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Date: Fri, 6 Sep 2002 10:14:00 -0400 (EDT)


Related anecdote:

I was eating in a restaurant in chinatown in Boston.  The place was empty.  
The only other customer was a white guy reading an asian-language 
newspaper.  The guy asked the waiter for help translating a word.  
Eventually his story came out.

He had married an asian woman through one of these introduction services.  
after about a year of marriage she had charged him with assault and left
him, leaving no contact information.  He was hanging around in Chinatown,
asking random asians for help finding her.

I obviously don't know if he did assault her, but what struck me was that
the possibility of mutual exploitation is high.

Anecdote number two:

In college I had a job as a street vendor.  There was a guy I worked with
who was a lifer in the job.  He was a noticably messed up guy.  Among
other odd characteristics he fawned on women customers, doing stuff like
offering them flowers.

I asked him about it.  He said that he'd never had sex with a woman who
wasn't a prostitute, and his dream was to save up enough money to get a
mail order bride.

I was really moved.  The guy was a loon, but he wanted a companion as much
as anyone else and he was realistic about his chances.