I will never not be fascinated by how incurious family has been about learning anything about Colombia in the 5 years I've been here. Two siblings still can't spell the country's name. Another thinks I live in the jungle. And all have such cosy presumptions about poverty that they dump on the whole of it.
(Father was amusingly worse. When I first told him I was leaving, he was terrified I'd join a cartel & asked how I expected to raise 3 kids here. [He figured my 3 nephews needed 3 cousins. 🙃])
@MLClark
Oh Lord. Don't tell me your Dad said that before you even had kids? errgh
@janallmac Oh, no surprise there. My father has always felt that I should have had kids, that I'd have been happier if I'd just found a man and procreated. He only grudgingly admitted, the first time I was published in Analog, that maybe it was all right that I'd "delayed" having children to write a little.
He once also hounded me about having kids while I was in grad school, and pointed out that my sister hadn't even finished high school when she'd had her first. So, not great. But so it goes!
@MLClark
Yeah. I was in my 30s, trying to establish a career and, you know, support myself, and I didn't have kids yet and my dad complained about it in a Christmas letter he sent all his friends. Well, he said "No kids yet! Oh well." like I was a disappointment. That one still stings a bit.
Women need to be able to support themselves and their kids. You would think fathers, of all people, would understand this. 🤷
@MLClark
P.S. I would also come to visit often if you were my family, and you'd probably regret it! 😂
@MLClark @janallmac Yes but everyone knows women are only defined in society when they become mothers. /sarcasm My friend @Lena_Tasi has written extensively about this.