May 1, 2013

Music plays a huge role in each culture. Whether it includes performing, dancing, singing, or worshiping, each culture has a place for certain types of music.  In America, places like Seattle, Austin, Chicago, and New York are known for various music scenes.  In Seattle, especially in the Pike Place Market, there are bands playing on every corner, sometimes...

Apr 25, 2013

Just as we use a different vernacular with our professors, “I’d like to argue that a Post-Structuralist reading of Shakespeare’s The Tempest encourages the reader to see the island as a simulacrum,” and our friends, “Oh girl, I totes had the best hun-cal fro-yo today,” our culture too, defines what kind of language we use. With some, the tone is...

I’m a touch.  You don’t know what a touch is?  Let me explain. According to “marriage and life expert” Gary Chapman, there are five love languages in which people feel loved by other people.  These include the following: physical touch, words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, and acts of service.  To learn more about these extraordinary gifts and...

Apr 11, 2013

Define the term friends with benefits.  What about girlfriend/boyfriend?  Fiancé?  Easy right?  Be careful where in the world you say what, though.  In Gabon, Africa, for example, referring to your petit ami (boyfriend) means the boy you’re sexually involved with, or perhaps the man you’re engaged to.  If you slip up there, things become awkward real...

Apr 4, 2013

One of the best parts about travelling is the food and drink.  Can I get an Amen?  In fact, I love trying the cultural foods, wines, beers, what have you, of the place I am visiting.  The best thing to do is to learn and try the thing of what the country (or city/state) is known for.  For example, when visiting Wisconsin, go ahead and try some cheese...

Mar 28, 2013

Is art important? It does not seem to be in America, at least not as valued as it is in Europe. In Europe, everything is appreciated as a type of art – portraits, graffiti, architecture, music, gardens, etc. Anything that is practical is also always aesthetically pleasing. Beauty can come in political graffiti murals in Ireland, water towers in France, or...