Very recently, my family and I made a big move to be much closer to where we work. For various reasons, I can't tell you exactly where we live now, but suffice it to say that it's a "
leafy suburban paradise" I discovered North of a charming babbling Brook. And it's increasingly populated by what can only be described as modern-day
castles, resplendent with turrets, and which seem to mushroom overnight.
The purpose behind this disclosure is to welcome
you to a new place and give you a sense of what your own blogging could look like this year in American Studies. If you look at the post below (written in the Spring), notice that
Mr. O'Connor, my eloquent partner, utilized his intelligent cellular telephone to snap a photograph and upload it to the Inter-Webs. We are living in the Future, truly.
Importantly, Mr. O'Connor's post demonstrates that we can find subject matter for our blogs just by looking at the world around us and recognizing distinctly
American themes. In contrast to other cultures around the world, Americans are often characterized by their strident
individualism. In Finland, for example, before eating lunch in a large group, the Finns will dutifully line up to wash hands. No exceptions, and no one questions this behavior. Yet in the States, note how washing one's hands is considered to be a personal
choice, not so much an obligation toward society, even though we are all aware of the public health issues.
As I walked through the streets of my new town, I was struck by the examples of both
conformity and
individualism in the way people constructed their homes. And I don't mean "constructed" in the typical fashion evidenced by North Shore tear-downs. Instead, in our course, we often talk about
constructions in the way Americans might tailor their surroundings to send a particular message, or in the way media companies, novelists, or even historians work to create a compelling narrative.
Click here to look at the images I took with my portable talking machine (all of the houses are located on the same street), and draw some conclusions of your own with regard to the two themes mentioned above. Or, if you see other uniquely American details in these photos, please add those to the comments section of this post. Welcome, and please join the conversation.
