I am 100% Irish.

Well, as far back as anyone in my family knows, that is. Even the family name is very Irish, unlike numerous Irish names which come from the Normans (Fitzsimons or Roche, for example). There's a family story that my grandfather emigrated to the States sometime around the turn of the century, but didn't like it and came back. Not enough spuds maybe, I don't know. Having run out of money, he had to walk home from Cork. Quite a trek, by all accounts.

But that's it. That is the only bit of international interaction that took place, apart from a few forays to Canada on my mother's side.

This is why I like meeting Americans. I love to hear about where all their folks came from, what amazing combination of nationalities conspired to create them, whether they have any contact with the homelands of their immigrant forefathers, whether they had languages passed down from generation to generation. Or whether they even care about all of the above, and just see themselves solely as Americans.

I also love it when I hear of couples from odd nationality combinations. I'm sure there's a Mongolian/Surinamese baby out there somewhere, and I am stinkingly jealous of him. I hope there's a nice Tongan woman waiting for me out there too. Or Burundian. Or Kyrgyzstani. Anyone know any?

Strange thing is though, as attracted as I am by what I see as the romanticism of ethnic diversity, many of these people are as intruiged by my racial 'purity' (just to reassure you, I shuddered a little when I wrote that...) as I am by their lack of it, and I don't see why. My Irishness hasn't given me any particular sense of 'belonging' anywhere, and has probably allowed me to take my nationality for granted compared to someone whose ethnicity caused them to experience discrimination, thereby strengthening or weakening their idea of themselves as member of a particular race.

And thoroughbreds are generally stupider than mongrels. Caninely speaking, anyway.

Erm, that's all.