This entry like all my entries, is recorded as I see it, through my own subjectivity. Other people may have a different emphasis and would choose to record things differently.
last day of web design class and we were mucking around a bit, winding each other up but also looking at what we'd done. I explained that if you wanted to see what I'm really working on, to go to this site, but it isn't my design or programming (thanks AtomIC)- just content.
I had to spell my name to get the URL and one of the students laughed at it. I wasn't really outraged, but surprised, because I haven't had my name laughed at since I was at school. Still, we were in silly moods...
The thing is, this guy is white south african with scottish heritage (judging by his last name) so it has a more pernicious tinge to it, for me anyway. I understand his snigger in the way that I understood Australians when they laughed as I grew up.
It is an 'us and them' laugh. You are not of anglo-celtic descent. You are a lesser form of european. I used to get stopped by old drunk blokes asking me where I was from while waiting at tram stops in Melbourne. I don't appear anglo-celtic, I guess.
So it all came back to me, with that one snigger and the more sober question, so where is your name from? I was transported back to my upbringing of heirarchy, of better and worse europeans,
but any european is better than people from elsewhere...
We were just mucking about, I know, but some words, some actions, however slight and trivial, have resonance, have an echo back to earlier abuses.