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A fact from Michaela DePrince appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 25 July 2012 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
Did you know... that ballet dancerMichaela DePrince(shown in the video) became an orphan as an infant when her father was shot and her mother starved to death?
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In Template:Did you know/Queue/2, I'm correcting a factual incorrectness in the hook. It read: "... that ballet dancer Michaela DePrince (shown in the video) has been an orphan since her father was shot and her mother starved to death when she was an infant?". I've corrected this to "... that ballet dancer Michaela DePrince(shown in the video)became an orphan when her father was shot and her mother starved to death when she was an infant?". This is because she is no longer an orphan, given that she has been adopted. Sandstein 07:31, 24 July 2012 (UTC)Reply
I see your point and I'm not going to complain. But "factual incorrectness" is a bit too strong - this is culturally dependent and missing from wiktionary:orphan. If the meaning is (absent from the Wiktionary) "someone with no living parents", then I agree with you - the concept of parenting goes beyond biological (genetic) parenting. The meaning that is present in wiktionary:orphan ignores the reality of kinship in many cultures (not just present-day Western!) in which someone can have more than two parents. If two parents have died and two are living, are you an orphan or not? In any case, the wording you chose avoids this cultural ambiguity. Feel free to update wiktionary:orphan if you can find a reliable source for usage of the word that acknowledges these more complex notions of kinship. Boud (talk) 11:10, 24 July 2012 (UTC)Reply
On paper, she is and always will be considered a "war orphan," and so this is really just a matter of semantics. What matters now is that she is a grown adult making a successful life of her own, and adults are typically not referred to as orphans, as that word is generally used to refer to children. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:147:C002:D83A:EDB7:39C2:C739:B903 (talk) 18:01, 19 March 2017 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 3 years ago7 comments3 people in discussion
The categories that suggest the adult DePrince is a practising Jew can be removed. There are no citations given. No page references. Anna (talk)22:43, 12 March 2018 (UTC)Reply
There are references, I can correct the format to add the page numbers. Even were she not practicing as an adult, which she does, she would still fit the categorization because religious orthodoxy and practice does not determine one's Jewish identity. -- Willthacheerleader18 (talk) 22:57, 12 March 2018 (UTC)Reply
Is there any evidence that she has converted to Judaism, or that her adoptive parents are Jewish? There is one interview by a documentary director who says her mother is Jewish, but her mother is at least by birth an Italian-American Catholic. All Hallow's Wraith (talk) 17:22, 17 May 2021 (UTC)Reply
Where did you get the information about her mother being an Italian-American Catholic? Sources say she's Jewish [1]. Multiple sources provided refer to her adoptive parents as a "Jewish couple". She also talks about celebrating Hannukah in her children's book, Ballerina Dreams: From Orphan to Dancer ([2]). -- Willthacheerleader18 (talk) 20:28, 23 May 2021 (UTC)Reply
The DePrinces were born to Italian-American Catholic parents. (you can see some of their obituaries here and here). On Facebook, Michaela's mother mentions her own DNA test and that it showed her to be "72% Italian/Greek," a pretty typical result for an Italian-American, so I know that Elaine wasn't adopted from parents with Jewish heritage. I don't really know how to explain the Hanukkah mention, other than that some of the DePrinces' adoptive children could have Jewish backgrounds. One or both of Michaela's parents could have converted to Judaism, but I don't see either parent or Michaela stating themselves to be Jewish in any book or interview. When Michaela's father died, his obituary didn't mention anything about a Jewish service. My question is this - I see a lot of reviewers of the film First Position stated that Michaela was adopted "by a Jewish family." The film is available to view here. I skimmed it and I didn't see anything about them being Jewish. Is there any reference to that that I missed? All Hallow's Wraith (talk) 15:03, 26 May 2021 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 1 month ago1 comment1 person in discussion
The video "Michaela Prince – Ballet Dancer" was published by The Avant/Garde Diaries on Vimeo under a CC License: Attribution No Derivatives, back in 2012. That license is too restrictive for Wikimedia Commons, but could we still post it to Wikipedia under Fair Use (as long as we attribute and make no modifications)? https://vimeo.com/54294632Cielquiparle (talk) 10:58, 14 September 2024 (UTC)Reply