The Landscape of My Hometown, My "Point of View"

"The visual character of the places where we spend out lives gives us the patterns by which we see." - "Landscape is a Point of View" by Gregory Conniff

I am a Chicago suburbanite.  I am accustomed to the sight of concrete, strip malls, cookie-cutter subdivisions, and manicured lawns.  I lived in Vernon Hills, Illinois for over twelve years.  Even though I was only a short distance from the city, it is the suburbs that have shaped my perspective.  

From a young age, the American Dream has been explained to me as being able to return to the nice, quiet suburbs to raise a family of my own.  Also, I have been shown that success can be measured in material wealth.  SUV's, clothing, and the size of your house all indicate that you really are living out the "American Dream". 

I came to Saint Olaf to escape that narrow mindset, because I know that there is more to the "American Dream" than success in the subrubs.

(Below are pictures of my hometown and Chicago.  I got a bit nostalgic, so there are quiet a few.)

Gender as a Confounding Variable

"I am not suggesting that the antinomian controversy was only a matter of gender difference; of course, politics, social mores, and theology were also at the center of the conflict.  But since gender issues often define the nature and substance of political and theological debates in the first place, it is difficult (if not impossible) to separate out the significance of gender in any particular conflict"

-  "A Radically Different Voice: Gender and Language in the Trials of Anne Hutchinson" (254-5)

 As I was going over my Anne Hutchinson reading, this quote jumped out at me.  In Statistics 110, we've been talking about different variables.  In this case, the variable is Anne Hutchinson's gender, the confouding variable.  A confounding variable is inseperable from the explanatory variable (the cause of an outcome) and therefore cannot be discounted.  So, whatever the root of the controversey surrounding Anne Hutchinson, gender cannot be discounted, just as the above quote illustrates.

Although issues of feminism can seem repetitive, they have to be discussed.  Would Anne Hutchinson have gone on trial if she was a man?  And, would she/he still be be a symbol of American freedom?

Tea-Party Post: "Frustration and Fear Greet Obama in Town Hall Chat"

This is from last week, but it feels like no one reads the forums, so I'm putting it here.

 

I was reading the New York Times today, and I thought I'd share this article with you. What really struck me was the disillusionment of Obama's supporters, and the possibility of people turning to the "new hope", the Tea Party, even though most don't even know what the party is about.

Another part that stuck in my mind was a recent college grad overburdened with student loans asking the President Obama, "is the American Dream for me?".

The crux of the article criticized the Tea Party, quoting Obama's opinion that
it is "not enough for Tea Party Candidates to campaign on a theme of smaller government" and prospective Democrat strategies for competing with the Tea Party in future elections.

Read the entire article in the New York Times: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/us/politics/21obama.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

Genesis & Anne Hutchinson

"Surely historians can do better than John Winthrop, who argued that as a midwife Hutchinson had insinuated herself into the hearts of women, leading all those potential Eves to seduce their husbands into heresy."

- "Anne Hutchinson, Sectarian Mysticism, and the Puritan Order" (487)

 Obviously, Anne Hutchinson's image has been misconstrued by many historians.  However, most notably is how Anne Hutchinson's beliefs directly contradicted the male dominated church, which thought that women should be silent and that they were cursed because that women were a source of original sin (as illustrated by the above quote).

After reading this, I couldn't help but think back to my Religion 121 class, where we discussed feminist interpretations of "The Fall" such as how Eve gave mankind the gift to discern good and evil. Before that point, God told Adam and Eve what was good and evil. By partaking of the fruit, they became “free”.

Anyways, I thought this illustrated Anne Hutchinson's displacement, and how she clearly was ahead of her time with her feminist views.

The Pilgrim Sense of Freedom

I'll admit it.  Purtians and pilgrams are a confusing subject for me.  How any group or person could be so sure of their own beliefs to sail to the ends of the earth to start a new way of life astounds me.  Perhaps that is why their contradictions, freedom to practice intolerance and their unchristian treatment of the Native Americans are so commonly overlooked.

However, because I know, I see the the early settlers in a critical light.

For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world. We shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God, and all professors for God's sake. We shall shame the faces of many of God's worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us till we be consumed out of the good land whither we are going.

-A Model of Christian Clarity.

 I cannot help but to draw an allusion to the covenant the pilgrims believed they had with God, and the original covenants in Genesis that we discussed in Religion 121 this afternoon.  For all the love that the pilgrims claim they share with other Christians, they enstil the same sense of "those you are with you are blessed, and those against you are not" mindset found in the Old Testament.

To bring this post to a clearer focus, I answer the following question:
To whom are the freedoms extended and on what basis?

The purpose of the speech is to convince settlers to band together, with other Christians.  Outside groups, such as the Native Americans or other religions, are not mentioned.  "A Model of Christian Clarity" alludes many times to Moses and "other servants of the Lord".  Understanding this self-righteous mindset depicts how and why disagreements between the Native Americans and the settlers began.

Columbus and the Puritans

"And in such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of the thinking people, as Albert Camus suggested, not to be on the side of the executioners."

- A People's History of the United States, Howard Zinn (10)

 American history is glorifed.  Our founding fathers are portrayed almost to the stauts of hte parthenon of Greek Gods.  Their faults, mistakes, and shortcomings faded from memory.

A People's History of the United States began with a shocking account of the murder of the Arawaks, and how the first American settlers treated the Native Americans.  As mean, or closeminded as the Puritans may have been, they cannot compare to the absolute genocide that was orchestrated by Columbus.

I'm unsure of my feelings on the reading thus far.  The only conclusion I can draw at this point is that "The American Dream" can be a destructive force as well.

Poetry makes me jealous

it was an awful thought:

if you went to America

you became

a different person

-Paul-Helge Haugen, "Home From America"

These lines resonated with me the most from all of the poems.  As an American descended from pilrgims and long standing american family, I've always been curious about what it would have been like to be a first generation American.  Becoming an American, portrayed here by the "becoming a different person" is strange to think about.  Would I really be that different had I been raised somewhere else?  More importantly, how would it feel to fear myself ebbing away?

The tone of the entire poem is mournful, as the reader seems to be afraid of losing themself as they have witnessed such a drastic change within their relatives.  Haugen refers to old potographs, and their change in dress and demeanor, and attributes it all to their new residence in America. 

While I can't relate, I found the poem to be beautiful, yet sad piece of work. 

 

American Culture in Spanish 231

I know it's a bit late, but for my first commonplace post, I want to include something cool that happened in my Spanish 231 class yesterday.  Our professor had us brainstorm in Spanish "cosas que representan la cultura americana" or, what we thought best represented American culture from the outside looking in (what spanish speaking nations think of us). 

Unfortunately, the language barrier kept our class from coming up with anything close to the points we came up with in AmCon.  The most popular answers for American culture were McDonalds, Justin Bieber, Betty White (?) and Barack Obama.  Since I had time to reflect on this, it disappointed me to think that trivial things like fast food and celebrities were what the U.S. was most memorable for.  We spent the rest of the class trying to think deeper about American culture (and of course how to take our Spanish speaking abilities to the next level. Scary!). 

I thought it was really cool how another class related to American Conversations so quickly.  I look forward to more of these fun connections, and I'll be sure to share them as they come up.