I won't be long, I promise. I just want to address a couple of things, thank you all for your support, and clarify some things where I may have left a wrong impression.
First, the Thanks. I've received a lot of e-mails and public comments on the original article. More of it, in fact, than I have for anything else I've written. Nearly all of it has been kind, and most of it has been to agree with me. Even those who took issue with something I said did it in a considerate way. Thank you all. It was a pleasant surprise.
Secondly, I may have opened the door for something I didn't intend. I understand that English is not everyone's first language. When I see a story with a title like, "My Mother Lost Her Sari," or "Mama-san Steps Out," or if the author is someone whose name I can't easily pronounce, I suspect that the author may not be used to English sentence structure, punctuation, slang, regional idioms and so on. I try to take that into account, and if I choose to read it, I realize that I have to allow for these things. I'm the one who's taking the risk when I do so. I have read some of those stories and there are some that I really liked. Different cultures have different ways of looking at things. No, I take issue when the author is Bill or Mary Somebody, the story is set in Hometown, USA, and I still find the kinds of things I spoke of in my first note.