Category: My mother
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The Other “I-Word” – When will “Illegal” go the way of “Illegitimate?”
The New York Times ran a story about the revelation that the Archbishop of Canterbury’s biological father is not the person listed on his birth certificate. This is not necessarily “news,” except for his high station in the church is unusual for someone who could be described as “illegitimate.” But you won’t see the word “illegitimate” in the Times article. Other news outlets have used the word in the story or headline, but not the Times. That’s right, the newspaper that has rejected the Drop the I-Word campaign and won’t change its style manual to stop using “illegal” or “illegal immigrant” to refer to people based on immigration status has declined to use the other “I-Word” word for a news story when describing the head of the Church of England.
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Later, you’ll be glad you didn’t kill your children
In the final few years of my mother’s life (she died in 2008) I was living across the country, but visited her three times a year. Inevitably, at some point in these visits, we would go out to dinner, or be waiting for a bus, and my mother would end a lull in the conversation by saying, “I saw that story on the news about that woman who killed her children… it reminds me of when you were little.” Yeah, that’s as uncomfortable to hear as it sounds (especially the first time). And it was also the kind of thing that I couldn’t help but ask her more about.