rootless.

certainly this is me! and at least one person i know of who commented on my blog with similar background as moi. i iwll look back on my comments and send her your way though my memory tells me it is journeys with trees for an icon? hmm, will check. meanwhile, just sent my answers to yru awesoem, though provoking questions…what will you be doing with the data, btw?
:)
mary

PS I would title this rootless, not homeless, big dif!

~ oh YES i m 100% TCK so here u go:

1. How has your experience as a transcultural person shaped your identity? Do you consider it an important part of who you are? How so? 

it helped me build my own spine or my own unique identity in stead of leaning on someone or something else whether its a country of origin or anything else like nationality, religion, skin color, age, education, prestigious clubs, n what not.  like non-attachment…  so rather then clinging to different places, people, or situations, being in a constant flow of energy n operating outside of the box became a second nature to me… (i wrote more about this in my book Yugoslavian Identity & Other Fairytales)

2. What is your relationship to community, and what does 'home' mean to you? 

well the home is inside me where ever i m.. the mobile one (lol)…  n i feel a community where ever i go n with whom ever i meet… it comes very easy n getting along with many different people n cultures on a surface level n small chit-chats… n from this point i feel one with everyone… but with the ones i feel mostly understood on a deeper level r with others who grew up @ different places or those who've traveled around or come from mixed families (either mixed race, nationality, religion, etc.) or r very open n aware n r able to c n accept the forrest (or at least a larger portion of it) n not just one or 2 trees (meaning they can c beyond their single community thinking its the best or the only one)… 

3. What do you feel you've missed as a result of this rootless past?

i cant say i missed anything simply cuz i haven't experience it… like if all my life ive been eating a chocolade ice-cream n never tried a strawberry one i m not able to tell u what it feels to miss a strawberry ice-cream…  maybe looking it differently lets say one person lived in 1 bedroom home their whole life (read 1 place)… n TCK lived in 10 bedroom house their whole life (read 10 places/countries)…  so they both feel at home n with roots in these quite different homes…  another example would be someone being born in a village n another one in the city….  TCK's r just expended from a city to cities or countries but the concept is the same… so back to ur question….  would someone growing up in the city or a 10 bedroom house really miss living in a village or a 1 bedroom home… hmmmm… maybe… but so it can be the other way around…  n on top of this a majority of people haven't really moved around so they have 1 root (or at least a few if they changed a few homes) so they r more like a peach tree n TCK's have lived in many places so they have many roots more like a baobab tree…  so just because the majority of human population is rooted in 1 place doesn't mean that those who r not r rootless…  its just that their roots r spread more wide n across continents….  (PS. i m just realizing that i m challenging a definition of the word rootless…  oh well ;)

4. What do you feel you've gained? 

global citizenship (figuratevly n hopefully one day literarily)

5. Finally, how do you relate to the idea of a meaningful the future - both your own and when it comes to the world as a whole?  

well this is my long time question… how the whole world can cooperate together so there is no child left behind…  i've seen quite a lot on this planet… from gun shots in south african townships to dining at rodeo drive in beverly hills…  human evolution has come a long way but there is still a slave mentality that is so predominant on this planet…  so my vision for a meaningful future is for each n every one of us living on this planet to gain a full control within ourselves so that we no longer need to use a control n authority over a fellow human being in any shape or form

~love~

Siona, although I was raised a Texan (of all things!), four years of living abroad, plus a number of multicultural studies and experiences, have created the sense in me of being a “border dweller” – someone most at home in between cultures, rather than identifed strongly with one culture or another.  I have a good friend, a professor of English at Dartmouth, who did his dissertation on this phenomenon – on the South Asian diaspora, in part, but more fully on the new global sense of identity that is emerging for many people as they live in and traverse multiple cultures.  We've discussed this subject often.  As a Nepalese citizen, fluent in multiple languages, active in politics – who recently organized a conference attended by Jimmy Carter and other world leaders – he might be a good “source” for you.  If you're interested, I can pass your questions on to him.

rootless, ahhh, that's better, now i feel home again! hahaha

Home is dancing around the heart of reality where ever i may be….whatever culture surrounds me ….yes being brought up in a leave it to beaver household left plenty of room for the imagination to know all cultures of all time….all my roots from the beginning of time reside in love….rootlessness is impossible…isn't it?….pelodom.com, with infinite and eternal blessings…

Dear Siona,
This blog - which includes public posting of private email by two Zaadz ambassadors and no objections by two Zaadz employees - tells us all we need to know about what kind of response you seek.
http://mscaprikell.zaadz.com/blog/2007/3/being_kicked#comments