After the birth of our first, in Blacktown, NSW, a nurse was helping
Suzy with the paperwork.  Apparently the beaurocrats in New South Wales
shared Arielle's understanding.  The nurse with form and pen in hand
cried out in frustration, "I am not going to put down "non-white" for a
blond haired, blue-eyed, fair skinned child with an Irish sur-name!".
Over the years its been good for a few laughs.  But it stays with us.
Its probably good for a few lessons too.

I wonder if the nurse expected Suzy to cooperate by changing religions
on the spot?  We left Australia's sunny shores a few months later, with
the Australian birth certificate, but arrived in the U.S with
certificate from the U.S. Embassy.  The U.S. had problems with our
marriage license, but that's another story for another day.

Don't get me wrong, the only racism I observed was in the paperwork and
management of government institutions.  I never met an Australian who
wouldn't give you a chance to prove his stereotypes wrong.  For me that
worked fine.  Unfortunately that wasn't always the case.

-jc


On Nov 9, 2004, at 11:13 PM, [log in to unmask] wrote:

> who asked Arielle whether she was white or Jewish.