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I Used to Write for Sports Illustrated. Now I Deliver Packages for Amazon (2018)

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Re: I Used to Write for Sports Illustrated. Now I Deliver Packages for Amazon (2018)

#11

Post by klodolph »

the_lonely_road wrote: post #9
barry-cotter wrote: post #2

> It’s been healthy for me, a fair-haired Anglo-Saxon with a Roman numeral in my name (John Austin Murphy III) This is what assimilation looks like. Someone with an Irish name calling themselves Anglo-Saxon. It’s like a Hispanic person calling themselves Latinx, proof that they have lost all organic connection to the culture of their ancestors.

Are not all white people Anglo Saxon? I don’t bother to call myself anything other than white, Anglo Saxon, European, Caucasian. It wouldn’t make sense otherwise. I have Irish, English, Italian, and post world war 2 immigrated Polish direct ancestors. I don’t know what else to call myself nor do I particularly care. I don’t have a strong personal sense of identity tied up with any of those things. They are just words…

Anglo-Saxon is a somewhat outdated term that refers to the Germanic people that inhabit England and Wales. Easy way to remember is if you take "Anglo" + "Land" you get "Anglo-land", which morphs into the term "England".

Modern historians don't use the term Anglo-Saxon much these days, so it's not especially important.

Re: I Used to Write for Sports Illustrated. Now I Deliver Packages for Amazon (2018)

#12

Post by seibelj »

> Lurching west in stop-and-go traffic on I-80 that morning, bound for Berkeley and a day of delivering in the rain, I had a low moment, dwelling on how far I’d come down in the world. Then I snapped out of it. I haven’t come down in the world. What’s come down in the world is the business model that sustained Time Inc. for decades. I’m pretty much the same writer, the same guy. I haven’t gone anywhere. My feet are the same.

When I’m in a rhythm, and my system’s working, and I slide open the side door and the parcel I’m looking for practically jumps into my hand, and the delivery takes 35 seconds and I’m on to the next one, I enjoy this gig. I like that it’s challenging, mentally and physically. As with the athletic contests I covered for my old employer, there’s a resolution, every day. I get to the end of my route, or I don’t. I deliver all the packages, or I don’t.

Delivering packages is a fine job doing honest labor. Amazon pays well. He has a good attitude. He is doing something the modern world needs. No shame in that.

If I was down on my luck I would have no problem doing whatever job exists. I have washed dishes, and I enjoyed that job. I think a lot of people think some types of work are beneath them but I respect all people who are productive members of society - and the flip-side is that I despise people who say these jobs are so “terrible” they need to be outlawed or whatever.

Re: I Used to Write for Sports Illustrated. Now I Deliver Packages for Amazon (2018)

#13

Post by Swizec »

the_lonely_road wrote: post #9
barry-cotter wrote: post #2

> It’s been healthy for me, a fair-haired Anglo-Saxon with a Roman numeral in my name (John Austin Murphy III) This is what assimilation looks like. Someone with an Irish name calling themselves Anglo-Saxon. It’s like a Hispanic person calling themselves Latinx, proof that they have lost all organic connection to the culture of their ancestors.

Are not all white people Anglo Saxon? I don’t bother to call myself anything other than white, Anglo Saxon, European, Caucasian. It wouldn’t make sense otherwise. I have Irish, English, Italian, and post world war 2 immigrated Polish direct ancestors. I don’t know what else to call myself nor do I particularly care. I don’t have a strong personal sense of identity tied up with any of those things. They are just words…

Those are fighting words in Europe. We are very serious about our ethnicism.

Akin to saying that someone from Philly might as well be from LA, it’s all just a city. Or that the Warriors might as well be the New York Yankees, it’s just sports.

PS; this is why Italians, Irish, Polish etc weren’t considered white until pretty late into the 1900’s in USA – not anglo-saxon

Re: I Used to Write for Sports Illustrated. Now I Deliver Packages for Amazon (2018)

#14

Post by asdfasgasdgasdg »

barry-cotter wrote: post #2

> It’s been healthy for me, a fair-haired Anglo-Saxon with a Roman numeral in my name (John Austin Murphy III) This is what assimilation looks like. Someone with an Irish name calling themselves Anglo-Saxon. It’s like a Hispanic person calling themselves Latinx, proof that they have lost all organic connection to the culture of their ancestors.

I'm majority Anglo (like, actually from England), but I have a Spanish last name from one of my grandparents, who in turn is a patrilineal native American whose family adopted Spanish naming some time in the distant unremembered past. The author's terminology could easily be correct in reference to himself, irrespective of his name.

That said, I question the relevancy of this comment to the story.

Re: I Used to Write for Sports Illustrated. Now I Deliver Packages for Amazon (2018)

#15

Post by xwdv »

barry-cotter wrote: post #2

> It’s been healthy for me, a fair-haired Anglo-Saxon with a Roman numeral in my name (John Austin Murphy III) This is what assimilation looks like. Someone with an Irish name calling themselves Anglo-Saxon. It’s like a Hispanic person calling themselves Latinx, proof that they have lost all organic connection to the culture of their ancestors.

The damning thing about Latinx though is how forcefully it was hoisted onto Hispanics by whites who knew little to nothing about their cultures. They simply saw an opportunity to make latinos conform to their world views and now identifying yourself as latinx signals that you are one of those fully assimilated hispanics that has bought into white culture, and who can be expected to be agreeable on certain topics without embarrassing yourself or other whites. So pervasive this has become, that merely identifying yourself as Latino or Latina instead of Latinx can be seen as a sort of statement that can send out the “wrong vibes”.

Re: I Used to Write for Sports Illustrated. Now I Deliver Packages for Amazon (2018)

#16

Post by geofft »

barry-cotter wrote: post #2

> It’s been healthy for me, a fair-haired Anglo-Saxon with a Roman numeral in my name (John Austin Murphy III) This is what assimilation looks like. Someone with an Irish name calling themselves Anglo-Saxon. It’s like a Hispanic person calling themselves Latinx, proof that they have lost all organic connection to the culture of their ancestors.

Well... the culture of your ancestors can't do anything for (or against) you in the present day. The so-called Anglo-Saxons were sometimes Anglo, sometimes Saxons, and in many cases neither - e.g., the Normans were a separate culture and a separate people until they invaded and essentially reverse-assimilated. That whole process is very much organic; preserving an identity to specific ancestors long dead, when the culture that defines you has changed, would not be.

Re: I Used to Write for Sports Illustrated. Now I Deliver Packages for Amazon (2018)

#17

Post by ipaddr »

the_lonely_road wrote: post #9
barry-cotter wrote: post #2

> It’s been healthy for me, a fair-haired Anglo-Saxon with a Roman numeral in my name (John Austin Murphy III) This is what assimilation looks like. Someone with an Irish name calling themselves Anglo-Saxon. It’s like a Hispanic person calling themselves Latinx, proof that they have lost all organic connection to the culture of their ancestors.

Are not all white people Anglo Saxon? I don’t bother to call myself anything other than white, Anglo Saxon, European, Caucasian. It wouldn’t make sense otherwise. I have Irish, English, Italian, and post world war 2 immigrated Polish direct ancestors. I don’t know what else to call myself nor do I particularly care. I don’t have a strong personal sense of identity tied up with any of those things. They are just words…

No you probably come from a slav tribe. Saxons were a tribe in Germany. Anglos a different tribe.

Take an ancestry / 23andme/ myheritage test and see what comes up. You would be surprised.

Re: I Used to Write for Sports Illustrated. Now I Deliver Packages for Amazon (2018)

#18

Post by the_lonely_road »

Swizec wrote: post #13
the_lonely_road wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are not all white people Anglo Saxon? I don’t bother to call myself anything other than white, Anglo Saxon, European, Caucasian. It wouldn’t make sense otherwise. I have Irish, English, Italian, and post world war 2 immigrated Polish direct ancestors. I don’t know what else to call myself nor do I particularly care. I don’t have a strong personal sense of identity tied up with any of those things. They are just words…

Those are fighting words in Europe. We are very serious about our ethnicism. Akin to saying that someone from Philly might as well be from LA, it’s all just a city. Or that the Warriors might as well be the New York Yankees, it’s just sports. PS; this is why Italians, Irish, Polish etc weren’t considered white until pretty late into the 1900’s in USA – not anglo-saxon

I guess that explains the downvotes. Over hear in America it’s not fighting words, it’s just my family tree.

Re: I Used to Write for Sports Illustrated. Now I Deliver Packages for Amazon (2018)

#19

Post by gonehome »

seibelj wrote: post #12

> Lurching west in stop-and-go traffic on I-80 that morning, bound for Berkeley and a day of delivering in the rain, I had a low moment, dwelling on how far I’d come down in the world. Then I snapped out of it. I haven’t come down in the world. What’s come down in the world is the business model that sustained Time Inc. for decades. I’m pretty much the same writer, the same guy. I haven’t gone anywhere. My feet are t…

Yeah - I liked that part of his essay too, I also just generally liked his writing.

There’s something satisfying in this kind of work with clear explicit goals and getting through the list everyday.

I think a lot of society issues seem to stem from how he briefly felt, that this kind of thing was a sign of failure or that he was embarrassed to tell friends at the holiday party.

The irony to me is that this kind of work is probably more valuable to society than sports illustrated and day to day almost certainly so.

If there was more cultural respect for these kinds of jobs, people would feel better about themselves while doing them. I think there should be. I was glad he felt good about it at the end.

Re: I Used to Write for Sports Illustrated. Now I Deliver Packages for Amazon (2018)

#20

Post by LatteLazy »

the_lonely_road wrote: post #9
barry-cotter wrote: post #2

> It’s been healthy for me, a fair-haired Anglo-Saxon with a Roman numeral in my name (John Austin Murphy III) This is what assimilation looks like. Someone with an Irish name calling themselves Anglo-Saxon. It’s like a Hispanic person calling themselves Latinx, proof that they have lost all organic connection to the culture of their ancestors.

Are not all white people Anglo Saxon? I don’t bother to call myself anything other than white, Anglo Saxon, European, Caucasian. It wouldn’t make sense otherwise. I have Irish, English, Italian, and post world war 2 immigrated Polish direct ancestors. I don’t know what else to call myself nor do I particularly care. I don’t have a strong personal sense of identity tied up with any of those things. They are just words…

Angles and saxons were 2 tribes from modern day Germany who migrated to England for better farming and conditions. They're a very small part of "white". A very small part even of "British" descent. Even in England, not everyone is Anglo Saxon, the ruling classes are Norman, there are Celts still, Cornish people count themselves out, Londoners date back to pre-Roman times, vikings settled some areas...
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