"The Simple Life"

Yesterday I drove to Nappanee, Indiana with my family in order to visit a historical Amish farm.  We went with the idea and curiosity of learning more about their simple life. The farm that we visited (Amish Acres) was a fully functioning Amish farm for three generations until it was recreated into a historical place where the "English" (non-Amish) can come and learn about the Amish lifestyle and culture.  There are currently about a quarter million Amish in the US.  The Amish sect is only present in the Americas (US, Canada and South America) and not in Europe.  The Amish came to the Americas from Germany in 1737, in search for religious freedom from the church and the state.  They are a very peaceful people group, and they are completely opposed to war.  To this day, the Amish still have certain traditions that serve as "silent opposition" towards past German actions.  For example, the men and the women never have buttons on their coats or dresses. This is because the German military had coats with buttons.  Also, you will never see an Amish man with a mustache. As you probably know, the German military had big bushy mustaches.

The Amish claim to live a "simple life". They have no electricity in their homes, have no access to media, are mostly comprised of farmers, and are extremely self sufficient. They work hard, mostly involving physical labor. Laundry, baking and cleaning, (which in our society would consume very little time) each take an entire day to complete. The Amish people desire to maintain their simple life, however from the outside looking in, their efforts to avoid the modern world in actuality make their lives much more complex. In the last years, farming has been decreasing as an occupation among the Amish. They have found jobs in factories and other places because farming can't support their families anymore.  This poses the problem of transportation. Since they can't drive to work or bring their horses, the Amish have compromised by riding bikes or paying people to drive them to work.

In my mind, the Amish lifestyle seems incredibly complicated.    

The Amish believe that the more material possessions that one has, the less he has. They believe that the modern machines and technology that are supposed to make our lives easier, actually distract or diminish from faith and family.

What interests me is that from our point of view, their lifestyle seems rather complex while for them the exact opposite is true.  So what is a simple life? Would our lives be considered simple by using a washing machine and dryer to do laundry in an hour, or would theirs be considered simple by taking the day to complete the same task manually? In this case, is simple the same thing as old-fashioned?

Amish farmhouse 

Amish buggy

Typical Amish bedroom 

To be or not to be... An American?

When I first thought about our upcoming American Studies interview project, I could not decide whether or not to talk to my neighbor on the right from Thailand, my neighbor on the left from Pakistan or to my Jewish neighbor across the street.  Yesterday, I walked over to my Thai neighbor's house to ask if I could interview her for the project.  I walked up to the door, wrung the doorbell and waited for her to answer.  She did, and naturally we said hello.  She was standing there expectantly, waiting for me to say something. I slowly started to say, "In my American Studies class, we have been asked to interview Americans about their lives, and I was wondering if I could interview you."  She looked at me with a very confused look and questioned, "Americans?"  The next thing that she said was extremely interesting, "Ok... but... maybe you would want to interview my husband instead? He is the REAL American."  Her response took me by surprise and I did not know how to respond. I simply (but stupidly) agreed by nodding my head. As I turned around to head home, she laughingly added, "I hope it works out for you because his life was pretty boring!"  As you can probably imagine, this was not a very reassuring thought at the time.

Later that night, I was talking to my mom about what happened.  I was very frustrated because I had already written my interview questions for her specifically. Obviously, writing 4 pages about a boring man did not excite me. My mom told me to call my neighbor back and tell her that I wanted to do the interview with her and not her husband.  In the end, everything worked out and we have an interview set up for tomorrow after school. I am excited to interview her and to learn about her story.

I had always assumed that my neighbor considered herself American. My Dad told me that she had moved to the US from Thailand when she was very young.  Based on her strange response, either she was taken aback by the question, or she doesn't consider herself to be American.    

What makes someone "American"?  This woman is a US citizen and has lived in the US for the vast majority of her life, and yet it seems as if she doesn't consider herself as "one of us".  Is it possible to be a US citizen without being an American?  Is being an American a mindset?  Please comment below!

For What We Stand

Friday night, I was sitting with my friends, waiting for the New Trier football game to start.  We were all anticipating the start of the game, all excited and all hoping for a good game with of course, a victory.  But as is customary in the United States, we all came together to sing the national anthem before kickoff.  Well at least some of us did.  As I looked around with my hand on my heart, I observed many of my fellow classmates, Chicagoans and Americans completely and utterly ignoring the special ritual at hand.  Shockingly, I found that few people had their hands on their hearts and even fewer were singing.  And I dared to pose the question; are we, as Americans, losing some of our patriotism? 

One of my favorite parts of American football games is the singing of the national anthem.  I find it so beautiful, so mystifying and so moving.  The national anthem serves as a common symbol for all Americans, it represents us as a country.  It tells a story, a story that we are all proud of.  This story represents who we were, who we are and who we will become.  In my mind the national anthem is something that should always be respected and honored.  

Another example that concerns me is the pledge of allegiance.  At New Trier, or at least in my advisory, no one stands up and recites the pledge, except for me.  I am the only one in my advisory who does so.  I remember Freshman year, there were about 7-10 girls in my advisory who stood up and recited the pledge each morning.  Now, as a Junior I am the only one.  I guess this is a perfect example of the way minorities generally decrease in size over time.  Today at lunch I was talking to my parents about this topic, and I asked them what the norms in their high schools were regarding the pledge.  They both told me that they pledged to the flag in elementary school, middle school and in high school every day.  In addition, they had a moment of silence after the pledge.  Why has this changed?  It seems like we have degraded the value of this tradition.  I personally believe that it is important to express your love and devotion to your country.  Has this expression of patriotism stopped? Or, as I'd like to think, are the people just doing this in other ways in which I am not aware of?  

I honestly hope that this is not an accurate representation of the way Americans seem to be becoming less patriotic.  I want to believe that Americans are still patriotic, and still proud of their country.  I know I am, now more than ever.  

New Trier Varsity Game, September 20, 2013

Focused or Distracted?

In light of 9/11, we have been discussing Melanie Einzig's photograph in American Studies for the last couple of days.  It is a photo that consists of a UPS man delivering a package while the Twin Towers burn in the background.  In class, Mr. O'Connor asked us to think of a word to use in this sentence, "The UPS man is ______".  Some of the words that my classmates came up with were: uncaring, apathetic, unconcerned and callous.  I was raising my hand to add to the discussion and say a word, but Mr. O'Connor happened to call on another boy instead.  The word that he added to the bunch was "focused".  I was interested and a little shocked by this word choice, because the word that I was going to say at that exact moment was distracted.  Can two words that are antonyms represent the same picture?  As I began to think about it more, I realized that it could be either word, even though they are antonyms.  Luke (the boy who said focused) claimed that the man was focusing on his job and his duties, rather than stopping to gawk at the horrific scene.  My interpretation was that his job was distracting him, a diversion from the more important tragedy at hand.  I find it so interesting that our interpretations can be so different and yet so similar.  My understanding of Luke's claim is that the towers burning were the distraction and the man's work was the priority, while I basically claimed the exact opposite.  Could either one be correct?  Of course.  No one knows for sure what that man's thoughts were on this sad day.  This also goes back to our class discussion about positive and negative connotations.  Luke and I examined the same picture but drew different conclusions.  I guess your interpretation of the man's priorities could depend on your specific values and/or past experiences.  But in conclusion, specifically based on this small snapshot, I feel as if I am in no position to judge this man nor his intentions.