Infused Culture, Russia and Georgia

Russian and Georgian culture have been infused and intertwined in a mixing of languages, plays, literature and music. The recent war between them have stirred up trouble between Russians living in Georgia and Georgians living in Russia. While most people say they hate the Russian government not its people, there is still a growing generation of young people who strongly dislike any Russian Influence. But the influence is un-erasable, in an average Georgian city you can buy Russian Language fashion magazines, Russian foods and snacks and hear Russian pop songs blasting from a car radio. While the governments have officially cut off all diplomatic relations with each other it is nearly impossible to cut off the shared culture between these two nations. My response to this article is that America is very similar. American culture is distinctly different from any other in the world, yet we draw so many influences from around the world. Chinese restaurants, Spanish markets, European fashions and Japanese cars all draw influences from different cultures from around the world. Our 'melting pot' of cultures and peoples have given us what we think is a view into another culture, but in fact Chinese culture can not be all summed up in a single Americanized Chinese restaurant and Japanese cars look a lot like American and German cars. Like in Georgia and Russia we have all been molded together into an inseparable tangle that no matter if we go to war with all the world, we will still have many remnants of their culture here and our own culture spread everywhere as well.

Bilefsky, Dan and Schwirtz Michael. "Within a Russian-Infused Culture, a Complex Reckoning After a War." New York Times Online. 7 Sept. 2008. New York Times. 24 Feb. 2009 .

Change; Japanese economy lessons

As Americans begin to cut back spending in preparation for the tough economic years to come, we should be wary of a lesson from Japan. The Lost Decade (1990's) was a brutal economic period for Japan, with many of the same characteristics as the one we face today. During this time stocks fell and wages were stunted, consumers became cautious and unresponsive always fear full like skittish mice. Even in economic booms they still the same, reusing bathwater for clothes to cut utility costs, and separating want from necessity. Not playing their role as consumers in hurting the Japanese economy, as it plummets during the recent economic slow down. This change in Japanese consumers as severely altered their view on economic prosperity and success. But it is important to learn from Japan's economic history that America must not follow the same path. Cutting back is important during an economic slow down, but it is also important to keep our consumer wants during better times. While this article takes a very negative view of Japan's consumers, I think it is somewhat admirable that they have learned from over spending and want. They had become used to a simpler lifestyle during those 10 years in economic turmoil, and now they want to keep that lifestyle. For instance young Japanese men don't seem to be interested in cars; last year in a survey when 20 years olds were asked if they wanted to get a car only 25% said yes, this is down from 48% in 2000. The article was very aggressive about how this was hurting their car sales. But I think with the majority of people living in busy cities with subways they have no need for a car. And the average person isn't going to go out and buy a car they don't need to stimulate the Japanese car industry. While the article does have some interesting lessons for America, I don't think America will ever have that problem. In fact cutting back is going to happen, and like everything that changes has its good sides and bad sides.
Tabuchi, Hiroko. "When Consumers Cut Back: An Object Lesson From Japan." The New York Times 22 Feb. 2008, National ed., sec. International: 1+.

Blog #6 Save the Children

For the holidays this year my family decided to donate to Save the Children, a non-profit organization that connects children in need to a sponsor and provides them and their families with necessary food, shelter and education. A man came to our door and told us we could help a child and their family for $28 a month. We were assigned to sponsor April-Joy Lamit, a 10 year old girl who lives in Bagumbayan, Sultan Kudarat in the Philippines. I got very interested in the program and read all the letters from April-Joy and history of the organization. My family and I wrote her an email; in Spanish. But then we found out people in the Philippines don't actually speak Spanish, which was kind of embarrassing. I watched some videos and read articles on their site about the history of the organization; it began during the Great Depression to help provide children lunch at school. Then it grew international after the destruction of the Great Wars, Save the Children was in Europe providing stability and relief to war destroyed children and communities. Building and working with a relief organization would be tough work, especially in places that are in extreme poverty or war devastated communities. I have great admiration for the volunteers who take time out of their lives and go to far away places, away from comfort and luxury; because they believe they will make a difference. I have great hope that our $28 a month that here buys a cheaper meal for 4 will make a significant difference in April-Joys life and community.
Caleb, (country director), Latha. "Save the Children." Letter to Marjorie K. Soper. 19 Jan. 2009. Philippines Field Office, Manila, Philippines.

Religion, Culture and Change

The movie Chocolat tells the story of a small conservative French town in 1959 and it's inhabitants' struggle to find peace between their faith and the temptations of modern life. In the beginning everyone knew their place and what was expected of them, this all changed when striking Vianne (my baby cousin is named after this character) opens an unusual chocolate shop and the towns people are swept away in desire and temptation as she bakes out unusual mouth-watering delicacies. Her different style and openness is very contradictory to the towns conservative Catholic society and many conflicts arise with the change. In our world it is widely known that a person or town's faith shapes their values, ideals and the way they raise their children; but it also deeply affects how a society will accept change and new ideals. Sometimes with a strict code and standard difference and new styles are often not encouraged like in the movie. Along with religion, culture also shapes values. For instance when I went to Rome people were very loud, and friendly they were terrible drivers and often ran red lights and cussed out other drivers that got in their way. In England it was very different, they had more of a quiet politeness and courtesy. Within those different cultures there are many individuals who each have their own style, opinion and personality but no matter how different they may be, they are similar in their underlying culture that is always changing and redefining itself with every new idea and individual that is added. And the acceptance of new ideas, religions and cultures is essential to the societies' ability to compete in this fast changing world. This movie was very well done with superb acting and story telling. It shows that we are not defined by what we don't do or who we don't include; but rather by what we take in and build upon our own religion and culture.
Chocolat. Dir. Lasse Hallstrom. Perf. Juliette Binoche, Jonny Depp, and Judi Dench. DVD. Miramax Films, 2000.

Blog #4 Uncle Pashe

Nearly 60 years ago, Pashe Keqi made the decision to live the rest of her life as a man. In a country rattled with wars and death, it was a practical solution to a family short on men. This tradition of taking an oath of celibacy, has been passed down orally among the clans of northern Albania for more than 500 years, as part of the strict code of conduct; the Kanun of Leke Dukagjini. In this code and society, a women's role is restricted to that of taking care of the family and home. A women's life was worth half that of a man. Women who spend their lives dressed as men are accepted in public life, even respected. The custom "was a way for these women in a male-dominated, segregated society to engage in public life," says Linda Gusia, a professor of gender studies at the University of Pristina in Kosovo. "It was about surviving in a world where men rule." Today, the tradition is dying out, and women have equal rights to men. They say the erosion of the traditional family in which everyone once lived under the same roof has altered women's position in society. Keqi says she would not choose to live as a man today with the modernization of Albania and it's social code. "Now, Albanian women have equal rights with men and even more powerful," says Keqi, "I think today it would be fun to be a women." With all our rights today, it is hard to imagine a place in the world where women are treated much below the worth of a man, but I suppose there are still places like that in the world. Women are often left out of the history books and have had few rights or roles in political life for the majority of human history. Before a women had a 'place' now she can make her place anywhere she wishes. She is not just beside her husband, she is herself and anyone she wants to be. The social standards are always slowly changing, I bet there will be considerable differences when I have children. But it is the nature of things to change and grow and expand; as we struggle to figure where all the time went.
Bilefsky, Dan. "Why Aunt Pashe Became an Uncle." New York Times Upfront 1 Dec. 2008: 9-11.

Blog #3 Traditions of Mongolia

Mongolia is located in Central Asia north of China. The steep lands and Altay Mountains are home to the Kazakh; a group of nomadic herders who still live the very traditional life styles of the ancestors. In Mongolia, homeland of conqueror Genghis Khan horses out number people and in the barren landscape you can walk for days without seeing another human face. The Kazakh people train golden eagles to catch their food, a one of their prized eagles can spot prey a mile away and shoot down like a missile to nab a rabbit darting out of it's hole. The Kazakh people depend on these eagles for food and the animal pelts they catch for warmth, they are valued members of the community. They have their own spot in the families' yurt, a portable tent that can all be loaded on to the back of a single camel. But they are also very respected animals, after the birds turn eight, they are released back into the wild to live free and make more eagles. This is remote culture is very unlike our own; while I've only lived in three different places in my life, moving for the Kazakh people is a semi-annual tradition. They also value animals in a very different manner than we do. They move everything they have four times a year to find new land to herd their goats, and release their eagles back into the wild after a good time of servitude. In our disposable society, we almost never come in to contact with the animals we eat before their plucked, skinned and processed. And we don't directly depend on any animals in our home for survival. These things lead to a decrease in the over all value of the animals in our society, much unlike the nomadic peoples of Mongolia.
Schmidt, Jeremy. "Hunting with Golden Eagles is Tradition Among the Kazakh People of Mongolia." National Geographic Kids Feb. & march 2009: 28-30.

Blog #2

Almost twenty years ago hundreds or maybe thousands of Chinese protesters were killed in the Tiananmen Square Massacre by Chinese soilders in the governments crackdown on human rights and freedom of speech. A mixture of students and citizens of the People's Republic of China had gathered in the square for over a month, with cries for democracy and freedom of speech. A giant plaster statue the Goddess of Democracy and the unknown Tank Man are still symbols of their lost cries for freedom. After reading this article I compared China then to China now; today it seems that in their huge economic boom, China's free speech movement has lost a lot of momentum, there and around the world. With their increased life style and urbanization it seems China is willing to put their calls for freedom aside as they concentrate on their new found economic benefits. It is an interesting dilema, would you choose a better more wealthy lifestyle without any political freedoms, or would it be better to have democracy and freedom but less economic prosperity? I think, being american, we would all automatically say freedom, but along with our freedom many of us have good lifestyles with economic properity even with the recent recession. Would you choose dirt poor with rights or rich with no protections or freedom? This can also be related to Nectar in a Sieve, the way the village is loosing their culture and tight community but has economicly propered. Like Rukmani I think I would choose rights and freedom. We may only vote once a year, but I could not imagine not reading the newspaper everyday with confidence nothing has been taken out or cencered. At the beginning of Nectar we talked about if someone can be truely happy in poverty, I think as long as I had my free speech and rights I could deal with everything else.
Pearlman, Merrill. "1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre."The New York Times Upfront. 12 January 2009.

Natural Disasters Blog

I started reading The Invention of Air the story of Joseph Priestly, who author Steven Johnson claims to be one of his times greatest scientist, political and forward thinkers along side Benjamin Franklin. You might guess that I did not expect this book to have any relevance to this weeks topic, but the opening chapter talks a lot about an unusual natural sight, waterspouts. This uncommon disaster is like a small tornado on water that can spin up to 150 miles per hour. However before modern technology little was known about these unusual disasters, in the first century B.C. Lucretius described it as "a kind of column that lets down from the sky into the sea, around which the waters boil, stirred up by the heavy blast of the winds, and if any ships are caught in that tumult, they are tossed about and come into great peril." Joseph Priestly was traveling across the Atlantic ocean on his way to newly founded America, when he spotted four different water spouts drifting across the sea. For him it was a stroke of extraordinary good luck, his good friend Benjamin Franklin had been conducting a debate over whether the spouts descended from the clouds or from the sea. He took vigorous notes and took statements from other witnesses around him. Today we have a lot of scientific knowledge about the natural world around us and many warning systems and drills to keep us safe in a sudden fury of mother nature. It is difficult to imagine living in a world where natural disasters and odd weather patterns were unexplained and came out of the blue. Especially rare disaster that only last a short while like water spouts would be extremely difficult to describe and conduct scientific research. In a huge changing and unexpected world, we can really feel small and helpless in the wrath of mother nature.
Johnson, Steven. The Invention of Air. New York: Riverhead Books, 2008.