemy.
They are not as expensive as the other private schools but still more expensive than other, less reputable schools. People, regardless of their religion, are constantly fighting to have their daughters admitted. For that same reason, I try NOT TO MENTION I'M A FORMER STUDENT.
About 800 kids try out every spring for 1st grade at my old school. There are only 80 seats available. You can imagine the pleading, begging and even bribery that goes on. Especially since the nuns give priority to their "legacy students".
The government has little control over these schools, or the prices they charge. I don't even know if the DGI (our tax people) audits schools or not.
As for the state schools, there are too few of them, the quality of the education is terribly poor. I should know, I keep meeting the kids that come out of there. Poor reading and writing skills in French. Even in speach, it's obvious they're working with limited knowledge of the language and its construction. But that another topic for another post right there.
The one good thing the Ministry of Education did was publish the official tuition for the different levels in the state schools.
Can you believe that there are parents who cannot afford the 100 gourdes ($3 US) to send their children to grammar school for the year? Let alone spare another 100 gourdes so these kids can eat at the cafeteria.
Yet, it is true. It even made the front page of the papers last year. The press has also related the trials and tribulations of the parents struggling to send their kids to schools this year.
So it seems the prover was right. For most people getting their kids an education is like taking a grass snake to school.
And affording it is like making that snake sit in class...
According to real life, it wasn't.
I'm very aware of school issues because I have the (mis)fortune of living on a street that boasts three (3) kindergartens and one (1) high school. So I always know when school is in or not.
Well, it's been very quiet both Monday and Tuesday. This morning, the kindergarten across the street from my house was open but the mustn't have received all their students yet. Though I could hear the children's voices and they played the usual songs about ducks, and boats and cuckoos in the forest, there wasn't nearly as much traffic or even pedestrian activity as on a regular school day.
My mother also works in a kindergarten and she tells me that her back-t0-school day is set for next Monday. And, if things go according to the same pattern as the last few years, she'll still be receiving kids as late as October.
Nothing I've cited above is surprising, or even new. All through my own schooling, the official starting date was almost never respected by the nuns. Parents, for their part, rutinely sent their kids abroad on vacation for the summer, without a second thought for the school schedule.
What is changing, though, is the number of people who cannot afford to pay for school. The numbers are growing and we cannot deny this truth.
Of course, there is the dichotomy between "good", usually private, schools and the state schools.
The more elite private or foreign schools are, of course, proportionally more expensive. A former coworker paid 25,000 Gdes (about $685 US) per semester for Kindergarten for her son at the French school. This was two or three years ago.
And then there are the Catholic schools. About five (5) of them are both elite (and elitist) and have a very good ranking in the national exams. I went to "the best". Well, we were (and still are) fighting for that title with our Arch-Enemy.
They are not as expensive as the other private schools but still more expensive than other, less reputable schools. People, regardless of their religion, are constantly fighting to have their daughters admitted. For that same reason, I try NOT TO MENTION I'M A FORMER STUDENT.
About 800 kids try out every spring for 1st grade at my old school. There are only 80 seats available. You can imagine the pleading, begging and even bribery that goes on. Especially since the nuns give priority to their "legacy students".
The government has little control over these schools, or the prices they charge. I don't even know if the DGI (our tax people) audits schools or not.
As for the state schools, there are too few of them, the quality of the education is terribly poor. I should know, I keep meeting the kids that come out of there. Poor reading and writing skills in French. Even in speach, it's obvious they're working with limited knowledge of the language and its construction. But that another topic for another post right there.
The one good thing the Ministry of Education did was publish the official tuition for the different levels in the state schools.
Can you believe that there are parents who cannot afford the 100 gourdes ($3 US) to send their children to grammar school for the year? Let alone spare another 100 gourdes so these kids can eat at the cafeteria.
Yet, it is true. It even made the front page of the papers last year. The press has also related the trials and tribulations of the parents struggling to send their kids to schools this year.
So it seems the prover was right. For most people getting their kids an education is like taking a grass snake to school.
And affording it is like making that snake sit in class...
Friday, August 03, 2007
Shaken, Not Stirred
It seems that things are heating up in the country as we move into the second half of the vacation months.
On the one hand, the weather has decided to roast us alive. Last night, around 7h pm, it was a murderous 35 Celcius (95 F). I was feeling weak and disoriented, especially since I'd been in those high temperatures since coming home from my AC-cooled office.
Of course, it's hurricane season. Last one was Chantal, but we've moved on to another one in-the-making. Though it should mostly affect the South of the island, it's giving me the worse heatwaves!
I'm also worried about heartquakes. We've had consistently high temperatures so the danger, IMO, is there.
But people are also trying to roast my mind. Here's an overview of the last few weeks:
- My phone is still dead. It's been almost 6 months. I actually got a bill for 992.34 gourdes (about $28). I wrote to them to say I didn't appreciate the joke. I have little hope of the situation changing anytime soon since the head of the state phone company has been trouble from disgruntled employees.
He's been interviewed over and over again over the massive firings going on. Can you blame the guy? When he came into the job, the co had 5,000 employees. Among them, eight (8) doctors, including a gynecologist and an urologist!!! He says he only needs between 750, but is willing to go up to 1,200 employees.
I think he's serious. There's even an ad in the papers looking for a company to restructure the IT department. The proble, as always, is the other people. The director publicly admited that the reason only 25% of the 150,000 land lines in the metropolitan area are working is good old sabotage. I'm pretty sure it's true since a LOT of people suddenly lost their phone service at roughly the same time.
He also promised cable internet for next summer. Oh, I want, I want! But will he (and I) get it? Let's wait and see.
- Major corruption/criminality crack down. Two high-profile business men are being questioned by the police over allegedly selling a man a car that had skipped the whole customs thingie. They seem to have even forged the official papers and signatures. The poor buyer got the surprise of his life when officials refused to give him his car.
Notice my very diplomatice/professional tone. That's because I'm jaded, baby. I don't believe the officials are clean, I don't believe the car dealers are clean, I don't believe this is going far. Unless somebody big has it in for the dealers, this all will die down soon.
Oh, the government is running anti-corruption ads but it's a pot and kettle situation, as far as I'm concerned.
On the other hand, the US DEA has been fishing for drug dealers left and right. Lawyer-types and the common man are incensed at this intrusion. I'm pretty sure some sort of deal has been signed.
Maybe I'm imagining things but isn't surprising that the IADB just gave us $12.5 million US, lump sum even, for "restructuring the government"? And promising us more next year?
- Mr Big Stuff UN is in town this week. You can tell by the volume of UN in the streets, especially when they are blocking streets without any explanation. Mr BS has been up down, crosswise this city. He met with Rinse Repeat first and that was fun: each was talking his own spin and I was LOL myself breathless.
Oh, people are in a tizzy. Mr BS said the city is dirty, people got upset. He said the UN isn't living any time soon (if ever), people got mad. Big Stuff says that they'll not be living until things got better "in the long term".
Rinse Repeat especially doesn't seem to agree with the UN issue. Nationalists agree with him, it seems but what's anybody doing about it? When they first came here, people said it would be for 10 yrs. After that press conf, maybe we should double that estimate...
We're also getting a new head of the MINUSTAH next month, a Tunisian diplomat. He's the first North African in the job. So now we are switching the hot chili peppers for harissa.
- The house of representatives has flushed the Culture Minister. They say he did some funny stuff with the Carnaval money. Rumor has it that Rinse Repeat himself told the Culture Min that he SHOULDN'T give money to the different elected officials usually envolved with Carnaval money ie the mayors, representatives and others.
Today, in fact the President is meating with the House. Is he giving them what-for? or just cold hard cash? Rumors are flying. Some say Rinse Repeat will NOT get rid of his BFF Minister. Others think this is the beginning of the end for either Rinse or the House.
See what I mean when I say my brain is set on broil? And we haven't even got to the State Examen Results yet. School is in a little over a month away. Gas prices are high, there's very little electricity, everybody is broke (ok, that's not new).
I need a liquid nitrogen bath, quick!
On the one hand, the weather has decided to roast us alive. Last night, around 7h pm, it was a murderous 35 Celcius (95 F). I was feeling weak and disoriented, especially since I'd been in those high temperatures since coming home from my AC-cooled office.
Of course, it's hurricane season. Last one was Chantal, but we've moved on to another one in-the-making. Though it should mostly affect the South of the island, it's giving me the worse heatwaves!
I'm also worried about heartquakes. We've had consistently high temperatures so the danger, IMO, is there.
But people are also trying to roast my mind. Here's an overview of the last few weeks:
- My phone is still dead. It's been almost 6 months. I actually got a bill for 992.34 gourdes (about $28). I wrote to them to say I didn't appreciate the joke. I have little hope of the situation changing anytime soon since the head of the state phone company has been trouble from disgruntled employees.
He's been interviewed over and over again over the massive firings going on. Can you blame the guy? When he came into the job, the co had 5,000 employees. Among them, eight (8) doctors, including a gynecologist and an urologist!!! He says he only needs between 750, but is willing to go up to 1,200 employees.
I think he's serious. There's even an ad in the papers looking for a company to restructure the IT department. The proble, as always, is the other people. The director publicly admited that the reason only 25% of the 150,000 land lines in the metropolitan area are working is good old sabotage. I'm pretty sure it's true since a LOT of people suddenly lost their phone service at roughly the same time.
He also promised cable internet for next summer. Oh, I want, I want! But will he (and I) get it? Let's wait and see.
- Major corruption/criminality crack down. Two high-profile business men are being questioned by the police over allegedly selling a man a car that had skipped the whole customs thingie. They seem to have even forged the official papers and signatures. The poor buyer got the surprise of his life when officials refused to give him his car.
Notice my very diplomatice/professional tone. That's because I'm jaded, baby. I don't believe the officials are clean, I don't believe the car dealers are clean, I don't believe this is going far. Unless somebody big has it in for the dealers, this all will die down soon.
Oh, the government is running anti-corruption ads but it's a pot and kettle situation, as far as I'm concerned.
On the other hand, the US DEA has been fishing for drug dealers left and right. Lawyer-types and the common man are incensed at this intrusion. I'm pretty sure some sort of deal has been signed.
Maybe I'm imagining things but isn't surprising that the IADB just gave us $12.5 million US, lump sum even, for "restructuring the government"? And promising us more next year?
- Mr Big Stuff UN is in town this week. You can tell by the volume of UN in the streets, especially when they are blocking streets without any explanation. Mr BS has been up down, crosswise this city. He met with Rinse Repeat first and that was fun: each was talking his own spin and I was LOL myself breathless.
Oh, people are in a tizzy. Mr BS said the city is dirty, people got upset. He said the UN isn't living any time soon (if ever), people got mad. Big Stuff says that they'll not be living until things got better "in the long term".
Rinse Repeat especially doesn't seem to agree with the UN issue. Nationalists agree with him, it seems but what's anybody doing about it? When they first came here, people said it would be for 10 yrs. After that press conf, maybe we should double that estimate...
We're also getting a new head of the MINUSTAH next month, a Tunisian diplomat. He's the first North African in the job. So now we are switching the hot chili peppers for harissa.
- The house of representatives has flushed the Culture Minister. They say he did some funny stuff with the Carnaval money. Rumor has it that Rinse Repeat himself told the Culture Min that he SHOULDN'T give money to the different elected officials usually envolved with Carnaval money ie the mayors, representatives and others.
Today, in fact the President is meating with the House. Is he giving them what-for? or just cold hard cash? Rumors are flying. Some say Rinse Repeat will NOT get rid of his BFF Minister. Others think this is the beginning of the end for either Rinse or the House.
See what I mean when I say my brain is set on broil? And we haven't even got to the State Examen Results yet. School is in a little over a month away. Gas prices are high, there's very little electricity, everybody is broke (ok, that's not new).
I need a liquid nitrogen bath, quick!
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