I am CuTRis

My son said they're not allowed to wear hats during their school band concert, unless it is worn for religious reasons. So, I invented the sacred holiday of Flomptiken, which our family celebrates every year. It is marked by wearing hats and no pants. Since we have already made concessions to the tradition, by wearing pants, we should not be persecuted further, by not being allowed to wear our Flomptiken hats.🙂

Having married into another culture, I have frequently been asked to respect the traditions, even if they go against logic and reasonable, modern thinking. So, being my own individual, I go along and help out as much as seems reasonable to myself. And then, I excuse myself when I must--even if I am accused of being impolite for not following. But I am not a follower. I make my own decisions based on everything that I know and believe.

Today we went to Pipestone National Monument. Then we ate at Staci's Bar & Grill, in Woodstock, MN. Then we rented a room at the Hilltop Inn Motel, in Slayton, MN.

I must admit to being fascinated by Christian Apocryphal writings. They often ring true to me. What is it that those who rejected these texts found so unnerving? As I was immersed in the traditions of a male dominated culture a lot this past year, I can imagine that sentiments such as these could be difficult for those who believe one gender should be subservient. -KJC From “The Life of Saint Issa,” Chapter XII, Verses 8-21 8 At this juncture, an old woman who had approached the group, the better to hear Issa, was pushed aside by one of the spies, who placed himself before her. 9 Then Issa held forth: "It is not meet that a son should set aside his mother, taking her place. Whosoever respecteth not his mother, the most sacred being after his God, is unworthy of the name of son. 10 "Listen, then, to what I say unto you: Respect woman, for she is the mother of the universe, and all the truth of divine creation lies in her. 11 "She is the basis of all that is good an...

In a conversation with my elderly mother, she mentioned that when her car was being serviced, that half of the coins in the console were missing when it was returned. She also commented, that she would never say anything because she wouldn't want someone to lose their job. Herein, lies the difference between the elderly and those people who would prey upon them.

For those of us living in multiracial, multicultural families, it is a personal lifestyle, rather than a political policy. I believe that focusing on the positive is how to perpetuate those feelings and ideals. Concentrating on negative ideas may be popular, but it is not as likely to create peace and harmony. Sometimes it also means choosing that positive mindset.

The current trend is to blame systemic racism for inequality, and cancel culture has stopped the exploration into other possible factors; and so, solutions. Some questions I have are what are the reasons that some African-Americans have succeeded while others haven't? Second, of the growing number of black homeowners in my neighborhood, many seem to be recent immigrants from Africa. Why are they able to succeed? Answering the systemic differences between success and not may offer real solutions. Simply looking at obvious, surface issues without further exploration is inconsistent with scientific study. If a patient told her doctor she had foot pain and the doctor simply prescribed pain medication without further study, the results could be disastrous. If the pain was caused by diabetes, introducing more medication for the body to process could make the original disease worse. Yet, this is how cancel culture diagnoses social illness. Now, after all that's happened, is there le...

Given the choice between doing what's best for living children and forcing the practice of ancient, ineffectual funeral obligations on them (into adulthood), I choose in favor of the living.

Having married a Hmong woman, I realize that the culture is very important to them. However, there are certain things that should be changed and stopped forever. These include, having multiple wives, selling daughters for $5,000 to their prospective husband's family, and 3-day funerals; which are often 4-day funerals--which involve sacrificing and processing numerous chickens, pigs and cows. I have seen how wasteful, expensive and stressful these are (for the living). I think the money could be much better spent putting children through college. Instead, tens of thousands of dollars are spent putting on lavish 24-hour funerals where mourners attend sometimes 24 hours a day. I have had to personally represent my wife since she is a woman; when she gives money to a funeral (due to the male dominated culture). Most recently this included downing 5 shots of alcohol at 8:30am. Now, as I write this at 4:18am, my wife has not yet returned from the overnight rituals. Sorry if I'm being...

Americans gathered today to mourn the tragic loss of life after two mass shootings over the weekend.

Deep down, she had to know that this was not the highlands of Laos. It must be evident on some level that the "emergency" of housing aging, sickly parents for one night while plumbing repairs were waiting, would be to simply buy them a room at a local motel. But the 1000-year-old doctrine was clear. They must be housed inside the home of a close relative. Even if that meant an uncomfortable bed or needing to climb up and down stairs and no chance of escaping the fire-escape if it was ever needed. She had her 1000-year-old reasons why it had to be done in the most difficult, laborious and time-consuming manner possible. Convenience was a thing for Americans. It was not how it was done in her culture — even if it was the better choice. In fact, even though he was not a Hmong, his idea to house them comfortably in a motel room was a grievous insult! One that would be handled in the "old way." With lengthy, passive aggressive tactics. Closing communication and sulkin...

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/16/us/milwaukee-county-sheriff-david-clarke-profile/index.html Only a black man could get away with telling the truth about this. But it is great that he is.

If you think that the U.S.A. has a lot of mass shootings you are right. If you think that there are a lot of shootings in the U.S.A. you are also correct. If you think that Islamic extremists are a problem in the U.S.A. you are right. If you think profiling should be allowed in the name of national security, you are probably right. If you think all Muslims are terrorists, you are wrong. Half of my family came to America from Germany before WWII . They were not Nazis. They became American very quickly when they heard that people of Japanese, German and Italian heritage were being relocated to internment camps . They stopped speaking and acting like Germans. Some of them fought the Nazis in WWII. Donald Trump's family also came from Germany. Somehow the two of us have not learned the same lessons about ancestry. On the other side of the spectrum, those who are too liberal to understand that personal freedoms will need to become secondary while we are at war against terror...

Parents... what are you teaching your children? Are you reading to them? Are you teaching them how to add and subtract? Are you teaching them that police are people who can help you when you are in trouble? Are you teaching them to respect others and to be kind to people and animals? Are you teaching them to do well in school? Are you teaching them that it is important to tell the truth? Are you teaching them that everyone has rights and responsibilities? Are you teaching them that they need to set goals and go after them? Are you teaching them to avoid crime, drugs and gangs? Have you told them that blaming others, blaming racial differences and dwelling on the past will make them unhappy? Are you spending time with them? Do you tell them that you love them? Have you told them that it is important to work hard and have a good work ethic? If not, WHY?

Apparently this is about some insane law that only Native American people can adopt Native American children! Lexi is said to be 1/64 Native American so the Choctaw tribe has decided to traumatize this child to satisfy the power they have due to the Indian Child Welfare Act passed in the 1970's. Unfortunately, this misuse of power is doing anything but protecting child welfare. Shame on the tribe and shame of the legal system for letting this happen! A child should never be removed from a loving home over such political crap! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3505472/Custody-case-girl-six-ripped-foster-family-1-5-cent-Native-American-white-appealed-California-s-highest-court.html

I have, from time to time, mentioned my frustrations and observations regarding culture and my experiences with having married into a Hmong family. Over the weekend, I was told by a brother-in-law (who is Hmong but from another family) that having my name changed (this requires a big expensive, time-consuming and labor intensive party) is "the right thing to do." This of course, caused me to respond that I am not changing my name and certainly not letting someone else (in this case my father and mother in-law) pick a Hmong name for me. Then I told him that since the beginning (when I was going to marry my wife), "people" (i.e. Hmong people) have been telling me how I have to do things and I have repeatedly stated that I am not Hmong; and therefore not bound by any of their (many) "rules." Whenever I make this declaration, I get either anger and threats, or as in this case, a face that looks like I just shit on his favorite rug. So if this name change thi...

It can be interesting, challenging and frustrating dealing with people from another culture. After working in a situation where I was often the minority, and after marrying into a particular Asian culture, I have learned some things. The first is that logic has little to do with it. That's right folks, Spock would be quite out of his element! The second is, that extremely important cultural values and traditions today, might mean little tomorrow—depending on which side of the advantage to be gained, an individual finds him/herself on. Also, women may traditionally have limited power, which means that women can be ruthless in seeking it. Additionally, men will not acknowledge a woman's rights—except when she marries into another family. Another good thing to remember, is that if you are white, you will be wrong no matter what. If you disagree, you are a racist. I'm not saying this is true or accurate, just that this is often the view or tactic used to gain an advantage. M...

If you follow the news, you may have heard the story about the Oregon college shooting . Here in the Twin Cities, there was a local shooting in Chaska (not a city known for violent crime). I think that this is more proof that more guns in the hands of more people makes everyone much safer! Is President Obama right? If we are tired of the constant carnage produced by gun violence should we really start voting for gun control advocates? I'm sure there will be a lot of disagreement about that because Americans sure do love their guns. Apparently they love guns enough to ignore the daily, nightly, weekly, hourly murders taking place. We can see the news stories, but nothing ever changes. Should we really try to change this? I mean... what right do we have to try to save a lot of people from being shot to death? Is it really worth saving innocent lives if we can't all run around like cowboys packing guns? How are we going to be safe unless everybody has a gun? Nothing says safe...

I'm thinking about trying to get a permit to carry a sword . If people can carry guns in public places, I think I should be allowed to carry a sword. I might want to carry the sword when I attend the wedding of a polygamist. Some men on the Hmong side of my family, have more than one wife. Of course, they can only marry one of them legally, but they can marry more than one in the cultural ceremony. Now that same-sex marriage is legal, why isn't polygamy legal too? How do we know where to draw the line? We should also remember that since we must respect everyone's culture, that we should respect their cultural ideas regarding marriage as well. Perhaps all of these things will be figured out soon. It is all pretty easy to understand if you think about it. Take the Boy Scouts for instance. That organization has been pressured for years to be politically correct —and so they have allowed gays into the membership. That wasn't good enough though, and finally they...