Ever eaten snails? Guinea pig? Llama? Chicken feet? If you haven't, you are missing out. For some reason, we Americans have problems with certain foods that other people find delicious. Some animals are too cute for us to eat, like rabbits. Others are too much like family members (dogs, cats, etc). Others gross us out (bugs). Then of course, there's the ones we don't have the heart to eat, like sheep. All in all, we have a pretty limited diet.
Then there's the vegetarians..... I like vegetarians, don't get me wrong. I'm practically one myself, but vegetarians are just about unheard of in other countries (India being a major exception). Meat is just too big a part of hospitality in most of the world for it to be let go. Truth is, it would be a lot easier to feed the global population if we were all vegetarians (raising meat is a very inefficient use of land), but there would also be a lot of yummy dishes we wouldn't be able to eat. Like guinea pig. MmmmMm.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Love of the game(s)
Americans are undeniably infatuated with sports.
Amateur athletic programs support sporting goods companies through the purchase of equipment necessary to compete. Even those that aren't on the hardwood still invest in the headband and basketball shorts.
Professional sports leagues rely on millions of fans to keep their respective franchises financially afloat. Every Friday, Saturday, Sunday thousands of fathers take their sons to the ballgame. They buy the tickets, the foam fingers, the peanuts, beer.
Corporations completely unrelated to the athletic world spend huge dollars for airtime during national sporting event broadcasts.
Why?
I know that in my experiences, sports embody hard work. There is a degree of natural ability, but that gift is useless if it isn't refined.
Most Americans work hard, so they recognize hard work. They want someone to succeed because of their dedication. It affirms their own journey towards success, if they haven't already realized it.
Sports are ingrained in American society because we see ourselves in the athletes.
That's also why we hate the referees.
Amateur athletic programs support sporting goods companies through the purchase of equipment necessary to compete. Even those that aren't on the hardwood still invest in the headband and basketball shorts.
Professional sports leagues rely on millions of fans to keep their respective franchises financially afloat. Every Friday, Saturday, Sunday thousands of fathers take their sons to the ballgame. They buy the tickets, the foam fingers, the peanuts, beer.
Corporations completely unrelated to the athletic world spend huge dollars for airtime during national sporting event broadcasts.
Why?
I know that in my experiences, sports embody hard work. There is a degree of natural ability, but that gift is useless if it isn't refined.
Most Americans work hard, so they recognize hard work. They want someone to succeed because of their dedication. It affirms their own journey towards success, if they haven't already realized it.
Sports are ingrained in American society because we see ourselves in the athletes.
That's also why we hate the referees.
Holidays
This past weekend I have spent a lot of time working on a list of American Holidays celebrated around the country. Granted, I do not know the validity of some of the holidays, but someone invented them and they have been landed on a calendar. I am not going to include the entire list of holidays yet (I found them on www.holidayinsights.com), because I am waiting for the launch of our website. HOWEVER, I will include some of my favorite from the list...
January 5: National Bird Day
January 28: National Kazoo Day
February 15: National Gum Drop Day
February 18: National Battery Day
March 1: National Pig Day
March 31: National Clam on the Half Shell Day
April 16: National High Five Day
April 17: National Cheeseball Day
May 5: National Hoagie Day
May 15: National Chocolate Chip Day
June 6: National Yo-Yo Day
June 25: National Catfish Day
July 14: National Nude Day
July 23: National Hot Dog Day
August 7: National Mustard Day
August 22: National Tooth Fairy Day
September 13: National Peanut Day
September 25: National Comic Book Day
October 23: National Mole Day
October 26: National Mincemeat Day
November 13: National Indian Pudding Day
November 15: National Philanthropy Day
December 17: National Maple Syrup Day
December 21: National Flashlight Day
As you can see there is a HUGE range of information. Sifting through the information I found National holidays, as well as Days (such as Lumpy Rug Day), World days (such as World Aids Day) and International celebrations. I intend to sift through these further and see if I can narrow it down to just the national holidays and go from there. Throughout the entire 2010 calendar there were only two dates that did not have something to celebrate.
Whoa. Bust out your party hats. It's time to celebrate.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Kill, Kill, Kill!
by: Lia
I finally watched Bowling for Columbine the other day, and let me say, I was quite disturbed. The topic wasn’t really anything new to me, it just brought up a lot of emotions.
The movie addressed the school shooting that occurred at Columbine High School where two teenage boys came to school with guns and shot a whole bunch of students. Many students were severely injured and some were even killed.
At one point in the movie it went through many different wars the United States was involved in and showed people that had died because of the United States’ involvement. This is the list that I copied down:
- 1953: U.S. overthrows Prime Minister Mossadeq of Iran. U.S. installs Shah as dictator.
- 1954: U.S. overthrows democratically-elected President Arbenz of Guatemala. 200,000 civilians killed.
- 1963: U.S. backs assassination of South Vienamese President Diem.
- 1963-1975: American military kills 4 million people in Southeast Asia.
- September 11, 1973: U.S. stages coup in Chile, Democratically-elected President Salvador Allende assassinated. Dictator Augusto Pinochet installed. 5,000 Chileans murdered.
- 1977: U.S. backs military rulers in El Salvador. 70,000 Salvadorans and four American nuns killed.
- 1980's: U.S. trains Osama bin Laden and fellow terrorists to kill Soviets. CIA gives them $3 billion.
- 1981: Reagan administration trains and funds "contras." 30,000 Nicaraguans die.
- 1982: U.S. provides billions in aid to Saddam Hussein for weapons to kill Iranians.
- 1983: White House secretly gives Iran weapons to kill Iraqis.
- 1989: CIA agent Manuel Noriega (also serving as President of Panama) disobeys orders from Washington. U.S. invades Panama and removes Noriega. 3,000 Panamanian civilian casualties.
- 1990: Iraq invades Kuwait with weapons from U.S.
- 1991: U.S. enters Iraq. Bush reinstates dictator of Kuwait.
- 1998: Clinton bombs "weapons factory" in Sudan. Factory turns out to be making aspirin.
- 1991 to present (?): American planes bomb Iraq on a weekly basis. U.N. estimates 500,000 Iraqi children die from bombing and sanctions.
- 2000-2001: U.S. gives Taliban-ruled Afghanistan $245 million in "aid."
- Sept. 11, 2001: Osama bin Laden uses his expert CIA training to murder 3,000 people.
How much money would we have saved from the deficit if we hadn't been so gung-ho about war and funding other groups to be better at killing more people?
We teach Americans that it's okay to go to other countries and massacre everyone, because they are "bad," but then we turn around and think we can punish people here for murdering someone. We don’t understand when teenagers come to a school and kill people. How does that make sense? How can't people see that it's the same thing?
I go between being saddened to enraged that people could be so heartless and cruel with no remorse, just killing and somehow justifying it!
No matter where we come from we are all human beginnings with lives, and families, and hopes, and dreams, and fears. How can we justify killing another person, no matter where they came from or what they did?
It hurts me to think that we are capable of such horrific things, then rationalizing the killing, that is unless it’s someone here in the U.S. killings another U.S. citizen. Why are our lives somehow more important than those in other countries?
Throughout the Winter Olympics, I watched seldomly not paying much attention to medal counts or how any of the United States athletes were doing until I saw the men’s hockey team beat Canada. It caught my attention and instantly threw me in the mix, trying to catch each game with hopes of a gold medal. The men survived and advanced to the gold medal game, setting up a rematch with Canada.
They said the only way the American team could win would be to use a rope-a-dope game plan, which they used masterfully in the previous meeting. I sat on the edge of my seat watching the gold medal game in men’s hockey between the US and Canada. For about the first 10 minutes, I was impressed at how hard both sides were playing.
My heart started to sink just a little as the Americans trailed 0-1 halfway through the first period.
Trailing 2-1 late in the 3rd period, the American team pulled their goalie leaving the empty net. Skating 6 on 5 and running out of time, they tied the game at 2, with 24.4 seconds left. I jumped in excitement, feeling gold was once again possible.
It was for not as Sidney Crosby scored the winning goal for the Canadians. The same Sidney Crosby I cheered endlessly for not that long ago as a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins in their chase of the Stanley Cup.
Friendships are a bond for life just as our competitive sides remain inside us. Look at Lindsey Vonn and Maria Riesch, great friends and in the games competitive to the end. Respect is earned, won and paid. The “Night Train” went on to win gold in the men’s four-man bobsled. This was to be Steve Holcomb’s final chance to topple Andre Lange of Germany. Enemies in their sleds, Holcomb’s times proved winning of not only gold but also respect from the man he has chased for years. Each celebrated on the podium with great smiles towards each other.
As a fan of hockey and sports in general, something we can each take away from the games is a fierce competitive nature in all we do while recognizing our competitors as friends and neighbors. We as Americans, have a responsibility to reach out to one another, across the aisle and extend our hands to others in the world.
They said the only way the American team could win would be to use a rope-a-dope game plan, which they used masterfully in the previous meeting. I sat on the edge of my seat watching the gold medal game in men’s hockey between the US and Canada. For about the first 10 minutes, I was impressed at how hard both sides were playing.
My heart started to sink just a little as the Americans trailed 0-1 halfway through the first period.
Trailing 2-1 late in the 3rd period, the American team pulled their goalie leaving the empty net. Skating 6 on 5 and running out of time, they tied the game at 2, with 24.4 seconds left. I jumped in excitement, feeling gold was once again possible.
It was for not as Sidney Crosby scored the winning goal for the Canadians. The same Sidney Crosby I cheered endlessly for not that long ago as a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins in their chase of the Stanley Cup.
Friendships are a bond for life just as our competitive sides remain inside us. Look at Lindsey Vonn and Maria Riesch, great friends and in the games competitive to the end. Respect is earned, won and paid. The “Night Train” went on to win gold in the men’s four-man bobsled. This was to be Steve Holcomb’s final chance to topple Andre Lange of Germany. Enemies in their sleds, Holcomb’s times proved winning of not only gold but also respect from the man he has chased for years. Each celebrated on the podium with great smiles towards each other.
As a fan of hockey and sports in general, something we can each take away from the games is a fierce competitive nature in all we do while recognizing our competitors as friends and neighbors. We as Americans, have a responsibility to reach out to one another, across the aisle and extend our hands to others in the world.
Nationalism, ignorance, racism…they all come to a fine, definitive point in my associate Pot Roast. A few moments ago, one Mr. Roast stood in my room and chastised the British comedian Russel Brand for his duties hosting the MTV Video Music Awards a couple years ago. While I’m not one of Brand’s biggest fans, I can appreciate his style of satire and manufactured contrivance. He reminds me of one of his fellow countrymen, Sacha Baron Cohen, in that they both rely on an alter ego and a basic understanding of method acting from their audience. They commit to an outlandish ego as a form of social commentary, which serves vehicle for their humor. Now, back to Pot Roast.
Pot Roast is the embodiment of everything I find wrong with Americans today. He is committed to a single, unalienable worldview: that America is the greatest country on the face of this earth: from this feverish commitment stems a significant disdain for any attempt to criticize America in any way, shape, or form.
This blind nationalism, combined with questionable values in the moral realm, makes for a special breed of hypocrite. I recently heard of a scheme of his to receive free admittance to Disneyland by “volunteering” at a homeless shelter; this "volunteering" consisted of showing up at a homeless shelter past operating hours as to avoid the “bums.”
But I digress. His statement about Brand, which still rings in my ears, is as follows:
“No British guy comes into America and insults Americans on an American awards show in front of an American audience.”
First and foremost, this statement is utterly negated because Mr. Brand did in fact come to America and “insult” Americans on an American TV show. I could feel roast dripping with genuine indignation as he spoke, as if Brand moseyed on stage and set fire to an American flag while reading excerpts from the Communist Manifesto.
I believe there is a difference between humorous discourse and vehement opposition. Sadly, some refuse to distinguish between the two and make hateful diatribe out of stand up comedy. Some Americans insist on interpreting the world with a chip on their shoulder and a vigorous opposition to satire that stings a little bit.
Humor, especially in this era, is essential to our sanity.
Pot Roast is the embodiment of everything I find wrong with Americans today. He is committed to a single, unalienable worldview: that America is the greatest country on the face of this earth: from this feverish commitment stems a significant disdain for any attempt to criticize America in any way, shape, or form.
This blind nationalism, combined with questionable values in the moral realm, makes for a special breed of hypocrite. I recently heard of a scheme of his to receive free admittance to Disneyland by “volunteering” at a homeless shelter; this "volunteering" consisted of showing up at a homeless shelter past operating hours as to avoid the “bums.”
But I digress. His statement about Brand, which still rings in my ears, is as follows:
“No British guy comes into America and insults Americans on an American awards show in front of an American audience.”
First and foremost, this statement is utterly negated because Mr. Brand did in fact come to America and “insult” Americans on an American TV show. I could feel roast dripping with genuine indignation as he spoke, as if Brand moseyed on stage and set fire to an American flag while reading excerpts from the Communist Manifesto.
I believe there is a difference between humorous discourse and vehement opposition. Sadly, some refuse to distinguish between the two and make hateful diatribe out of stand up comedy. Some Americans insist on interpreting the world with a chip on their shoulder and a vigorous opposition to satire that stings a little bit.
Humor, especially in this era, is essential to our sanity.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Facebook, Church and 83
by Sarah
Yesterday I sat in a pew at North Valley Friends Church, and my pastor begin his sermon by talking about Facebook. He talked about how you can have different causes, be connected to so many different people, and even have fan pages! How often do you hear about social networks in sermons?
After church I went to Jerry's 83rd birthday party. His wife, Connie, was talking to me about (can you guess?) Facebook! She said she read this person's status and saw that note. Actually she had managed to get quite a bit of information on the people in her life.
The message of my pastor's sermon was about community, and how today in our post-modern world, our deepest longing is for community. So deep is that desire that any new idea that has even a resemblance of community is jumped on and immediately has a group of followers. Facebook is one of the largest social networks of today, with thousands and thousands of users. So what's the draw?
People are in search of community. Even though you may never see some of your Facebook friends in real life, they are still friends and there is some sort of connection there. You can be accepted no matter what your race, age, sexual orientation, beliefs, location, etc...All are welcome. And if you happen to find someone who disagrees with you, there are a hundred more to choose from.
My pastor talked about the need for Churches to be those communities that our world is searching for. He spoke of being the body of Christ and what it means to love one another. Then he challenged us to be a community that is welcoming, loving, and Christlike.
Where are you communities? How are you loving the people in them?
Yesterday I sat in a pew at North Valley Friends Church, and my pastor begin his sermon by talking about Facebook. He talked about how you can have different causes, be connected to so many different people, and even have fan pages! How often do you hear about social networks in sermons?
After church I went to Jerry's 83rd birthday party. His wife, Connie, was talking to me about (can you guess?) Facebook! She said she read this person's status and saw that note. Actually she had managed to get quite a bit of information on the people in her life.
The message of my pastor's sermon was about community, and how today in our post-modern world, our deepest longing is for community. So deep is that desire that any new idea that has even a resemblance of community is jumped on and immediately has a group of followers. Facebook is one of the largest social networks of today, with thousands and thousands of users. So what's the draw?
People are in search of community. Even though you may never see some of your Facebook friends in real life, they are still friends and there is some sort of connection there. You can be accepted no matter what your race, age, sexual orientation, beliefs, location, etc...All are welcome. And if you happen to find someone who disagrees with you, there are a hundred more to choose from.
My pastor talked about the need for Churches to be those communities that our world is searching for. He spoke of being the body of Christ and what it means to love one another. Then he challenged us to be a community that is welcoming, loving, and Christlike.
Where are you communities? How are you loving the people in them?
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