tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164556861454970487.post3149610762264474471..comments2023-10-08T05:00:23.559-04:00Comments on Clarissa's Blog: An International Faculty Member in the MidwestClarissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11027134365260069910noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164556861454970487.post-79098775786006870742010-10-23T02:21:40.533-04:002010-10-23T02:21:40.533-04:00"the US couldn't have fought a war with S..."the US couldn't have fought a war with Spain in the early XVIth century because the US didn't exist."<br /><br />It was fought by US time travelers from the year 2300.<br /><br />-MikeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164556861454970487.post-14791758441992066932010-10-22T17:03:47.028-04:002010-10-22T17:03:47.028-04:00I realized that even in the context of a course on...I realized that even in the context of a course on the literature of Spain I need to specify that I'm referring to Toledo, Spain, not Toledo, Ohio. :-) Which makes me feel very weird. Still, I have no choice because otherwise some students get hopelessly confused. <br /><br />Also, last week a student took offense when I mentioned that the US couldn't have fought a war with Spain in the early XVIth century because the US didn't exist.Clarissahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11027134365260069910noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164556861454970487.post-71566599777048889162010-10-22T16:56:39.263-04:002010-10-22T16:56:39.263-04:00I read somewhere that the average U.S. citizen nev...I read somewhere that the average U.S. citizen never travels beyond a100 mile radius from where they were born. Given how apparently mobile U.S. Society is I find this hard to believe. <br />On the other hand anyone who has lived abroad, other than on a military base, is looked upon with some suspicion, “what the good ol’ USA wasn’t good enough for you?” or at best incomprehension. Indeed having spent a number of years living in Flanders, Belgium it is amazing to me the number of people who have either never heard of Belgium or have no idea of where it is located.Richardnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164556861454970487.post-84312666106862982492010-10-22T12:07:52.149-04:002010-10-22T12:07:52.149-04:00I forgot to mention that my personal experience ec...I forgot to mention that my personal experience echoes that of "Anonymous" above. After serving overseas in Japan, my view of the world and my place in it really changed. The same can be said for most of the guys I knew who were over there with me. This was the Marine Corps, mind you, which is considered the most "doctrinaire" of the services (not true: the Air Force is!), but most of the people I knew in there were pretty interesting, came from a variety of cultural and religious backgrounds, and actively embraced the culture of the host country where we served. When I started college at the ripe old age of 24, I felt like I had a life experience that most of my fellow students (who were 20 at the oldest) did not.ericnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164556861454970487.post-84470344672331159572010-10-22T10:49:17.170-04:002010-10-22T10:49:17.170-04:00America is so spread out, too. In Europe, you cou...America is so spread out, too. In Europe, you could travel 20 miles and people could be speaking an entirely different language (or at least a dialect that is not exactly mutually intelligible). Right here in the Rocky Mountain region (stretching from Arizona to Montana), we have the largest bloc by area where people speak the same dialect (as distinct from Southern, Yooper, New England, etc.). Despite this, there is a lot of cultural diversity, with Native Americans, Hispanics (Mexicans, Hispanos, and Basques in some rural areas), real cowboys, Italians, Finns, Germans, and Irish in certain former mining communities, and even more diversity in larger cities. I've never been through the Midwest proper, so I'm not sure how that would compare.ericnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164556861454970487.post-84011151984618094222010-10-22T10:36:25.481-04:002010-10-22T10:36:25.481-04:00That is why I often feel I would not want to live ...That is why I often feel I would not want to live anywhere else besides Newark Delaware. I grew up in a small Appalachian town with, as you say, limited life experiences. I did manage to study ballet for several years, and my reading kept me from being as narrow as many of my contemporaries. Nevertheless, until I spent a significant amount of time in Poland and visited other places, I often did not grasp how limited my experiences had been. <br /><br />However, I still instinctively prefer small town life on a day to day basis. I love being able to visit Philadelphia, New York City, Baltimore, and Washington D. C. (as well as Mexico City, Warszawa, and several other cities further from the East Coast of North America) but I would not want to live in such a large place. But the very limited experiences which living in a small town isolated from different cultural experiences afford are indeed a problem.Pagan Topologisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01611788563582362688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164556861454970487.post-70907567385049382582010-10-22T10:15:42.795-04:002010-10-22T10:15:42.795-04:00I grew up in a very rural, very small town in Nort...I grew up in a very rural, very small town in North Florida.<br /><br />After joining the Army, traveling the world, then living in two other countries, when I came back to visit that same small town, I felt more like a foreigner there than in the countries which I'd been living.<br /><br />That was an odd experience.<br /><br /><br />-MikeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com