U.S.A
The
letters USA stand for the United States of America and it it exactly
that, a federation of states that share a common goal and interest.
The country was born in 1776 when the then 13 colonies won their
independence from England, and later officially recognized as such in
1783 in the treaty of Paris.
The
USA also stands for an ideal, a dream as stated in the Declaration of
Independence "all men are created equal" and that they are
"endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights"
including "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
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| Freedom for all |
These
words were put to the test during several periods of it existence,
especially during the dark years of slavery and the subsequent
American civil war, where the northern states and southern states
fought for 5 bloody years, to defend, at all cost, those 5 words
concerning equality.
USA
was also known as the new world by the Europeans nations and
nationalities, a place of infinite and new opportunities, a land
waiting to be cultivated and used; forgetting or perhaps blind to the
fact that the Native American tribes already called
it their
homeland. In the name of progress, these " savages " were
relocated or killed by the hundreds and thousands leaving only a few
remaining tribes to survive on reservations.
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| Native American tribe. |
These
are some of the perceptions that come to my mind when I hear U.S.A.
So let's see what other people think of these 3 letters.
What
comes to mind when you hear U.S.A?
My
wife : Barack Obama and the White House were her first words
mentioned and after reflecting some more she added the Oscars,
Washington, D.C. New York and the Statue of Liberty
My
daughter: hotdogs, the flag, Miami, New York, desert( Texas Las
Vegas), snow (White Christmas), after some pondering Obama and
Madison Square Garden
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| The Obama residence |
A
colleague at work Ines ( Spanish coordinator): Americans, dollar,
shopping, vacations, Washington, war and to end Obama and money.
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| Money, money, money |
6th
grade student Brunella: flag, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln,
Obama, blue eyed people with blond hair and after some seconds, the
bald eagle and the White House.
9th
grade student Leonardo : shopping, fun, fast food, English and to end, he mentioned baseball
To what conclusion we can come, is not clear but most of those asked
mentioned Obama and one of the mayor cities. What is striking that
the one person who grew up in the USA did not mention those famous
names and landmarks but demonstrated a more civic mindedness, so I
guess that outsiders are bound to have a different view point from the ones that lived or have lived on the inside.
Some
facts about America
There
are fifty states that make up the United States of America, Rhode
Island being the smallest and Alaska being the biggest. Click on the
following world. STATES AND CAPITALS Which shows you all the 50 states and their capitals.
The
biggest cities are in first place New York with a population of
around 19 million, followed by Los Angeles with 13 million
inhabitants.
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| The river keeps on rollin' |
The
longest river in the USA is the Mississippi, starting in the state
of Minnesota and reaching the state of Mississippi after 2,340 miles,
and the highest mountain is Mount McKinley in Alaska with 20,236
feet.
After
China and Russia, It is the third most populated nation in the world.
The
first man to set a foot on another celestial boy was Neil Armstrong,
an American, when he and his crew landed on the moon in 1969.
The
world largest producer of fruit and vegetable, the Dole Food Company
is located in the USA.
America
does not have an official national language on federal level,
unofficially though 80% of the population speak English and 12%
Spanish.
American
English
There
are different types of regional usage and pronunciation of American
English inside the USA, we have the southern drawl, where words seems
to be lingering on a person's lip as you can see in this video.
We
also have the Boston accent, influenced by its Irish heritage. You
see an examples of it on this video of the reaction of Southies,
which is another name for people who reside in the south of Boston.
Louisiana
has the Cajun language, named after the Cajuns, coming from the
French: les Cadiens or les Acadiens, an ethnic group mainly living in
the U.S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian
exiles, French-speakers from Acadia in what are now the Maritimes.
Today,
the Cajuns make up a significant portion of south Louisiana's
population, and have exerted an enormous impact on the state's
culture.
Have
a look see of the following map and find out how words and meaning
change from region to region and sometimes from state to state. Click on the word .L A N G U A G E
But
the best examples of how many and what type of accents and languages
are used in America, are the following clips and links from the documentary
called American Tongues. Check it out it is worthwhile listening and
you'll discover how American use their language on a daily every day
basis.
click on the words English? WHAT'S IN A WORD
Entertainment
Hollywood, and the music industry
As
we noticed from the interview Hollywood, is part of the consciousness
what we can call American universal culture. This Film industry
wields an enormous financial and cultural power around the world, and
produces and distributes an astonishing amount of English spoken
movies to be consumed and enjoyed by all the world. Only India, with its
Bollywood productions, comes first in the sheer amount of movies
produced.
When
we take a quick look at the history of Hollywood we see that by 1912,
major motion-picture companies had set up production near or in Los
Angeles.
Four
major film companies – Paramount, Warner Bros., RKO and Columbia –
had studios in Hollywood, as did several minor companies and rental
studios.
From
then on it has become a beacon for every actress, actor to become
famous and wealthy. The nicknames Tinseltown and Movie Biz City for
Hollywood refer to the glittering nature of the movie industry.
We
can trace back the origin of Many musical genres to the USA, such as
the blues born in the cotton fields in the south around the 1900's,
expressing the pain and hardship of life.
We
have jazz, with African influences, again born in the early 20th
century, enriched by many distinctive styles, demonstrating a high
degree of improvisation and creativity by its founders and artists.
We
have country music, beginning in the 1920s, the first country records
and radio programs brought the music out of the rural heartland and
into homes across America. By the 1930s, as America struggled with
the twin horrors of the Dust Bowl and the Great
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| Some good old music! |
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| N.WA |
The food
Just as films and music have influenced other cultures so has the American fast food experience. Fast food such as hamburgers and hotdog are to be found everywhere and McDonalds and Coke are concepts that are part of every day culture around the world. Even in unlikely places as China we can find a McDonalds restaurant and coke is shipped to the farthest corners of the world.
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| Pass the ketchup please! |
We know that both these dishes have a strong German influence just as pizza, which is as Italian as Leonardo DaVinci. What we can see is that the American cuisine is based on, and influenced by all the culinary experience the immigrant brought with them, when they came to the USA.
American
sports
American
football and baseball are 2 sport that originated in the USA, both in the early 1900's, first there were amateur leagues that eventually became professional. Both sports are part of the American fabric of life; there are little kids leagues and games in neighborhood and park, and also in schools and universities. Games are played regularly and televised around the globe; mayor stadiums attract large crowds of football and baseball enthusiasts.
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| Mr. Naismith |
Multicultural
America has from its beginning been a nation of Immigrants. In the early beginning the Native American tribes and the people from France and England found ways of coexisting, albeit not always peaceful, later on settler from European countries such Ireland and Germany to name but 2, added more and more to the mix.
These were all integrated into the American society making it more diverse. Immigrants from Latin American and Asian countries followed bringing new customs, traditions, beliefs and religions. America was and still is seen as the land of opportunity and freedom; the opportunity to start a new life, to improve yourself and the freedom to do so. Also the freedom to practice whatever belief suits you, as long as you respect the traditions and beliefs of others.
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| All are welcome in America. |
These were all integrated into the American society making it more diverse. Immigrants from Latin American and Asian countries followed bringing new customs, traditions, beliefs and religions. America was and still is seen as the land of opportunity and freedom; the opportunity to start a new life, to improve yourself and the freedom to do so. Also the freedom to practice whatever belief suits you, as long as you respect the traditions and beliefs of others.
American
influence
the
60's and 70's
Social
and cultural changes
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| a soldier with a peace symbol |
This
particular decade is marked by a social and culture upheaval; many
movements take root and developed further during this time. We have
the hippy movement, the student protests, the civil rights movement, the
Vietnam war involvement and the black power awareness, all coinciding
to alter the American society and its relationship with and influence
on other countries.
The
hippies
The
hippy movement with its slogan, “make peace not war”, advocated a
return to a harmonious way of living, being in touch with nature.
They promoted sharing and community life, getting rid of the
constricting rules of society and living freely, which included “free
love” and the indulgence of drugs to alter one's perception of
reality.
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| Peace and Love |
It
was a life styles that challenged that status quo of the American
dream, where hard work and striving to better oneself, were seen as
unnecessary and counter productive to finding true happiness. Famous
are the summer of Love and Woodstock as expressions of this
subculture.
Civil
rights movement
The
civil rights movement, which started in the 1950's, championed equal
right for all, for example woman, people of different race and skin
color, and also immigrants. The people became aware that they had to
and were able to fight for their rights. Especially black citizen and
students, who were excluded from society, due to segregation laws,
began to demand equality and crusade against these unjust laws that
kept black people from achieving their dreams.
In
1961, James Meredith became the first black student to enroll at the
University of Mississippi, which caused violence and riots and
federal troops to be send to keep the peace.
In
1964, then president Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act, which
prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on ace, color, religion
or national origin; what's more the law provides the federal
government with the powers to enforce desegregation.
Martin
Luther king was one of the champions of the civil rights movement,
and his famous “I have a dream” speech planted the seeds and the
hope for what the American society should and could be come, with
equal rights for all. Sadly he was assassinated in 1968 in a motel
in Louisiana.
Not
all civil rights movements campaigned for non violence to achieve
their goals. Malcolm X, a influential spokes person and founder of
the Afro-American Unity and the black Muslim faith, was, at least in
the beginning pro violence as a means to further the rights of the
black population. He was murdered in 1965, after he abandoned these
extremist views.
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| Black Panther Salute - Olympics Mexico city 1968 |
The
black panthers movement was a founded in 1966 in Oakland, California
By Huey Newton and Bobby Seale primarily called for the protection of
black neighborhoods
from
police brutality. Later on the movement became much more militant and
confrontational, possibly including amongst its members known criminals; and was considered to be a threat to the national security
of the USA by the director of the F.B.I, J. Edgar Hoover.
Vietnam
war
The
war, which was to stop communism from spreading into “free” and
democratic countries, was and extension of the Cold War; where the 2
super powers USA and Russia struggled to maintain or gain a sphere of
influence on a geopolitical level. America was to help the peace
loving people of Vietnam to defend itself against unwanted “foreign
intruders” such as the North Vietnamese, backed and or guided by
the Russian and Chinese Communists. The information provided and the
general tactics used by the American leaders both civilian and
military were morally and ethically corrupt, which became slowly clear with the help of the stories war veterans provided (stories of horror and murder),
furthermore the independent press discovered ( see the Pentagon
Papers) the lies the authorities were trying to cover up.
The
war became increasingly unpopular inside and outside the USA, many
anti war protests held by university students and the general
population demanded an pressured the government to end this despised
war, which eventually happened in the mid 70's
Student
were also on the forefront of anti government protest
in other
countries such as France, Italy and in Mexico, urging the
authorities to change their ways and allow for a more open society.
The results in some places were catastrophic, such as the murder of
thousands of innocent students in the Tlatelolco massacre in Mexico
City.
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| Repression! |
The protest made it clear that the authorities mostly had their own interest in mind and not the benefits of the people, as a dialogue was considered to be weakness, therefore repression was chosen to control the masses.
Music changes the world
Rock
and roll and the British invasion also changed the cultural scene of
America and the world. The music from the 60's and 70's, became the
embodiment of rebellion against one' parents, the rules of society
and the authorities in general. Music that wanted to change the
world a song at a time, music that carried ideals across borders and
boundaries. Songs of protest, by Bob Dylan and songs about sex ,
“Can't get no satisfaction”, by the Rolling Stones changed the
musical landscape.
The type of clothing worn by these artists and the
type of life style, drugs and free love, provided an alternative for
millions of youths around the world. The music, fashion and way of
life was copied and used by musicians and young people from other
countries and continents, carrying with it the notion of rebellion,
and of challenging the existing conditions.
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| Power to the People! |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_baseball_in_the_United_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Naismith
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_baseball_in_the_United_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Naismith
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