14 years old - The award ceremony to conclude Middle School, 8th grade

Middle School awards assembly for the 8th grade, the future high school graduating class of 2020

overview, click for full size image (2-frames, stitched panorama)

On the final days of the school year in June, parents and friends are invited to an awards ceremony. At the middle school the 6th and 7th graders meet separately, one after the other, during the school day. But for the oldest students, the event takes place after the workday for most families, starting at 6 p.m. It runs about 90 minutes.

     The program bulletin with spot color on double-sided, single sheet in 7 pitch font size included sets of recipients who paraded onto the stage expeditiously to collect handshake and word of encouragement, plus certificate or other token. Groupings included a locally conceived program called LINKS for peer to peer support, particularly to match confident kids with ones discouraged by academic, social, emotional or other difficulties (73 names, mainly girls).

Next was the Perfect Attendance Awards (missing just 3 hours of the entire scheduled school year (13 names), with one of these asterisked to indicate perfect attendance during all 3 years of middle school. Third came recognition for 8th graders who served as student councilors (6 names). Next were 7 kids who met under the auspices of the local chapter of Kiwanis Club #707 in order to plan and carry out good works in Builders Club. Three students were selected by staff and teachers for special mention in making the school run well, being helpful to teachers, staff, and peers. The academic excellence awards recognize the 47 students who averaged 3.85 during their 3 school years at the middle school. The Foundation for Excellence T-shirts were reserved for the 17 kids whose cumulative GPA for the 3 years was 4.0 (thanks to bonus points; extra credit, and so on). There were 27 kids recognized for doing well in both 2 of 3 sports seasons this past year, and maintaining 3.0 GPA (and being nominated by their coach, too).

Then there was a prize for fundraising prowess (selling magazine subscriptions to family, friends, co-workers brings a partial rebate to the school for its expenses). High sellers were promised either 1000 of tuition at colleges and universities found on a list, or for the very highest sellers the promise was for 2500 toward tuition. The final award was for one boy and one girl at the discretion of the principal, from among nominations made by teaches and staff.

 

Refreshments (cookies and punch) followed after this first hour of clapping and extolling excellence, to be followed by recap photo story of the past 7 months at the school, projected on the big screen in the cafetorium (cafeteria + auditorium: doubles as stage area).

The motto for the school, staff, teachers and students, found printed on the back side of the program page, reads "Working as a team to build the future!" So the sense of direction is what is to come, but depends on the constructive efforts of today, and not a solo effort, but one that joins many hands. The metaphor of construction project can be extended by comparing the durability, safety, and stylish and high functioning results for well planned and well built work, by contrast to the performance coming from shoddy work, lack of craftsmanship, and ill thought through plans. Excelling in one's work and the fruits of those labors can take many forms, particularly among middle school students, where their bodies grow bigger, take on new shape, and identities are tried on within one's reference group and pool of expectations in a given family, community, or school culture. Dream suddenly spring into mind, are inspired by others, or may be sparked by learning experiences of reading, observing, discussing, or completing certain assignments.

     The minds and hearts of these young people often are open, impressionable, and inquisitive. Much like the way a blueprint comes to life at the earliest stages by staking the land and hanging string to mark elements to be placed or built, levels to be straightened, and so forth, so too for young learners - they build their own ambitions, boundaries and self-definition first from gossamer strands which are easily stretched, tried, changed, or torn asunder. A kind word, and encouraging response, and welcome smile all can move the creation of self from the fragile threads to something quickly to grow solid and increasingly well defined; something which others can see, react to, and thus affect the builder's next steps.

 

high school springtime bloom of college declarations

At this rural mid-Michigan high school the visible, public statement of one's college intentions or confirmations of admission acceptance helps to motivate others who are ambivalent about applying, aspiring, or altogether unsure which way to proceed in their life's journey; not just the younger students who look up to the high school seniors, but among the graduating class itself.

springtime scene - student lockers in one high school; click image for full view

Art Festival each spring in East Lansing

The view north on Abbot Road near Albert Street in East Lansing, Michigan

The city and neighboring campus of Michigan State University has hosted a cultural festival each August since the turn of this century, having taken a 3 year turn as home of the National Folk Festival and then carrying on the same weekend in August under the auspices of Great Lakes Folk Festival. But the middle May festival is for artists to sell and demonstrate their work, with many coming from out of state. Exhibit booth numbers hover around 300 at least. The crush of lookers when the weather is fine, as often it seems to be, can be a little oppressive. But the live music dispersed at several venues on or near the streets, as well as the smells and tastes of the food on offer, above and beyond the brick-and-mortar food fixtures at this intersection of campus and community make the experience of browsing and/or buying pleasant; at least many of the vendors are repeaters for several years.

     Seen from the point of view of material culture and also of aesthetic pleasures, the event is curious, though. While people come to examine the works or art, or to participate under the tents set up for children's crafts and creative work. At springtime the trees, flowering bushes, and variety of flowers are at least as wondrous. And event the diversity of human forms presented for people watching can be a pleasing spectacle. There is abundant color, media, theme, and mix of indoor and outdoor works of art, but one result of making more and more of something is the accumulated results and the need to distribute to willing buyers. In other words, since the beginning of time an artisan, crafts worker, or maker of beautiful decorative (and/or functional) pieces has needed also to be a business person, promoter, trader, and traveler to fairs very often. And for recreational buyers, the articles of wood, metal, fabric, crockery or glass all have durability which means they ultimately end up in an estate sale, bequeathed to heirs, given away, broken or stolen in the course of events, or maybe even be discarded by another generation not enamored of the piece. The joy of the hunter gatherer discovering a delightful thing, the pleasure of purchasing, then owning a piece, the many delights in the days of gazing or passing by the article all are worthy enrichments to one's everyday existence. But what is it exactly that attracts, then motivates a person to acquire a thing beautiful in the sight of their eyes? For some it is gleaming metal, or the natural tones of rude pottery formed from the earth, and for others a clever play of words or imagistic concepts is what tickles the heart. Perhaps as with music, poetry, humor, emotion, religion, politics: to each his or her own.

Long-distance highways are one of the man-made wonders

Shortly after the morning surge of commuters had gone, the traffic moved along at 65-75 mph in complete calm, quiet, and ease. As the mild May sunlight shone just north of the eastbound in the photo, the many elements and types of expertise brought together to make the system run came into mind, one by one. The process seldom starts from scratch, since there are existing population centers to connect and probably some sort of roadway is in place. So then the expansion into a limited-access (on ramp, off ramp) multi-lane, single direction highway designed for sustained heavy traffic in all weather and built from the experience in minimizing risks of collision, or in the event of accident, the minimizing the destruction that may follow; for example by separating the opposing directions of traffic by wide medians with good visibility and restrictions on crossing over.

dashboard view on Michigan highway in springtime sun; click full aption

Once a route is chosen, then widening the path requires (compulsory) property purchase and preparing the construction side by clearing all structures and vegetation. Decisions about the road bed have been researched, raw materials need to be sourced according to quality, distance, and contractor's bid price. Accounting and accountability for quality samples need inspectors and lab workers, too. Stone of various dimension, possibly recycled (old road surfaces crushed; glass, rubber) materials, steel reinforcing rods, teams of road graders, cement mixing and pouring into forms, curing, all take specifications established by experiences with other roads and with lab experiments. Blue prints encode so much knowledge, wisdom and experiences coded in visual form: angles for ramps and for road bends, rate of slope up or down, choice of paint schemes to indicate safe passing spots (for 2­-way secondary roads) as well as unsafe points, signage size and verbiage least prone to ambiguity, color rules (signs for information, for commercial or cultural interest, emergency, construction ahead, electronic road conditions or traffic information. And so from concept to construction to all-weather usage by the traveling and commercial public comes together. Maintenance includes salting, plowing, recovery of wrecks, repair of minor road surface damage as well as period bridge replacement, repainting, and mowing during the growing season.



There is the driver education, monitoring/enforcement of traffic safety codes, licensing and fees, sales and repair and routine maintenance of vehicles for business, emergency health or public safety or road service, private use, or recreation. There is car insurance (or its absence of one's coverage). All together so many things come together to make the modern wonder of personal transportation in all weather.

creating slopes for crossing the street

During the months of April to November or December the city government repairs roads, sidewalks, painting, clearing street drains, flushing the fire hydrant system and so one. On this occasion the matching money from state and/or federal sources allowed the city to establish sidewalks on the lots of homeowners that previously grew only grass where the public right-of-way exists. In addition the sloped path from street surface to sidewalk was created. In past years this "curb cut" was accomplished more piece-meal by using concrete saw to remove the old section and then create the angled incline, pour the cement and lay a durable and textured ADA compliant (Americans with Disabilities Act circa 1990) rectangle on the slope so that visually impaired people can know by slope and texture that a street crossing point is imminent.

(The camera audio was switched off, due to wind noise)

School bully business

As long as there has been status posturing, competitiveness, inclusion and exclusion social boundaries the practice of one to one or many against one, active or passive bullying has existed. Now there are efforts being made to ease the pressures and break open the closed circle of bad behavior by using texting and other electronic communication and documentation methods. These two glimpses of the campaigns were on display in one rural high school during the middle of March 2016

 (click image for full-size view)

St. Patrick in USA, Erin Go Bragh? (may Eire live forever)

creative commons search result at flickr.com, "St. Patricks parade"

 Looking around the hallway of the nearby high school between classes as students stream past, one can see many teens and a few staff and faculty with some token of green clothing or accessory. How unusual that this saint's day should be a public event with some foregrounding of ethnic membership. Every other day of the year has one or more saints associated with it, some of which carry resonance to specific ethnic groups, but yet the greeting card industry, candy manufacturers, news media, t-shirt makers, and so on do not get equally exercised about the spectacle. What seems particularly interesting from an anthropological viewpoint is the ambivalence of ethnicity: some might express pride in family history that has some direct or indirect link to the island of Ireland, whether the polity of north or south. Others may be less ready to emphasize DNA and be glad to count themselves as "Irish for a day" and join in the general fun of the day as a sort of culturally, not ethnicly, member who belongs with the rest. But considering the vast ebb and flood of populations displaced from home grounds, it is likely that many more have ancestors who had roots in Ireland somewhere along the way. Still, it does seem odd that this day offers a low bar to ethnic membership and other days do not have a similar expression; could there ever be in USA anything that takes up similar space in the public discourse of commercial and popular culture - such as Myanmar Day, or France Day, or Mexico Day?
For a worldwide view of proceedings and changes in meanings, see the final paragraph of the blog article for the American Anthropological Association, http://blog.americananthro.org/2016/03/17/sham-and-the-rock-on-17th-march-st-patricks-day/

What does art mean in this intercultural exchange?

annual art exchange, see http://mishigan.blogspot.com

It has been more than 20 years since the annual exchange began. Thanks to the efforts of an exchange teacher from Japan responding to requests for pen pals and then artwork from Japan, this program has flourished. It brings art from elementary and middle schoolers of our town in middle Michigan to the town library in our friendship city in Shiga prefecture on the main Japanese island. The school years are out of sync (Japan starts April, Michigan starts September) so the cycle takes Japanese art displayed in August and pairs it with Michigan art sent around the time of the new school year in April. After the exhibition in August both sets travel together to Michigan, where the U.S. kids' work from their previous school year is returned to its artist and the Japanese work is held during the fall while the new Michigan school year starts and new art is created. This newly selected work then is installed in the town library along with the Japanese art that was reserved.
     There are a couple of ways to look at the exchange cycle and the individual artworks from an anthropological points of view. First, there is the organizational skills and the logistical infrastructure that allows ordinary school children to have their creative work travel to the opposite of the planet. This speaks to the petroleum powered world economy, as well as the educational systems that acknowledge relevance and value in relationships with their counterparts of a different language and society.
     Second, there is the significance to all those who are involved Some of the meanings and motivation is shared, but other parts may pertain to each group differently. For example, for the young artist, there may be some pride or satisfaction in knowing his or her art was selected for display locally and overseas. For parents, friends and relatives there is a little "halo effect" when seeing this special status given to a young person they know. And a few people in the social circle of the artist may also have had a similar experience. So this time may give a deja vu feeling in common with the next generation. For the art teachers, building principals and school district administrators there is positive status that comes from participating with other schools in creative expression, giving attention and credit to all those involved in making the art and coordinating the installations. This system of opportunities for identifying excellence in others, giving praise, and receiving the kind words of others is important to produce a living and durable social fabric.
     Third, there is content analysis, patterns of expression, typology of subjects and other significance to extract from the visual art itself. There may be recurring patterns among US artists; among Japanese artists; according to age group, gender or possibly even household Socio-Economic Status (SES). Since the art comes from school projects that the teacher has instructed, the fact that subjects are confined to snowflakes, self-portraits, or lighthouses does not reveal very much. And the fact that dexterity or technical control of the particular medium varies does not shed too much light either. But within a given assignment, for instance "what I did in my summer vacation," perhaps there is some social and cultural and linguistic and personal meaning to discern.
     Finally, and most intangible of all, there is emotional response to the image. Regardless of grade level or country of origin, certain pictures may trigger more or less response in the viewer. This has to do with viewers' experience and knowledge base (receptiveness or sensitivities) as much as it has to do with the artist's power of expression - deliberate or happily accidental. By noting which pieces attract a viewer's emotional response, it may be possible to identify something deeply human, personal, or universal that only this kind of intercultural art exchange by school children makes possible to observe.
     It may be easy to take for granted a traveling, intercultural exhibition like this. But it is still worth pausing to reflect on the wider significance that this visual communication has for  viewers and artists.

foodways, folk decoration of commercial building

This site appears to have sprung up as filling station and repair shop from automobiles of the 1920s onward. Then around 1964 it became an eatery and since 2004 the present owners have run the place, named Golden Harvest and specializing in breakfast and lunch, with a half-dozen daily specials either sweet or savory, as well as made to order menu items. None of the experience is rushed; quite the opposite. Lovingly prepared big plates are served well after an order is placed.
     Sometimes a person applies a forest of bumper stickers to a car; or cements figures onto a car's surface, but a similar approach to the building walls seems to be rarer, still. This view of the entry and east facing wall are a sample. Since waiting lines typically run out the door at all hours of business and in all kinds of weather, this visual diversion is not only a creative outlet for the foodies inside, but also a kindness for those in line who have active imaginations! The close-up of one of that day's specials shows the Rubenesque Omelet.

humanizing the age of mass-production and consumption

Living out one's days in a highly mechanized, and increasingly digitize, uniformly mass produced - distributed - consumed cultural landscape tends to remove a person from the hand of those who made these things and made possible their availability and use in one's own livelihood and habits of thinking.

There are a few ways to restore some individual human presence in the infrastructure, furnishings, and elements we come to rely on, or at least to take for granted and regard as normal and unremarkable. One is to recite the series of steps from idea to final purchase or receipt of the product or service. For example, a car is invented and many varieties are designed for prototype before eventual production at full scale to fill widely scattered orders by builders, retailers and middle market (wholesalers). The mechanics of sourcing the ingredients and making machinery to stamp or pour or grind the product all involve individuals in this long chain of dependent steps. In auto making there are layers of subcontractors, for example. And each worker, manager, and artists has a social standing: name, family and friend networks, aspirations and histories. Some may have significant health challenges acute, chronic, just emerging, or now long past. Others may suffer financial burdens past, present or future. Beyond conceiving, designing, testing and making the thing, there are those who promote, deliver, and service the thing. So whether it touches the mind, the hands or the eyes of persons on the way to reaching the final consumer, there are many individual lives and biographical details that easily can be ignored or overlooked.

By contrast in the age of craftsmen and apprentices, the maker's hand or possibly mark, would be evident, and even when very nearly uniformly produced, no two are exactly the same to the degree that mass produced goods are today. And yet, even in our time, it is possible to imagine that objects comprising the daily cultural landscape all come from the minds and sweat of people. By restating the human touch, the things around us can again be given a human quality; a layer of anonymity can be stripped and living workers can be imagined present.

Microbrewery profusion around Grand Rapids, Michigan

a bit bleary view (for privacy) at main floor of Founders Brewery in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan

Around 12:30 p.m. on a sunny and relatively mild January 2nd with memories of the New Year's Day (Friday) fresh in mind and now faced with the weekend and perhaps family or friends still on hand from the year end holidays, the microbrewery had all seats filled with a dozen people near the entrance waiting for a table. Since this one is the grand-daddy of downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, established in 1997, and with a statewide distribution for its bottled beers alongside its local license to serve directly to retail customers, the reputation is wide and well established. But even at the other two city center locations on today's 4 hour beer tour later in the afternoon there seemed to be a steady steam of diners and drinkers coming and going, despite the slightly higher price (about $5) per ?16 oz. serving, compared to ordinary domestic nationwide brands available on tap or in bottles.
     Several questions came to mind which were answered in the course of the 4 hour tasting tour (3 sites, 2 production tours, 12 samples):
  1. Business climate: many of the 9 microbreweries in the city center date to the past 3-4 years. How do they get along: more cooperative than competitive, according to production guide at Harmony Hall. Each offers different foods to go with their somewhat overlapping beer varieties, both the main flavors and the seasonal 3-6 week availability and trial basis recipes. For example fancy soups and sandwiches; wood-fired (or brick kiln) pizzas; German sausages cuisine. Some feature live music nights; others have a happy hour. Interstate highway billboard in the Lansing area (70 miles east and south of Grand Rapids) says "Beer City" come and visit Grand Rapids. Less than 100 yards beyond this one is "River Cit" come and visit Grand Rapids, too.
  2. Production cycle in outline: prepare the mash (bath the roasted grains to extract the sugars and other flavors) and introduce the yeast (brewer's yeast versus peculiar varieties to bring specific flavoring of its own derivation). Pig farmer collects the spend grain for his animals to consume. Then monitor the conversion from grain sugars to alcohol. Refined sugar can be added as necessary to sustain the life of the yeast, but due to its difference to grain sugar, this added sugar is not converted. It merely sustains the yeast cells until the process is complete and hops (one or more of the 200+ commercial varieties) are added for flavor, filtering, and anti-bacterial effects. Now the long wait begins: about 3 weeks or more for lager, a shorter time for ales, and for sturdy stouts 4 more days than with lagers.
  3. Genesis of a microbrewery: siblings or friends or successful business person(s) fulfilling a hobby or dream get together to make business plan and secure a facility and equipment, financing and license. Then production needs testing and consistency with reserves readied for opening day. The whole thing from decision to commit to the creation of a brewing company open to the public could take 6 months or a year or more.
  4. Most risky or delicate stage in the recipe of brewing: home brewers using kits with malt extract rather than source grain or grains have fewer variables and smaller scale, so there is relatively less risk of contamination or ruining the beer. But commercial production has several steps that need consistent handling, uniform treatment and careful control (temperature, ingredients, timings).
  5. Experimenting: smaller equipment can be used to trial new recipes, then another location can do mainstream production at higher volumes (example: retail beer keg is equal to 1/2 barrel, experimental production line uses 3 barrel vessels for the warm work and then 7 barrel vessels of stainless steel for the cool process of maturing/finishing the process; but the production of tried and true varieties that are in constant demand uses 20 barrel vessels).
  6. Training to brew beer: some learn on the job (apprentice), others learn by experience (home brewing taken to vocational level of expertise), others specialize in the coursework and lab experience at colleges or university.
  7. Demographic profiles of customers and brewers: servers, production staff seem to be 22-45 for the most part. Customers on this Saturday afternoon included couples or groups of couples, in at least once case a couple included a little one in carseat/carrier. Then groups of female friends 20s-30s, and some male groups 20s-30s or 50s-60s. As for that day's tour group of 12 plus guide/driver/buyer consisted of couples in 20s, one couple in 50s, father - son.
  8. Speculating on microbrewery life cycles: Surely there is a limit to the number of establishments that can attract local and visiting customers in the city center, especially given the fact that other towns have one or more of their own, and the fact that the surrounding Kent County has at least 14 more. So it would seem that a strategy for a small place with high quality product in limited volumes would want to attract a base of regular, returning or subscribing customers (for example Beer of the Month club or "buy a mug and receive a discount") and then seek to attract newcomers who have reached drinking age, and to partner with surrounding restaurants to sell the beer there, too, if licensing allows this sale outside the production premises. In other words, rather than to expand infinitely and get into the world of bottling and distribution contracts, the nature of the beast is to cultivate steady customers who appreciate good beer.
  9. Range of flavors: all three sites seemed to showcase their IPA varieties - many seemed to seek to be more extreme than the previous, always ramping up the hoppiness to a point of excess possibly. All seemed to have made one or more variety of stout and/or porter, but not all were constantly in stock. Ordinary pilsner/lager seemed to be just one or two of the choices. The guide commented that Michigan is fifth in some regard: either per capita consumption or production of micro brewed beer, or number of enterprises. And he said that prominent use of hops is one characteristic of (Michigan?) microbrewed beer in USA. Naming of each brewer's creations and the accompanying sentence or two of adjectives lends itself to creative expression. Examples (Founders) include 'Dirty Bastard' and 'Old Curmudgeon'; or (Mitten Brewery) 'Triple Crown Brown' and 'Relief (session IPA)'; or (Harmony Hall) 'Erste Lager' and 'Los Conejos' (stout with cinnamon, chili, chocolate hints) available in regular (CO2) or Nitro (60% CO2, 40% nitrogen bubbles for silky texture on tongue).
 --see also http://experiencegr.com/brewsader [booklet with single page entries for each of Kent County's 23 establishments]

Upshot: Who are the people choosing to spend a sunny, mild Saturday at beer brewery to enjoy treats to eat and drink? Why do they come and not content themselves to bottles at home or with friends off site (a handful of big craft brewers bottle theirs: Bells, Founders, Shorts).

High fences and many towers

The collection of prisons to the west of Ionia, Michigan are partly viewable at 55 mph on State highway M-21. Other people have researched the rise in the incarceration rates and the disproportionate population profile centered on African-American men. Given the life chances in a person's home, neighborhood streets, classrooms and workplaces on the one hand, and given the culture of consumerism and available ways to earn and to give respect, the result has been more young men going before a judge for sentencing in places like these along the Blue Water Highway, as the road is known.
     All around the clock and through the changing seasons of one year to the next, the predominantly male populations live out their days of sentence behind cement and wire, recorded by cameras and watched by various paid professionals. And in the same way that schools teach habits and mindset, apart from class subjects covered, so too of prison life there are a number of assumptions, priorities, contextual frames for judging situations. Guards learn to behave like guards, prisoners learn to act like prisoners. When each side goes home - guards each night or morning, ex-offenders after a set number of months and years - then something of the prison culture sticks with them. Habits and routines are learned by repetition; learned by the body as well as the mind and one's heart.
     Passers by glimpse only the shiny razor wire and glassed in guard towers, or the brick signs with the name, Bellamy Creek or Richard Hanlon Correctional Facility. Those outward signs are only temporary. The mindset is more durable, even though it is not visible or material. How different the social contract before cities, laws and precedent: depending on the status of the offender and the offended the remedy might have differed. But it would not result in the vast and expensive institutional life that we see from the road at 55 mph.

So many cars - residents depend on wheels & internal combustion engines

Grand Rapids, Michigan on a Saturday after lunch mid-January this stream of north-bound cars on the Beltline ring road is steady and not unusual in volume. With a grid of roads well maintained, people who can drive enjoy a certain impression of freely moving from event to event, workplace, school or religious assembly. They can browse the things to buy from retailers and gather their choice of eatables to carry with ease in their motorized conveyance. Yet there are costs - money consumed in purchase and upkeep, and therefore money foregone from using in other ways. But there is also environmental impact (each gallon of fuel leaves behind 1 pound of carbon, 454 grams; or is it carbon dioxide?).

Mingle and mangle 2015 consumers' and Christians' Christmas

In the fading afternoon light the bright nylon inflatables catch the eyes of passers by, complete with their own blowers to keep air pressure, along with lights to internally illuminate to figure. In this case the figure of Saint Nicholas (a.k.a. Santa 'claus) astride a motorcycle stands out for its juxtaposition of jaunty biker culture with kindly bewhiskered gent in red. Then there is the giant teddy bear, quoting the Santa costume trimmed at sleeve and hat brim in white fur. Lastly at the far right and sheltering under an evergreen, there are Mary and Joseph surrounding a cradle, pressed from solid plastic and set glowing with bulbs inside the figures. Perhaps they date to the 1980s whereas the inflatables come from the 2000s. In addition to the range of scenes or characters from popular (Santa) and commercial (Mickey Mouse in Santa costume) culture of the year end holidays, manufacturers also have a selection of inflatables for late November (Thanksgiving Day in USA; the 4th Thursday of the month), and perhaps most of all for the end of October (Halloween). So there are a few households that put up a display in October, November and December, while others do none of this public lawn display.
       If asked about reasons to add the electrification and increase their energy bill, perhaps they would respond in one or more of these ways: it is for my (grand)children (or neighbor kids), it brightens the December darkness, I got this on sale after last year's holiday season ended, it is fun to set up and look at each night, it is my contribution to my street's community spirit. But, of course, without actually posting the questions to a cross-section of residents, the list of suppositions is little more than imagination of just one writer.
       A symbolic interpretation might go like this: The Santa figure is suited to a nation of immigrants, since strangers can be a source of unexpected benefit. The biker reference seems to bring the story out of the land of reindeer and onto the streets of a motorized society where people can be together and still be separate or isolated. The bear hearkens to the original Teddy Bear - something fierce and dangerous that now is cuddly and suited to childhood reveries. Meanwhile, dwarfed by the blower and big dimensions of the inflatables (just so much hot air?) there the figures going back to the 2000 year old story and the holy scripture that has conveyed it generation by generation. I wonder how well these relative proportions mirror the larger patterns around the regions of the USA, both in rural and urban places, among the many varieties of ethnic groups comprising the society at the moment.

Daily ebb and flood of young eaters wasting food

the menu for hot lunch is turkey with gravy on mashed potatoes; pizza option (R)

 Long gone are the times of war time rationing and recycling of fats, fiber, bone, tin, and so on. The slogan of the 1990s onward at the municipal level has been "reduce - recycle - reuse" but school buildings and their districts typically are preoccupied with convenience and lack of complication since their attention is taken up with educational outcomes measurable by standardized tests, not necessarily the more intangible results of eating habits and other lifelong attitudes that students take from grade level to grade level until at last they reach the age of majority, vote, earn money and consume what is necessary for livelihood and also what may be unnecessary but fits into the large sector of Discretionary Income. 

This picture from the food server's standpoint looks across the heated serving line to the cafetorium (dual use as dining space and stage front seating for performances and other school or community events, with overflow space when the folding wall connects to the adjoining gymnasium). The logistics have been tweaked in the 16 years since the building opened in 1999. Recess was a big attraction to many and so they'd tip much of their lunch into the bin before excusing themselves to play. To respond the school changed the sequence so that recess begins the sequence and lunch concludes it. Minutes have been calculated to line them up and move them through the serving line with barcode scanner to track choices longitudinally (brown bag is a cold lunch option, but comes on a Styrofoam tray - no bag in sight; pizza is a daily menu item -alternating from triangle slices to rectangle cheese stuffed crust; and the day's hot lunch - 15 menus that rotate daily; almost no students carry a lunch pail or bag from home and come through the line merely for a choice of white, chocolate, or strawberry flavored milk).

Usually 3 or 4 dining room monitors hover like a pit crew, ready equipped with spare packets of plastic flatware and straws for those dropped or lost, and armed with scissors to snip plastic containers open. They catch spills, tamp down rising voice levels, coach the slow eaters along, and at the end they give a 2 minute warning with a call-and-response rhythmic clap (1-2, 1-2-3) and hand gestures (finger to lips or the raised hand showing the universal, school wide code for voice level 1 - the lowest). 

It would be instructive to mount a time-lapse camera above the waste bins to gauge each grade level's rate of non-eating in general, as well as patterns specific to each of the 15 menus in the rotation. This daily ritual, five times a week during he 180 day school year, is a powerful and mostly non-verbalized lesson in (lack of) respect for food, the pressure of time to eat something, and the need to get along institutionally (not getting out of hand for the sake of the whole assembly there dining). And among a few of the food line servers there is a routine to instill the rudiments of giving and receiving, as in "would you like a roll with your turkey and gravy on mashed potato?" (the menu for the photo here) : Yes, please? No, thank you? You know what to say.

In summary, an important part of schooling happens outside the curriculum, lesson plans, desktops or LCD projector screens. A few decades ago a seriously injured writer turned to his classmates who'd graduated from high school maybe 20 years earlier to ask them what parts of their learning mattered still today; or what things they'd discovered to be truly useful and important in life that *should* be broached during the growing up years. Apart from literacy and numeracy, the survey responses included things like: what is normal development of one's body (range of normal), ways to find and keep a job, how to get along with difficult people, what pitfalls and advice concerning personal finance and the world of investments should one be familiar with, what are some of the sources of contentment and meaning in one's life. In the case of the 20-25 minutes allowed for eating at the elementary school, pictured here, there is socialization going on, but also great material waste and habits to accept and continue to do the same uncritically and unconsciously. Surely there must be other, better ways to carry out this important and pleasurable activity around the school district and indeed the entire country.

Thinking about Halloween in small town middle Michigan, USA

A stone's throw from my front door is the main east-west road through the town of 7,000.
There on the corner is a house that stands out from the maybe 10-15% of homeowners who make an effort to create a display or express Halloween themes. Whereas some will erect inflatable nylon creatures with light and fan running internally, and others put window decoration or a lawn ornament that references death, creatures of the night, and fright - typically in colors of black (night) and orange (fall leaves, pumpkins and other colorful gourds), a few houses include lots of detail and wordplay (false tomb stones with pun-like names such are Herbie Lowe, a play on 'here below').
     Question: what is the appeal or aspiration being expressed in these tableaux for the passersby to view? There is no contest or competition in any formal sense. But for some perhaps the motivation is an annual activity for family participation that celebrates a curious day - knocking on the doors of neighbors and strangers with the expectation of being given free candy that is safe and desirable.

---3rd annual zombie fun run, "Run for Your Life" in city park to raise money for new Spray Park.

click image for full-size view

Native Americans - online in the state of Michigan

Bicycling on one of the streets in Traverse City, the logo on one of the SUVs parked on the side displayed the logo for the Grand Traverse Band of Indians. Census-wise there are relatively few who classify themselves as Native Americans or Pacific Islanders in the USA (less than 1%, although specific counties will have concentrations; for example in Oklahoma, New Mexico, or Arizona). So except for casino billboards on the highways, airwaves, and Internet there is relatively little visual presence of Indian persons, property (like the truck parked on the street), business products and services, or issues important to Native people.

In a word, for people living around the state of Michigan, at least in the southern, most populated parts of the lower peninsula, the subject of Native Americans can be summed up with the word ignorance; sheer lack of experiences, first-person connections, public discourse and news media, textbook presence and so on.

 [caption: screenshot taken from webpage - URL at top left of the image]

See also album of images on this subject at https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/albums/72157673270576798

Streaming recyclers among the consuming public

This unwelcome bin began showing up early July 2015 under the 3 year contract with the town government to replace the recycle tubs (18 gallon capacity). Whereas the tubs could hold a week or more's worth of plastics, glass, paper products and metals, these new 96 gallon behemoths may well fill up only every 4-6 weeks. Having fewer stops to make on the route saves the company time and personnel costs, but it falls to the householder to put the eyesore someplace in the meantime. Around this same time a radio talkshow with recyclers in Washington, DC and in Seattle came to the conclusion that the move to supersize the bins did not produce savings as planned because residents grew more careless about sorting and preparing things for the curbside pick-up. As a result, the sorting facility had to filter out the contaminants (non-recyclables). The upshot is that what once just about paid for itself (value of materials equaled the costs to run the service) now ended up costing more to run than the original tub-based system. Going bigger just seems to mean less care, and more consumption.

walking through Clinton County 4H Fair, July 27-31, 2015

The trend to live in cities rather than farms began with the factory jobs offered when industrial power and methods of producing and distributing goods took off in the middle and later 1800s. For middle Michigan, perhaps the process of urbanization was slower. And while automobile factories drew shift workers from surrounding bedroom communities, the local livestock auctions and farm servicing companies carried on until the Great Depression and WWII conscription and war production pulled even more off the farmland. And yet during all these years the 4H movement established itself, originally as a way to introduce new methods and infrastructure to farmers by getting the kids to learn in the local clubs. But the times changed and unified TV viewing experience of a few channels expanded with video tapes and then DVD recordings, followed by a cable channel plethora and then Internet and most recently streaming services. With these competing sources of information and entertainment, the delight from face-to-face, cooperative effort seemed to be displaced or somehow was less insistent than the blinking and beeping electricity-powered sources for spending one's time.
       This walkthough of the fair grounds mid-morning and mid-week (Wednesday) shows a quieter scene that one might have seen 15 or 30 years earlier when summer vacations consisted of local kids looking for interesting things to say, do, or watch.
       Highlights include passing glimpses of the dairy pavilion (left hand side) and the viewing stands (right hand side) while the young people in the ring are showing their quaffed and cleaned animals to the judges for comment and evaluation.

Early July scene mid-week along highway M-115 in Cadillac, Michigan at William Mitchell State Park.

To join the others under the trees and walking distance from the two lakes that straddle the isthmus most people buy, borrow, or rent a camping trailer or RV (recreation vehicle). The section reserved for tenters (people sleeping under nylon or canvas) is relatively small and hard to see by comparison to the wheeled, portable living spaces shown here. The convenience of having a familiar place to sleep, cook, and take care of some personal grooming gives campers reason to haul their trailer north from time to time on the weekend or for whole weeks at a time. It is hard to beat the feeling of certainty and security with light, heat, water and electricity all in one place, especially when the outdoors is less than glorious. And yet there is the view that your means will affect your ends; that is, the manner in which you conduct your life affects the kinds of things that are visible or audible in your experience. By analogy and using the "life is a journey" metaphor, the person traveling on foot v. noisy motorbike v. biplane v. jumbo jet will all have different experiences of a place. So too of camping - the more gear that separates you from the elements, the less of those textures and rhythms will you perceive. Thus to live in or a few steps away from a camper which is neatly parked next to other ones is bound to be a different experience to living out of a tent with few tenters nearby.

Golf and tennis? Forest succession and water tables? - it's a matter of time horizon

Looking toward the outdoor seating of the clubhouse at the golf and tennis country club with a view of the long narrow Lake Leelanau, there is a certain feeling of contrast between the business of leisure sport on carefully tended grounds and the therapeutic separation from one's working routines on the one hand, and the rhythms and structures that organize the rest of the plants and animals that share these spaces on land and water. The humans live one golf or tennis season to the next, concerned with providing a level of service and model for business that keeps things solvent from one generation of owners and members to the next. But in the much longer sweep of time, in geological or glacial age time frame of 10,000 years, the daily business decisions and the weekly grooming of grounds and buildings have little impact on the shape of the land and the flow of water, the action of freeze-thaw cycles and the prevailing pattern of winds that deposit the next generation of seed in shade or sun, leading to another cycle of birth and decay. And so, when looking at the pleasing care of the grass and pavement, as well as savoring what is offered on the menu, it is salutatory to zoom out to a wider point of reference and see that the life cycle of the trees and the generations of fish and frogs operate by entirely different directions, all the while intersecting the concerns of the people who keep the golf and tennis facilities in tip-top shape each outdoor season.

Sign of the times? Call up the experts - consultants for bankruptcy

As seen at the intersection this evening, heading east.

The public discourse, popular culture, peer to peer conversations all contribute to reproduce the dominant worldview of consuming goods and services; the more the better. But the results of easy credit (short term indebtedness in fact) can confuse or disorient a person into the self-image of unlimited means to satisfy desires for more stuff. This roadside advertisement is a symptom of "Affluenza," as the documentary named this sickness of consumer society that has run amok.

thar she blows - wind turbines of Gratiot County, Michigan

As seen Wednesday, June 10, driving north on US-127 (click image for full size view with turbines on horizon, above the road line.

towering wind turbines on the horizon

In this flat landscape of steady winds the renewable source of wind power makes sense, although for local and migrating birds the moving blades are a worry. And for residents downwind the sound carries. One person spoke of wintertime ice building up under certain conditions and then potentially launching off the swinging propeller to land like some sort of modern-day catapult projectile.

mass migration on Memorial Day 3-day weekend

The busiest roadways in USA are the end of May (the northbound stream of cars on M-115 near Cadillac on Friday about 2:30 p.m. pictured here) for the 3 day weekend of Memorial Day; the traditional end of summer vacation season on the 3 day weekend of Labor Day (itself the first Monday of September; and the 4 day weekend of Thanksgiving (3rd Thursday) in November.
The urge to spend some happy hours among those one knows best, whether relatives or friends or both, drives people to their cars. For most people the roadways are the single biggest risk factor in their lives. And being more heavily trafficked on the start and the end of the holiday weekends, the danger is that much higher. In the recent decade or two the state police in Michigan, together with volunteers, have offered coffee at the highway rest areas to help ward off drowsiness or at least to demonstrate to those stopping that the problem is worthy of care. This widely dispersed pattern of social bonds comes from the ease of transportation, personal or by commercial services of rail, ferry and motor coach. So for the past 150 or more years, to pack up and visit others for a weekend has not been out of the ordinary. But in the grand scheme of human experience, it is not the norm, either. It would be interesting to peer into each of the cars in this stream to know what fills the compressed social space: silence, audio book or music or talk radio, conversation, cellphone or other mobile devices, print materials occupying the minds of those aboard? Multiplied across all the highways filling up in the afternoon of the holiday, the sum total of engagements is likely staggering.

Swampers (livelihood in Okefenokee Swamp until 1937 national wildlife refuge designation) and Strangers - local knowledge

Tour service near east gate to the national wildlife refuge (10 min. west of Folkston, GA), 3/2015.

On a recent trip out of state to the Okefenokee Swamp far from the familiar climate of snow and ice, the contrast of being a local resident with insider knowledge to being a sojourner, just passing through, became clear. While enjoying the mild temperatures of Florida, the street organization and the design of traffic flow were unfamiliar. The names and faces also were strange. Of course the English (and Spanish) language, though sometimes accented to varying degrees, and many of the franchise business were the same or of a recognizable category (regional chains of grocery or hardware or convenience store, for example). And being a tourist meant setting each day’s schedule with little or no routine, responsibility, or recurring commitment. This lack of daily or weekly structure lent a sense of freedom and feeling of being unencumbered. But it also meant lack of connection to groups and individuals nearby, except for ones based on commercial transaction of hotel, restaurant, fuel for the rental car or any other purchases made along the way. In other words, being out of one’s element tends to leave on on the sidelines of local life; a spectator to the rhythms of the day and cycles of the season. What remains open to engage on equal terms to long-time residents with their layers of local knowledge, then, is the natural world outside of human affairs: bird watching, eco-touring, botanical observations and insect sighting. Then there is the historical and archaeological perspective: imagining what stood in a given location before the present scene, either the Big Events marked by brass plaques edited by historical commissions, or ones unmarked by label text but narrated in history pamphlets or detectable to someone with an eye for material culture and traces of by-gone times before gas-powered automobiles (e.g. narrow streets and no built-in garages; no parking lots), before telephones or electric power distribution, etc.

    After a few days of living in hotels and eating at recommended restaurants with some local ingredients or styles, it was time to make the transit back home. What things constitute “home”? What connections and meanings are available in a place long lived in, compared to the meager meanings one can extract in a few hours or days spent someplace? Whether it is out of state but in the same country, or it is abroad in a place based on different language and culture, the defining elements of “being a local resident” are much the same and set apart those with many days lived in the spot from those with few memories layered there. Knowing a place by “face and by name” means that the streets and landmarks are familiar old friends or at least acquaintances. Naturally a person’s habits, work, or leisure make some places more familiar than others. So there may be corners of a town or city that remain unknown or only dimly familiar. A stranger may see only the surface elements of a spot, while a local may have personal memories either good, bad or indifferent tied to the same place.

    Next to knowing a location “by name or at least by face” there are the responsibilities (school and clubs, work, family and friendly interactions) and recreational involvements of hobbies and community that introduce structure and shape the schedule of one’s day, week and each season of the year.

    Then there are is the “local knowledge” of being able to identify what a person, place or thing signifies; what meaning there may be in a given piece or news or local happening, or indeed opportunity for business or civic undertaking. The analogy to foreign places is “cultural literacy”; that is, recognizing what something or someone means as well as knowing what something means. Also analogous to foreign situations comparing insider and outsider experiences, there is “social proficiency” in knowing how to go about solving a problem, whether it is mending clothing, purchasing a specialty item, or finding the answer to a complicated (social or material) problem. Strangers  would bring their own toolkit of methods, but locals would have a much wider range of immediate solutions. The third analogy from foreign experiences besides cultural literacy and social proficiency is linguistic fluency; that is, being able to express oneself as well as to interpret the meanings of those who are all around. When the comparison is between local and outsider of the same nation-state or at least the same (native) language, then regional differences of inflection, accent or (local) vocabulary are relatively small and do not overly lead to different experiences of the local terrain. Whether one’s spoken signature style was learned in the north, south, east, center or west does not greatly set apart local and outsider at the onset. However, because locals can hear that “you aren't from around here” then they can take extra interest in assisting you (the host-guest function of ancient times), or on the contrary dismiss you as being inconsequential to the local affairs that most interest them.

    In summary, being an outsider in a warm, sunny place for a few days, where the language is about the same as home, but everything else is unfamiliar, the reasons for feeling like a spectator became clear: the bases for engaging in meaningful schedule and purposeful interchange were limited to commercial transaction for traveler services (food, transport, lodging, guiding), to observation and inquiring into the natural environment and seasonal cycles, and to some study of historical events and the observable material traces of bygone times. Then in turn the return to home ground quickly restored the familiar routines of the day and week: preparing meals, keeping house and yard and pets, answering mail and email, and catching up with work left temporarily aside. Knowing one’s life space “by name or at least by face” (as people normally say of those they recognize) is what makes a place familiar, day by day, as new memories and projects and envisioned possibilities take shape, layer upon layer, making meaning of one’s life.

God and? or? nor? Country - Christmas creche in plastic and internal lights; veterans memorial in road center

In the cold light of the last calendar day of 2014 we observe the permanent display in brick, metal and stone for the veterans memorial and the seasonal display of figures to represent a scene at the Bethlehem manger about 80 generations ago when the VIPs from the east arrived to behold the baby Jesus. For someone who has never seen either of these things, there is a lot to reflect upon: origins of these forms of memorializing, the undertaking of designing, funding, securing permissions and building, then maintaining and using the sites. For someone who sees the Christmas ensemble year after year, it is easy to glance briefly enough to identify what it is, but then go no further and study the meanings of the original language and society, much less the meanings over the centuries as the Bible meanings intersect with the World.

Spreading the wealth - Christmas gifting customs in 2014 rural Michigan, USA

So much material wealth - Christmas bags for families short of spending money

The area charity for distributing baby supplies, clothing and food holds a Christmas party each year. People willing to adopt one or more of the baby pantry children receive a wishlist of things for child  and parent(s). The purchases then are wrapped, labeled and assembled on the eve of the final decoration and food preparations of Friday. The Saturday from 10 to 2 p.m. the families show up for crafts, presents to pick up for their own collection under their Christmas tree, and tasty food.

a little library

Corner of Spruce and Sixth St. in Traverse City, MI 49684; the vicinity of Munson Hospital

Drive-through fast food for thinking - late summer 2014

During the pre-Industrial times, paper was made by hand and printing would be also by hand, possibly on the prepared skin of sheep or veel (vellum?). As a result books were of value for their scarcity, craftsmanship and ornamentation. The force of the argument or the vigor or the prose were secondary to all but those who could read. When paperbacks broke on the shores of mass literacy around the time of WWII the physical worth of a book was now less important in many instances that was the flow of the story or skillful mastery of words. Now we see steady increases in non-print books for screen reading on portable device or computer workstation. Yet even in late summer 2014 there is a space for a small library for passers by and curious drivers by.

The top-most text reads: Kids Creek     LittleFreeLibrary

The bottom-most (blue panel) text reads: Kids Creek Neighborhood Little Free Library, Learn more at www.tadl.org (traverse area district library), where the following story appears.

exurban still life - Walmart summer evening

Morning, noon or night the parking lot has a few dozen cars at the Superstore (grocery + general merchandise Walmart) in St. Johns, Michigan 48879. On this occasion about 30 minutes before sunset early in July, there was a pleasant westerly breeze and majestic cloudscapes on all sides. Such is the intersection of timeless meteorological beauty and the "everyday low prices" luring spenders through the worldwide retailer. On one side of the automatic doors the calculus of small profit margins and Least Cost decision-making rules. And on the other side of the doors the ancient world of ecosystems and planetary rotation with diurnal cycles of day alternating with night is what matters. Perhaps once upon a time the man-made world of transactions, production and distribution was not so distantly separated from the bigger world of life forces and geological time. But today and very likely tomorrow this gap will remain the same or grow even bigger.

celebratory parade of affirmation - Sikh religious communities of Michigan come to Lansing

Looking up from the bookstore/cafe at Lansing Community College one spring day in 2014 (4/26), the lines of people of all ages in ethnic clothing and ordinary clothing walked by en route to the state capitol building one Saturday morning. Generally there is not a lot of public visibility of Sikhs on the airwaves or public spaces, so this event was a good chance for those walking to affirm their place in the state; and a good chance for those passers-by to see them, as well.
     How might the role of public visibility differ in a society other than USA, where such public statements are allowed, routine and perhaps expected as a way of self-assertion and existential expression?

Voting culture - high school civics classroom podium (poster)

Rural high school classroom podium in history/civics class lists a series of consequential decisions that happened by a margin of one vote. Since the youngest tend to be the least politically involved; instead self-involved or friend-involved, it makes sense to dramatize the power of a single vote to decide the outcome of a proposed law.

flag avenues

Evening view of Mt. Rest Cemetery on May 30, 2014 in St. Johns, Michigan 48879

So far there are 570 flags at the city cemetery, “Mt. Rest,” in St. Johns, Michigan. Four times a year the poles and flags are unfurled: Memorial Day (not the 3 day weekend that varies its date each year, but rather the May 30 date of the traditional Civil War holiday), Independence Day on July 4, Labor Day (the first Monday of September), and Armistice Day (the World War I cessation of hostilities, November 11). This panorama stitches 2 photos to show the view south and east from the paved road that runs along the west side of the 1919 era mausoleum located at the center of the present grounds, but at its beginning it was near the eastmost edge of the burials made between the early years of the city in 1856 and 1919. Tombstones of that early time often were large, while those of the recent generations are normally more modest. Some burial grounds specify flush to the ground must be made to facilitate easy lawn mowing.

    What will future observers and inquiring minds think about the ceremonial handling of the national flags, the Memorial Day speech-making and frequent references to “freedom” [but whose? and under what terms] and “freedom is not free” (but rather has been paid for in the blood of the draftees and volunteers and career soldiers and sailors and aircrews).
--see also video clips from the remembrance ceremonies

--see also the July 2016 display:
Avenue of Flags - set of cemetery festooned with U.S. flags
[at Memorial Day and again at Independence Day the hundreds of flags are placed]

http://miserybay.usanethosting.com/indylite/archives/3460 =article
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lywSMljkiTU =slideshow of scenes

hotel lore - no 13th floor, Gideon and Bibles

Chicago's Fairfield Inn by Marriott at river north location on Illinois Street.
This screenshot from the computer shows two photos taken at the hotel to show two cultural features.
In hindsight the breakfast selection --choices and arrangement-- would be another worthy facet to consider through the lens of cultural analysis, too.
     By comparison to Japan's numerology and the inauspicious overlap between pronunciation of '4' (homophone to 'death') and of '9' (homophone to 'hardship' or 'burden'), in USA and perhaps other anglophone societies, it is 13 that is inauspicious. Places like hospitals, where one's health is vulnerable or at risk, and schools (where one's life chances are in development), and hotels (where one is sometimes far from familiar social networks of support) all seem to skip from 12 to 14 in order to bypass the unlucky number 13 in naming of floors. It would be interesting to consider a complete range of tall buildings to see if more types avoid the number 13 in naming floors and rooms, for instance. Perhaps the same occurs after 100 floors, too; skipping from 112 to 114?
     As for placing of Bibles in hotel rooms, that is wide-spread; but I don't know the moment that the society of Gideons (named for the figure of Gideon in the Bible) began the practice, or whether all chains of hotels permit this service. Nor do I know when the Mormon Bible began to accompany the Gideon one, or how widely both Bibles are distributed. One interesting feature, at least of the Gideon bibles, is an index to some of the generally known stories and lessons found scattered through its pages. And I seem to recall also a Question and Answer section to a few dozen complaints and sources of distress of the human heart and social relationships for which a person in a hotel room may turn to the Bible for advice: "what the Bible says about…" (some examples could be things like adultery, betrayed trust, friendship, money troubles, suicide and murder).

elevator keys (no 13); bedside drawer (Bibles)

Cemetery for Civil War Veterans (& spouses) in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Graves continue up to the present day. The original design has expanded, according to the historical plaque at the east gate, adjacent to the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans, just south of River Park (on the Grand River) and west of I-196 and the Plainfield exit [photos as of May 15, 2013; playback time 1:56].

view this clip at 640x480 pixels at youtube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWomtYQ9ESA

reverse culture shock-predeparture

After 5 weeks in far west China I made a short week of visits with friends in Japan. It was refreshing to move from a position of almost total benighted ignorance of languages (Uyghur, Kazakh, Chinese) and society (Urban Urumqi, campus culture, autonomous Xinjiang province distant from Han majority eastern China) to a position of semi-ignorance in Japan, where I can hold a conversation and accomplish much of what I need to do for daily life. Suddenly the signs and spoken announcements are clear and understandable for meaning and for culture (expectation of what is being intended, precedent and why one should find value in such). But then as I begin the return path from Japan to the trans-Pacific leg out of Beijing, I begin to think ahead about the USA, where I have not striven to keep current on headline news, people or places.

Three vignettes cause me to think about who are the U.S people that I hear about from the people around me.
1. (photo) On the platform at JR Osaka I begin to see people who are visibly foreign to Japan (of European, S. Asian or African descent). I reflect momentarily: probably their experience is like mine recently in China. They only barely skim the cultural and linguistic surface, managing to get from point A to point B thanks to the alphabetic subtitling of public transportation signage. But the vast ocean of meanings and individual lives and aspirations is out of reach. Upshot: foreigners have their own rich universe of meanings, but there is little interconnection to the society and language outside their own. And among the people raised in the USA there is even less likelihood of ability, interest or exposure to other languages and lives. Reverse culture shock: most of my people (if those on the train platform are such) are monolingual and are poorer for it individually and collectively.

2. Airport check-in line includes so many visually non-Japanese bodies, voices, and faces (well maybe 10-12 all together). I reflect: here is only the second person of African descent that I have seen in the past 7 weeks (one here, once in Urumqi at the university), and here the bodies seem too tall, too heavy and altogether too big, bulgy and pointy-nosed. The posture or presentation of self makes gives me the impression of aggressive, confident, entitled to own their own destiny. Reverse culture shock: identity of self and in the eyes of others has much to do with surface appearances. One's point of reference gives a relative scale of what is the range of 'normal' so that when one's world has relative uniformity, then those people who are outside that boundary stand out extraordinarily. Probably the reverse is true, too: when you see diverse range in skin, hair, clothing, body-type then the experience of a place of relative uniformity must seem restrictive and the fine-tuned differences may get lumped together as "all the same."

3. Food hall at International Youth Hostel at Hagoromo (Hamadera Koen/park) in Takaishi: 20 somethings with N. American accents are somewhere behind me bemoaning the lack of clean clothes and need to line up for using the coin laundry facilities down the hall. The talk goes to employment woes and apartment living, college experiences and career interests. The trigger to my reverse culture shock is the flat, slightly nasal voices (Midwest?), and the shared script; that is, they seemed to be in the same boat, paddling the same pace and riding the current in the same direction. There was an unspoken oneness of monolingual, monocultural conversation that feels suffocating after the opposite extreme of Urumqi, where it is routine to hear or speak several languages from one moment to the next, with the accompanying cultural narratives that go along with each. Reverse culture shock: the mainstream, single current, one directionality of consumer culture and brand name living that I associate with those young people's voices. This dirth of social and linguistic diversity is stifling, unproductive (of qualitative variety, but productive of quantitative scale: mass markets) and maybe dangerous.

music, crafts, food festival

 

Here is a 3-photo stitched view of the evening audience at the 10th annual Great Lakes Folk Festival, http://greatlakesfolkfest.net, in East Lansing, Michigan (48823) which began with the first three years funded as the site of the National Folk Festival (Smithsonian Institution) and which is notable for featuring musicians who play the standards as well as some personal adaptations and interpretations. The stage photo shows the Michigan-based Bluegrass ensemble called Detour.

The stage also featured sign-languge support so the lyrics and introductory comments could be picked up by those in the audience who can sign. The range of listeners went from in-utero to elderly fans.

Looking over the rows of music lovers the common delight unifies them. Yet when the applause ends and they move back into their individual lives, all the abiding concerns cover them again: financial worries, job insecurities, interpersonal anxieties or comforts, rising or falling self-confidence and spirits heavy, average or light.

band camp, day 4

at www.kettunencenter.org on Thursday afternoon: about 150 musicians from grades 10-11-12 preparing for the fall season of half-time entertainment for the home football games in September and October. The choice of Union Jack among the flag carriers is meant to go with the theme of British rock music.