Prell notes that Jewish art often uses humor or irony, because humor has been the weapon of the oppressed. In Love with a Stranger In Nepal, replying to a love letter can mean a whole lot. In some Nepalese villages, if a woman replies, she has practically committed herself to marriage. Families traditionally arranged marriages, but an increasing number of couples choose to elope after a courtship conducted through love letters. However, Ahearn notes that the ideal of love in Nepal is different from American romantic love.
Love is mixed with progress and modernity, what one love letter refers to as life success.
Ahearn says kinship is so important, the decline in arranged marriages will inevitably shake the foundations of village life. Remembering the Lepers There is such a stigma around leprosy, says Corinne Shear Wood , even though it is one of the least contagious diseases there is. Wood says the social aspects of leprosy are fascinating, especially differences in treatment of lepers and those with its close cousin tuberculosis. Lepers historically have been shunned, exiled or even killed, while tuberculosis was considered a high-status disease. Wood notes that a cure exists, but sufferers are often so afraid of leprosy they don t reveal themselves until it is too late.