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 OneMoreRobot3021
punky jewster
Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 60,572
Loc: new york city
Last seen: 18 hours, 6 minutes
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 Are your parents immigrants? Mine are. 
#5668151 - 05/24/06 09:39 AM (6 years, 8 days ago) |
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Both my parents came from Russia when it was still known as the U.S.S.R. They met here in America, and came here about five or seven years apart. Whereas my mother was one of few families to actually obtain permission from the Soviet government to leave the USSR and come to America by way of Italy, my father actually escaped the cold clutches of the iron curtain.
Though my father and I are often at odds, I'm always compelled to share his story with people, because really, it's a great one.
There is a book that was published after the fall of communism in Russia called The KGB's Most-Wanted, and it is made up of the final copies of the KGB's most-wanted lists. My father appears in there twice for anti-Soviet activities in his native Estonia. While in Russia he studied to be a doctor, and got that degree successfully, but knew all the while that he had to leave and get to America, the land of promise where the streets were paved with gold. There were some Russian peasants who actually believed this myth - that there were specks of gold you could pick up off the street. That is how closed off Soviet-era Russia was.
My father made a decision to leave, but because of his anti-Soviet activities (activist groups, protests, etc.) he knew they would never let him. So, he got a job as the ship's doctor on a merchant marine ship that had one route: From Russia to the Ivory Coast in Africa, and then back. The trip to the Ivory Coast was a long one.
Each day, my father spent hours working out while his shipmates drank vodka. Not to say he didn't partake in the vodka as well, but usually while they could all be found carousing somewhere on the ship, my father was on the deck doing jumprope to build up the muscles in his leg, as well as running laps around the ship. See, he was preparing for something.
When they finally got to the Ivory Coast, the men on the ship were only allowed on land under the supervision of one of the head officers on the ship, and so they all descended into the port there to do some shopping, get some girls, get some drinks. By command, they all had to stay together.
My father pulled one of the oldest tricks in the books. He pointed in one direction, and told everyone that they should "look at that!" And when they did, he summond up all that he had been working towards with his exercises on the ship, and he turned tail and ran. He ran his heart out. He ran until he couldn't see them any more, dove into a cab, begged the cabbie to drive him to the American Embassy, and once there, they welcomed him with open arms.
The next day the CIA flew my father to America and set him up with a guy who helped him find work, and gave him a tiny sum of money to work with. From there and then, my father has taken advantage of capitalist America better than any other immigrant I've ever met. In Russia his family was rich, but he gave that up, and once here, went rags-to-riches all over again. THough, he never was quite in rags I suppose.
I dunno. I don't respect many my father's actions since the time of that amazing tale, but I'll always be inspired by the actions he took to improve his own life.
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Acid doesn't give you truths; it builds machines that push the envelope of perception. Whatever revelations came to me then have dissolved like skywriting. All I really know is that those few years saddled me with a faith in the redemptive potential of the imagination which, however flat, stale and unprofitable the world seems to me now, I cannot for the life of me shake.
-Erik Davis
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blacksabbathrulz
ground controlto major tom
Registered: 05/22/02
Posts: 2,511
Last seen: 6 months, 24 days
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That's awesome!
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tell me I'm a sinner I've got news for you-I spoke to god this morning and he don't like you.-Ozzy
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kilroy69
POKER GOD
Registered: 11/19/00
Posts: 1,303
Loc: Jackson,MI. And not in pr...
Last seen: 1 year, 3 months
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Nope my family has been here for fucking years. Hell my family has been here in this part of michigan for almost 200 years.
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Yeaaa im still alive.
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Madtowntripper
Sun-Beams out of Cucumbers
Registered: 03/06/03
Posts: 20,878
Loc: The Ocean of Notions
Last seen: 9 hours, 28 minutes
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Re: Are your parents immigrants? Mine are. [Re: kilroy69]
#5668251 - 05/24/06 10:09 AM (6 years, 8 days ago) |
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My Moms side are relatively recent immigrants, my great Grandma came from Germany in the 30's, but I guess thats still a long long time ago.
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After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway
If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy
He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
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 Silversoul
Holon
Registered: 01/01/05
Posts: 22,562
Loc: Mostly harmless
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My great, great grandparents on my mom's side were immigrants. One came from Sweden. I forget why he came, but I think it had something to do with money. Another was from the Netherlands. He did it to dodge the draft. My dad's side of the family has been here since colonial times, and is a hodgepodge of English, German, Irish, and whatever other whiteys came over here during that time.
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Snaggletooth
Stranger in a Strange Land
Registered: 10/24/05
Posts: 6,109
Loc: blinks stupidly
Last seen: 2 years, 5 months
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Re: Are your parents immigrants? Mine are. [Re: Silversoul]
#5668268 - 05/24/06 10:12 AM (6 years, 8 days ago) |
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Yeah they came in the mid 1800's from Europe of course
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Atheist Chat
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PurpleKush
Rational Lunatic
Registered: 03/20/06
Posts: 3,421
Loc: Above The Law
Last seen: 3 months, 10 days
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Re: Are your parents immigrants? Mine are. [Re: Snaggletooth]
#5668277 - 05/24/06 10:13 AM (6 years, 8 days ago) |
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my dads side of the family is cherokee indian. my moms side goes back to germany with my great-great grandparents i think.
cool story OMR, but my dad can kick your dads ass any day of the week.
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ZippoZ
Knomadic
Registered: 06/17/03
Posts: 12,096
Loc: Pongyang, North Korea
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Re: Are your parents immigrants? Mine are. [Re: PurpleKush]
#5668391 - 05/24/06 10:36 AM (6 years, 8 days ago) |
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dude, that kicks ass!
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PEACE
 zippoz
"in times of widespread chaos and cofusion, it has ben the duty of more advanced human beings - artists, scientists, clowns, and philosophers - to create order. In such times as ours however, when there is too much order, too much m anagment, too much programming and controll, it becomes the duty of superior men and women and women to fling their favorite monkey wrenches into the machinery. To relieve the repression of the human spirit, they must sow doubt and disruption"
"People do it every day, they talk to themselves ... they see themselves as they'd like to be, they don't have the courage you have, to just run with it."
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Ginseng1
Elegant Universe
Registered: 09/02/04
Posts: 3,307
Last seen: 6 days, 6 hours
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Re: Are your parents immigrants? Mine are. [Re: ZippoZ]
#5668464 - 05/24/06 10:55 AM (6 years, 8 days ago) |
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Dude you should pitch that to Universal Studios.
sick story...
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Flowing through beginningless time since time without beginning...
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Dobie
HICK THUG
Registered: 08/15/02
Posts: 48,414
Loc: Yo mamas vagina
Last seen: 2 days, 4 hours
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Re: Are your parents immigrants? Mine are. [Re: PurpleKush]
#5668487 - 05/24/06 11:05 AM (6 years, 8 days ago) |
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yeah im mostly indian too so ive been here the whole time fuckers
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This place is gayer than when the balls touch
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PurpleKush
Rational Lunatic
Registered: 03/20/06
Posts: 3,421
Loc: Above The Law
Last seen: 3 months, 10 days
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Re: Are your parents immigrants? Mine are. [Re: Dobie]
#5668507 - 05/24/06 11:12 AM (6 years, 8 days ago) |
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i wish i could participate in some rituals with a tribe or something, i just have no idea where to begin to look.
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eris
underground
Registered: 11/17/98
Posts: 23,945
Loc: North East, USA
Last seen: 7 hours, 8 minutes
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My grandparents came from Italy on a ship.. they landed in NY, my last name is engraved on that wall. I sketched it with a pencil when I was on a field trip to NY. We saw the statue of liberty, etc.
My dad is 100% Italian, my mom is part Native American, half English, part Scottish. Makes for a wild mix. 
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Immortal
My mushroom hunting gallery
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InTheFlesh714
Drunk
Registered: 10/19/05
Posts: 958
Loc: (714)
Last seen: 2 months, 19 days
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Re: Are your parents immigrants? Mine are. [Re: Dobie]
#5668545 - 05/24/06 11:19 AM (6 years, 8 days ago) |
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great story OMR, my great grandparents on my moms side left Ireland due to the potato famine. and my grandma on my dads side left Germany due to the rise of Hitler. But my grandpa on my dads side, they came here on the Mayflower, and one of them ended up being the first governer of Connecticut. So I'm a full American mutt, who knows what side of that family has been hittin. All I know is that I'm German/Irish/British
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domite
Puppet
Registered: 04/12/03
Posts: 2,965
Loc: Who's askin'?
Last seen: 2 months, 9 days
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Re: Are your parents immigrants? Mine are. [Re: eris]
#5668550 - 05/24/06 11:20 AM (6 years, 8 days ago) |
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My parents arent, but I am. I was born in Paris, although I only lived there for a year before moving to New York City.
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Roadkill
Retired Shroomery Mod
Registered: 12/11/01
Posts: 22,580
Loc: Snoqualmie, Wa.
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so does your father work for the CIA still?
lolzz
do you?
how many shroomers a month do you have to turn in?
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Laterz, Road
Who the hell you callin crazy?
You wouldn't know what crazy was if Charles Manson was eating froot loops on your front porch!
Brainiac said:
PM the names with on there names, that means they have mushrooms for sale.
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OneMoreRobot3021
punky jewster
Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 60,572
Loc: new york city
Last seen: 18 hours, 6 minutes
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Re: Are your parents immigrants? Mine are. [Re: Roadkill]
#5668661 - 05/24/06 11:44 AM (6 years, 8 days ago) |
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Acid doesn't give you truths; it builds machines that push the envelope of perception. Whatever revelations came to me then have dissolved like skywriting. All I really know is that those few years saddled me with a faith in the redemptive potential of the imagination which, however flat, stale and unprofitable the world seems to me now, I cannot for the life of me shake.
-Erik Davis
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Roadkill
Retired Shroomery Mod
Registered: 12/11/01
Posts: 22,580
Loc: Snoqualmie, Wa.
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I'm just teasin ya bro!~
relax...
it's a great story!~
I heard a simular one about a Greek...who jumped ship.
it wasn't as exciting as your father's story!~
tc
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Laterz, Road
Who the hell you callin crazy?
You wouldn't know what crazy was if Charles Manson was eating froot loops on your front porch!
Brainiac said:
PM the names with on there names, that means they have mushrooms for sale.
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OneMoreRobot3021
punky jewster
Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 60,572
Loc: new york city
Last seen: 18 hours, 6 minutes
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Re: Are your parents immigrants? Mine are. [Re: Roadkill]
#5668724 - 05/24/06 11:57 AM (6 years, 8 days ago) |
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I wasn't angry, that's the sealedlips smiley, as if to say...I'm not telling! 
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Acid doesn't give you truths; it builds machines that push the envelope of perception. Whatever revelations came to me then have dissolved like skywriting. All I really know is that those few years saddled me with a faith in the redemptive potential of the imagination which, however flat, stale and unprofitable the world seems to me now, I cannot for the life of me shake.
-Erik Davis
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Roadkill
Retired Shroomery Mod
Registered: 12/11/01
Posts: 22,580
Loc: Snoqualmie, Wa.
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oic
I thought that was the sour faced smiley...
my mistake!~
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Laterz, Road
Who the hell you callin crazy?
You wouldn't know what crazy was if Charles Manson was eating froot loops on your front porch!
Brainiac said:
PM the names with on there names, that means they have mushrooms for sale.
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InTheFlesh714
Drunk
Registered: 10/19/05
Posts: 958
Loc: (714)
Last seen: 2 months, 19 days
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yeah did your father have any trouble shaking off the guys after him or did he get away so quick there really wasnt any drama?
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