Bucks for Stars

Yesterday, I was sipping my chai tea latte at Starbucks, while anticipating the long night ahead (it being homecoming and all). While sitting at a table in the corner, I looked up and happened to see a black and white picture of an old Starbucks delivery truck. What caught my eye was how different the logo on the truck was compared to the current logo that Starbucks has. Here are pictures of both:

The newer logo looks sleeker, cleaner and more classy. The older logo shows the woman's entire naked body, while the new logo is only from the shoulders up. In the old logo, the woman's breasts are exposed while in the new logo they are somewhat covered by her hair. Maybe a value that Starbucks has developed is modesty. Starbucks doesn't really have a whole lot of advertising, and maybe this is because they simply don't need it. They know that their products are good and that they will have no problem selling them. People seem to buy Starbucks no matter what.

In the new logo, her hair is very controlled and predictable, but in the old logo her hair is unruly and unkept. This could possibly suggest the reliability of Starbucks, and their hope that all products are appealing to the eye as well as the tastebuds. The new woman seems to be much thinner and happier. Maybe Starbucks, as a large corporation, cares about the health and well being of their costumers. The smile on her face is more profound than the old one. Obviously, Starbucks wants to sell products that their costumers enjoy. On the new logo, Starbucks added a star to her crown, possibly suggesting their superiority in the coffee business.

All of these observations helped me infer about Starbuck's clientele, products and service. They are a modest but predictable business, with high quality service and standards. I guess you get what you pay for.

Only Apple Cider??

Right now, I am in the car heading back home after a long weekend in Door County, Wisconsin. We spent four days enjoying the beautiful fall colors, the Green Bay bay, delicious apples and cherries. We stayed in a cabin in the small town of Ephraim, which has a population of around 200 people with no cell phone service or internet connection. Ephraim is the only dry town in the state of Wisconsin. And by dry, I mean that it is illegal to purchase or sell alcohol in the town. There are different pros and cons to having a town without alcohol. In a way, it makes the town more family friendly. It is unique and so not the norm in our modern era. This law takes root from a belief that the original Moravian (Christian denomination) minister had. He believed that there was no benefit of his followers consuming alcohol. This belief has not only continued as a tradition in the town over 100 years later, but has also transformed into a law. On the other side of the argument, some restaurant owners do not like that they can't serve wine or beer with dinner. They believe this law actually hurts their business. Is this law constitutional? Is it a good thing that the town as a whole is not conforming to modern society? Should they change?

Halloween Takes Over

With Halloween right around the corner, people are starting to do many different fall activities to celebrate the season. On Saturday evening, I went to Fright Fest at Six Flags Great America. Fright Fest is a special event that occurs annually in October. The park is open late, and creepy people in intense costumes follow the guests around and try to scare them. After participating in this somewhat strange event, I began to wonder why we celebrate Halloween and where it came from. After some investigation, I found out that Halloween started because the Celts believed that the souls of the dead came to visit Earth on the last day in October. Later on, the Romans conquered the Celts and adopted some of their beliefs (including their thoughts on Halloween). We all know that Roman influence, beliefs and traditions spread across most of the known world, which explains why we still find ourselves celebrating Halloween in modern times.

Since Halloween doesn't really mean anything to us, why do we still celebrate it? Halloween is not a holiday like Christmas or Hanukkah, which celebrates a specific religious event that people actually believe in. According to the National Retail Federation, Halloween celebrants are expected to spend $2.08 billion on candy this year. (To look at more statistics about Halloween in the US click here http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=News&op=viewlive&sp_id=1668) This article shows many shocking facts about the outrageous Halloween spending in our country.  Why is Halloween such a big deal? Do we continue our Halloween traditions solely for commercial reasons?

My friend and I posing in the coffins with a zombie woman

The zombie woman scaring
Reilly and Madeleine

"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.