Now that you mention it...

Monday, March 24, 2008 by Dave Winer.

I was reading Newsweek's story on why Barack Obama asked people to stop calling him Barry and use his more formal name, and I remembered that I had a grandmother who was different in the same way Obama did.  

My mixed heritage isn't so obvious as his because all my grandparents are white, but the difference may be even more dramatic than his because of the time I grew up. 

My maternal grandmother was pure German, blonde hair, blue eyes. She married a Jew, my grandfather, in Europe, before the war. I loved my grandmother, but she could say the most hurtful things, even as a child I knew there was a good chance she knew what she was doing. I never fully understood the issues of Jews and Germans, but they were all right there in her house in Rockaway Beach. 

So when I wrote the story on Saturday wondering what it would be like now if I had grown up in Germany instead of the U.S., I was unconsciously writing a story that actually happened. 

I have to think about this.  

One thing's for sure, the last week has been an incredible week of growth for me, largely due to the conversation we're having here at a national, even international level (a lot of the response to the piece was from Europeans). 

Also, the quality of the discourse, as always, is very high. Keep up the good work everybody!