Service Trips 1&2: Wealshire

For my first two service trips, I went to Wealshire Nursing Home on September 30 and October 14, from 3:45 to 5:15 both dates.  Wealshire is a nursing home for people suffering from various forms of dementia and Alzheimer's disease, and when I go with Key Club, we do activities with some of the higher functioning residents.  I have actually been volunteering here for the past four years, and have always really enjoyed it.  My first trip there this school year, we spent the afternoon playing bingo with the residents.  There is one woman named Nancy who I have gotten to know there over the past couple of years, as she is one of the only residents who is able to really remember who we are each time we visit.  While we were playing, I would help her by pointing out spaces on her board the she hadn't heard be called, and each time she would say "If I win, I'll split my prize with you.  Wanna know what the prize is?  A whole lot of nothing."  Each time we go, Nancy also makes sure to say "I give you kids props for coming back here.  I wouldn't."  My second visit on the 14th, we spent the time painting pumpkins, as many of the residents, and I'm sure many of the volunteers, were unable to safely handle carving tools.  This week, Nancy wasn't feeling well, so I worked with a woman named Elaine, who is in the picture above.  She spent the time telling me about her grandsons who graduated from Stevenson also, and asking me about my family.  It was really great to see how our going there and talking only an hour and a half out of our day was able to brighten theirs so much.  

Post #5

For introduction into our discussion of American culture, the teacher asked for each of us to email him two pictures that we believe capture our culture in the United States.  A majority of the pictures were the same-iPhones, McDonald's and other fast/fattening food, other brand names like Lulu Lemon, Ugg, and Vineyard Vines (which I didn't understand, as I know for a fact at least two of those companies are Australian).  My personal favorite was a picture someone sent in of hoards of people charging into the mall on Black Friday as it was first opening.  These images were the first things that people in my class, American people, thought of when they thought of their own country.  In our reading of Kohl's The American Values to Live By, the author addresses 15 or so different identifiers of American culture.  They are:

1. Personal control/responsibility
2. Change/Progress 
3. Time
4. Equality
5. Individualism/freedom
6. Self-help/initiative
7. Competition
8. Future Orientation
9. Action/work
10. Informality
11. Directness/Honesty
12. Practicality
13. Materialism
14. Personal Achievement
15. Morality

Above, I addressed two aspects of American culture-materialism and individualism.  I think the most predominant characteristic of our culture, one that is easily recognizable by any person who observes or lives in our culture, is our emphasis on materialism, as seen by the pictures that each of us in the class picked.  The second factor I think can be examined by the pictures that we chose as our immediate response the thought of American culture, is a desire of Americans to have individualism, and to be unique.  As Americans, each of us strives to be seen as different from others, to be seen as special.  And we all try to view ourselves in that way.  Because of our desire to be seen and see ourselves as different from everyone else, we are easily able to describe our culture as being materialistic, even though that is usually seen as being a bad thing.  But, though we may deny it, all these aspects of American culture affect each and every one of us, even the less desirable ones.  Even though we all value uniqueness, we are a lot more alike than we would care to admit.  In our class of 20+ kids, only about 4 people in the class didn't have an iPhone.  Over 80% of our class owns the same exact phone, but we still like to believe we are individuals.  That being said, I also have an iPhone.  What can I say, I'm an American.  

Another source we analyzed that depicts more of these values of American culture is a passage from the book Thrive by Dan Buettner. In the novel, Buettner outlines strategies to achieve true happiness.  Based on the tips to the reader, it is easy to see how the novel is modeled to find happiness by embracing and moving past certain aspects of American culture.  For example, one step to finding happiness is to create a type of "pride shrine."  That is, a place in your home that is dedicated to celebrating and displaying your own personal achievements.  By doing this, people can find some happiness by embracing the American values of personal achievement and success, along with motivating you to value self-help and initiative.  Another one of Buettner's tips is to live close to where you work (close meaning walking distance, not a ten minute commute).  While this increases happiness by removing many people's most dreaded part of the day, the morning commute, while also increasing one's interaction with nature, which also increases happiness, being able to walk also takes into account some American values.  By being able to get to work with a short walk as opposed to a 20-60 minutes drive in heavy traffic, Americans are able incorporate their value of practicality and efficiency into their daily routine by saving time from no commute and money from not having to pay for gas.  

I myself, having become more sociological mindful, have decided to embrace the values of American culture I am proud of, while trying to separate myself from the ones I'm not.  There are certain aspects of American culture that should inspire and motivate us to do well. Our culture pushes us to have strong work ethics and strive to gain personal success, which are both good things that I want to have in my life.  Our culture also values taking personal responsibility, which I believe is commendable, as it makes each of very aware of the effects of our actions, allowing us to grow from our mistakes, where as a culture that values fate and destiny might not be able to do that.  

Post #4

In our class, we began learning about culture, and different norms found within different cultures.  When our teacher asked us to think about any different cultures we are a part or have experienced, I initially drew a blank.  I have never spent an excessive amount of time outside the Midwest my whole life.  But then, I thought about the way life was when I lived in Michigan for the first 12 years of my life, and how differently it actually is from suburban Chicago, even though the two are geographically near each other.  In Michigan, we proud Michiganders (which actually is the correct term for people from the great peninsula) have a certain arsenal of lingual terms and gestures that those who do not dwell there wouldn't understand.  First, when a Michigander meets a fellow native of Michigan, we ask where they're from in the state.  And every time, the person will hold up their right hand, palm out, and point to approximately where they are from on the mitten.  Another thing is that in Michigan, we have a chain of restaurants called Leo's Coney Island.  This restaurant is essentially a traditional diner, but one that serves Greek food.  And they are located in almost every single strip mall in the Detroit metropolitan area.  So, when you are in Michigan, you can tell someone you are going to Leo's, and they will completely understand what you are talking about, while someone who is not from Michigan will ask in confusion "Who is Leo?"  A third predominant term used by all Michiganders is saying "Up North."  In Michigan, everyone vacations "Up North," and when you tell people you are going "Up North," they know with absolute certainty that you are talking about going to northern Michigan to enjoy the beaches of Lake Michigan.  The list of terms and gestures that are used in the subculture of the great state of Michigan goes on and on. 

Thinking about this other culture that I had grown up in helps me to see some of the different ideas we have learned about in class in action.  The idea of non-material culture, which is essentially anything that is unique to a culture that you can't see, like language, gestures, specific rules and practices, is evident when I think about the culture of my home state.  On the other hand, the material culture-which is a term that describes exactly as you would expect, the items unique to a culture- of Michigan is basically identical to the material culture of the rest of America.  This unique non-material culture found within Michigan is a great example of a sub-culture within American culture.  While overall, the way of life in Michigan is very similar to the way life is practiced in the rest of America, Michigan has a few differences that give it its own subculture, because they are things that non-Michiganders would not understand.  

Within the realm of culture, there are two categories that different practices are grouped into: non-material and material culture, which are as I just described above.  The material culture in different cultures is the one that is most easy to see.  In the film we watched in class God Grew Tired of Us, the "lost boys," who were refugees of the Sudanese civil war, were brought to America to have a chance at life until their homeland was no longer too dangerous to live in.  When the boys arrived in America, what they were initially shocked about was the stark contrast between the material culture of America and where they grew up.  The things that shocked them the most were the things that we Americans are so accustomed to, we never give them any thought.  Things like electricity, running water, indoor plumbing, refrigerators, single person beds, garbage cans, etc.  The boys experiences extreme culture shock, which is when you find yourself in the middle of another culture and are taken aback by how different it is from your own.  Seeing people so shocked at these extremely common pieces of our culture in America gives you perspective as to how completely different people's lives can be in different parts of the world.  Not that they are in some way deprived, it's just that we are so reliant on our modern conveniences, that the idea that other people could live so well without them is a shock to our systems.   

The other type of culture, non-material culture, includes anything that isn't a material possession.  Things like language, gestures, and the norms of a culture.  Cultural norms are divided into three categories: folkways, mores, and taboos.  Folkways are things that are not very important, forgotten rules of a cultures.  Things like not eating with your elbows on the table, or not holding the door open.  They are the kinds of things that if you did them, people might notice, but they would not judge you for them (even though I, personally, find it incredibly rude to not hold doors open, and think it is a very simple act of kindness, but that's irrelevant).  The second type of norms are mores.  Mores are things that are a bit more severe than folkways, and if you did or didn't do these things, people would judge you.  In Western culture, an example of a mores would be that if you are eating, especially in public, you don't eat certain foods with your hands.  If you went to a restaurant, and started chowing down on fistfuls of spaghetti, people would start to question that immediately.  While they might not confront you about it, they will think there is something wrong with you.  Finally, taboos are norms that are so forbidden and just wrong that most people wouldn't even think about doing them.  Things like picking your nose in public, or farting on a date, or talking about what people do in the restroom, or basically anything that you can think of doing that would be mortifyingly embarrassing.  

In class, we read an article about a Danish woman who was visiting America with her husband and baby.  When she and her husband went to dine at a restaurant, she left her baby in its carriage outside on the sidewalk.  When passer by's saw, they were shocked, disgusted, and decided to call the police.  The police took the child away from its mother, and she had to go through great lengths to get it back.  In America, leaving your child unattended in a busy city is a taboo, and everyone here wouldn't even think about doing it.  But, in Denmark, as well as many other northern European countries, leaving your baby outside while the parents dine in a café is completely common practice, and no one there would question it.  These differences in non-material culture caused culture shock for both the mother and the Americans who saw the child.