Society & Culture in the US

I was talking to a friend of mine, who I had not talked to in months, and she was telling about how she works at one of those places that is kind of like the elder care in Atlanta place my dad was talking about my uncle putting my grandmother in, except it is much more…I do not know, is terminal the word? Not at all, but the best way I can explain it is that the people need a lot more supervision. They all have some sort of disorder that makes them act out in certain ways and they need people there who can watch them and calm them down. She used to do the same thing with kids as well, which to me was a little sadder to hear about, I do not know why. The idea of having to strap down a child because he or she is acting out uncontrollably is really depressing. She said she loved the kids though, they looked up to her like she was their parent of sorts. Most of them had been abused or abandoned by their parents and have a real hard time socially. I guess part of her job was to help them cope. She told me she hears all the time from people that they would not be able to do it when I told her the same thing.

My brother Dick is a personal injury attorney in Illinois. He lives in the city of Chicago. I haven’t been to Chicago, but I’ve been to New York, so I know what big cities are like, believe you me. My brother has his own law firm in Chicago. He graduated from DePaul University, first his BA, then his JD. Our parents moved to Florida a year before I was born, but when Dick was still in high school, they lived in a suburb of Chicago known as Riverside. It’s just west of Oak Park, where Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous houses are. Yes, Dick and I are 17 years apart. My mother was only 20 when Dick was born. When my dad came into some family money, they said, what the hey, let’s try it again, let’s try for a girl this time. And there I was, Camillia Patrice Zonenmast. Well, here’s the latest on ol’ CPZ. I’m returning to school myself—SUNY at Binghamton—for pre-med studies. I’m going to try to become a psychologist with a PsycD degree. I promised my brother that I would refer clients who felt wrongly injured by their employers or by their families or friends to him. It’s a long shot, because I live in Elmira, New York, which is well over 800 miles from Chicago. The good news is—Dick’s best college buddy, Steve, practices in Albany. I dated Steve recently after his first divorce, but nothing came of it and I suspect it’s just as well.

When I saw the look on my mom’s face I thought for sure that she was going to disown me. I knew that she would be upset because she had co-signed on a relatively large loan for me so I could get a decent interest rate. My credit rating wasn’t the greatest and I needed someone to step in and help me, which she did. Now that I filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, she thought I would be dragging her credit down the toilet right along with mine. I explained to her that chapter 13 had a provision in place to protect co-debtors, so she wouldn’t have to worry about the creditors coming after her for the money that I owed. I also explained to her that it certainly wasn’t my intention to have my business fail and not be able to pay my bills. It was just a very unfortunate situation, but I was going to do everything in my power to fix it and that I would do my best to protect her. Hopefully after a few months go by, and she sees that no one is going to harass her and that I’m doing my very best to make all this right, she’ll be able to trust me again.

My Grandparents recently moved to Florida. I really miss them. We would visit at least once a week. My Grandma is really cool. She takes me pretty much wherever I like. Sometimes we would go window shopping at the mall or shop around all the local Dollar Stores. Whatever tickles my fancy she was willing to go along with, as long as it was pretty reasonable. Last winter we went to see the Ice Sculptures downtown. It was so much fun. They gave us these extra overcoats to keep warm. The sculptures were absolutely astounding, we took tons of pictures, and I made a really pretty scrapbook from all them. I made two actually, one for me and one for Grandma. Grandpa is fun too; he's the joker type, very loving. We live in Portland, Oregon, it's such a beautiful city, on Sundays we go for drives, just to see the beautiful mountain waterfalls. Grandma and Grandpa hated to make the move but the cold winters were getting too much for them, well at least they'll come visit in June. But it's only the beginning of December and June seems like forever away. So I am debating on taking a trip to visit them over winter break. I can't decide if I should take the train or fly. I guess I'll see what is the best-priced ticket I can find.

In Toni Morison’s novel “The bluest eye” we find a genuine description of American culture of 1940s and the process of cultural changes. In the 1920s when radio was first catching on, the idea of a popular culture was somewhat different than what we have today. Evolving over the next 30 years or so, it reached a peak where it could begin to overtake and become an integral part of other cultures, much like the Hollywood of the 1930s quickly grew to encompass the rest of the world and inform their pop culture. Thus began the final and full assimilation of Japanese pop culture into American.

From our observations of American tourists and some expatriates here in Mexico, they act as if the Mexican people are ignorant savages that should be thankful the Americans come and throw money into their economy. With Mexican-American relationships deteriorating at an exponential rate, what gets to me is the total lack of perception or unwillingness on the behalf of the American people to perceive their responsibility in this deterioration.

As an American, I am often jealous of Europeans who pick up languages like you'd pick up a bottle of milk at the store. Since Native American peoples had no concept of land ownership, the European invaders considered the land to be up for grabs. Another land issue that caused conflict within the Native American peoples was the policy of removing Indians from their traditional homelands onto reservations.

In talking with an elementary school principal, she shared with me that the single most contributing factor to the decline in academic achievement is the lack of values within society. An early effort to broaden the base of education was made by the Franciscans in Mexico with the support of Viceroy Mendoza.

If one was to go shopping at a local card store, there is an array of products that support ageism or the dis valuing of those who are considered biologically and culturally old. Is growing older a social and cultural perception? One which affects those who grow old to a negative or positive degree, depending upon what culture they are naturally acculturated? I believe growing old is in fact largely social and cultural, not just biological; it is a matter of perception, and in America a negative one. Remember when you're traveling in Europe that rudeness is largely a cultural perception.

In architecture, Spanish America made best use of its cultural heritage. The effectiveness of the Spanish American universities was uneven: some had periods of distinction; others were never more than mediocre training schools for priests; still others were little more than secondary schools.

Although African Americans were taxpayers like other residents of Orlando, they did not have access to recreational facilities, good schools, police protection, health care and other services that were provided to white citizens. Many of these canvases were brought from Spain, and an obliging sacristan is always ready to tell the visitor that this is an authentic Murillo, that a Titian, the other a Zurbaran. Perhaps we need a new term to describe the North American Sauna Culture.

Executive health is a big concern for companies today. There seems to be so much stress in our lives now, more so than ever before. With so much competition going on in the business world, the economy not at its best and so many businesses closing down, executives have so much on their minds. They often don’t stop to think what affect all this tension has on them. It not only causes mental strain but can also show up as a physical illness too. They don’t take the time to take care of themselves and often put off seeing their doctors because they are so busy. It is so important to take good care of yourself so you can efficiently take care of your duties on your job. Make sure you see your doctor for a yearly checkup. High blood pressure, cardiovascular disease or another illness can crop up at any time. Your doctor can check you out and nip a problem in the bud before it gets any worse. Eat healthy; many of the fast food items we eat are not very healthy. Exercise to keep your body in shape and your mind sharp. Try to take some time for yourself just to smell the roses, as they say.

In the bus on the way home from visiting a casino, my Uncle Andy asked if I was interesting in football betting? I told him I knew nothing about football and therefore never bet on football. He just laughed knowing I was tempted as I have been know to gamble on things I don’t know much about before. The football betting he spoke of was a little different than placing bets on the teams. It was actually a football pool. You just pay your money and the numbers are chosen for you. You only have to pay attention to the last number of the score and if you have the last numbers of the score for each of the teams you win. It is also broken down by quarters, so you have four chances to win each game. Of course, Uncle Andy talked me into getting into this football pool. I never watch football but since I was in this pool I thought it might be fun to follow the game. I really got involved in the game and now I’m hooked. I started watching football and following the teams I thought were interesting. I think I will look into football betting after all. I actually just bought the best-priced tickets to the game this weekend.

This afternoon on lunch break the topic of bancarrota came up. A lot of people had different ideas as to what bankruptcy means to their financial dealings. Today, many people are suffering under mountains of debt. Many of these people are using the protection of bancarrota to help provide relief. There are many reasons that could lead up to bankruptcy. Some of the debts have been due to victims of divorce, job loss, identity theft, large medical bills or disability. Sometimes it is a combination of unfortunate events that contribute to this situation. Putting the blame on yourself doesn’t help resolve your financial dilemma. There are companies out there that know all the rules and regulations with regard to bankruptcy and can help you find the right course to follow to get your situation resolved. The people in my office all agreed that getting legal advice would be the best way to go. Trying to work something out by yourself is very time consuming and if you don’t know all the codes involved you get further into debt and cause yourself more headaches. Talking to individuals who handle bankruptcy every day would be a good start in finding a solution.