Merry Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual Christian holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. It is celebrated on December 25, but this date is not known to be Jesus' actual birthday, and may have initially been chosen to correspond with either the day exactly nine months after some early Christians believed Jesus had been conceived,[8] a historical Roman festival,[9] or the date of the northern hemisphere's winter solstice. Christmas is central to the Christmas and holiday season, and in Christianity marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days.
Although a Christian holiday, Christmas is also widely celebrated by many non-Christians, and some of its popular celebratory customs have pre-Christian or secular themes and origins. Popular modern customs of the holiday include gift-giving, music, an exchange of greeting cards, church celebrations, a special meal, and the display of various decorations; including Christmas trees, lights, garlands, mistletoe, nativity scenes, and holly. In addition, Father Christmas (known as Santa Claus in some areas, including North America, Australia and Ireland) is a popular folklore figure in many countries, associated with the bringing of gifts for children. [1]
Because gift-giving and many other aspects of the Christmas festival involve heightened economic activity among both Christians and non-Christians, the holiday has become a significant event and a key sales period for retailers and businesses. The economic impact of Christmas is a factor that has grown steadily over the past few centuries in many regions of the world. [2]
The interesting point is that almost every country celebrates the new year of its own in some similar way. And in our own country there is a special ceremony to welcome the New Year and celebrate the rebirth of nature and awakening of it. To Christians their celebration has some sort of religious connotation, but for us as Iranians there is no religious background and it is a celebration of rebirth of nature and we hope that with rebirth of nature all the good values and hopes and wishes will be reborn to us an to our families as well.
Sources
1. Christmas, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas
2. Christmas, www.history.com/content/christmas

Schema

Schema has a broad scope of definition. Schema is a general picture that exists in our mind about everything. There exists a variety of schema in every branch of science, there are schemas in psychology, politics, literature and so forth, but here in this post by schema I mean the general negative picture that exists in people’s minds and usually it is because of lack of information and being away from the true reality.
According to what we discussed in our classroom, some of the schemas are distorted realities that have taken shape on the basis of some presuppositions and perceptions. I think the essence of lots of our troubles in communicating and making relation with each other is due to these schemas that are not based on true reality and actually are distorted realities. Because we are not aware of the truth behind concepts and events we being to shape pictures that are far from reality and the problem is that we deem them as reality. These schemas are the major impediments to our true and effective common understanding, it is said that lack of knowledge is the cause of shaping these schemas in our mind; actually the unintellectual, uneducated person tends to behave and act according to their instinct and are not ready to reasonable communication, but it is expected from the educated reasonable person to leave aside all the presuppositions and prejudices and do not judge people before hand and let the idea to take shape based on true communication.
There have taken shape lots of pro and anti American schemas around the world. To some people just the name of America brings some sort of respect and yearning that inspires them to admire America ignorantly and when you ask them why you are so in fond of a country that you do not know much about it, they rely don’t have a clear answer to it. And also there are lots of anti American schemas, some people just reject whatever is told about America and do not even listen to discussions and speeches and just want to reject whatever is told or is related to America.
I believe as long as we do not get rid of all the presuppositions and prejudices that exist in ourselves, we cannot move forward in the direction of true human communication and achievement.

Reference:
www.images.google.com/
Dr. Amelie,s class on schema

Women back from combat are not welcomed

WASHINGTON – Nobody wants to buy them a beer.

In a report that was published in yahoo news, it is noted that women veterans coming back from battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan face cold faces and there is no sense of welcome in them. Some people in America believe that, these veterans coming home have not done anything for their country or even for other countries and do not deserve even a glass of beer. But what do these women think? Didn’t they really do anything to help America in the new world? Didn’t they really do anything for America?
Some of these women come back home expecting a warm welcome but there is no sign of that. They face cold salute because people don’t believe any oppositive job has been done in battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan, because of the bad economic situations at home and more pressures outside women veterans are not considered as heroines and they face lots of challenges at home. Why is it the case? Why women are not welcomed? And even worse these women are facing a larger amount of challenges. Aimee Sherrod, an Air Force veteran who did three war tours, said years went by when she didn't tell people she was a veteran. After facing sexual harassment during two tours and mortar attacks in Iraq, the 29-year-old mother of two from Bells, Tenn., was medically discharged in 2005 with post-traumatic stress disorder.
She's haunted by nightmares and wakes up some nights thinking she's under attack. She's moody as a result of PTSD and can't function enough to work or attend college. Like some other veterans, she felt she improperly received a low disability rating by the Department of Veterans Affairs that left her with a token monthly payment. She was frustrated that her paperwork mentioned she was pregnant, a factor she thought was irrelevant.( Associated Press, yahoo news). Now the question is that why? Why women in American army face more troubles than men? maybe the answer is that they are more emotional than men and are not ready enough to face harsh scenee tha t are inevitable in battlefields. the other reason may be the moral conduct of those women, maybe they are crossing some red lines that should not be crossed. If they observe moral ethics it is more likely that they would face less troubles.
www.news.yahoo.com

Obama's plan for health insurance reform

Health care in the United States is provided by many separate legal entities. Health care facilities are largely owned and operated by the private sector. Health insurance is primarily provided by the private sector, with the exception of programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program and the Veterans Health Administration. According to data compiled and published by multiple international pharmaceutical trade groups, the US is the world leader in biomedical research and development as well as the introduction of new biomedical products; pharmaceutical trade organizations also maintain that the high cost of health care in the U.S. has encouraged substantial reinvestment in such research and development.
At least 15% of the population is completely uninsured, and a substantial additional portion of the population is "underinsured", or less than fully insured for medical costs they might incur More money per person is spent on health care in the United States than in any other nation in the world, and a greater percentage of total income in the nation is spent on health care in the U.S. than in any United Nations member state except for East Timor. Medical debt is the principal cause of personal bankruptcy in the United States. According to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the United States is the "only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not ensure that all citizens have coverage" (i.e. some kind of insurance) (Wikipedia)
Now Obama is going to reform this sick health care system. Obama believes that the reform of health insurance will provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance and it will provide insurance to those who don’t and it will lower the cost of health care for the families and businesses and the government, but on the other hand democrats believe that this bill would also burden middle-class Americans with billions of dollars in taxes and fees. The taxes and fees kick in next year. The health care coverage doesn't start until six years from now.(www.withehouse.gov)

More troops in Afghanistan!

Obama has sent more troops to Afghanistan; this is the headline of the news in these days. Why? Do you remember Obama’s plans for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan during his election campaign?

He had pledged to “finish the job “in Afghanistan, but now this is not achievable. How does Obama justify his plan? According to Obama’s own speech in white house, he thinks that war in terrorism is a must and that is a way and more accurately a mission that should be accomplished with more power and energy. Obama believes that war in Iraq and Afghanistan is a just cause, but war in Iraq distracts American policy from Afghanistan and all the attentions were absorbed to Iraq. Obama believes that war in Afghanistan is not lost, but it is deteriorated and lots of American and Afghan resources are have been wasted there and the aim for which the war began was not fulfilled. The first impulse that fired Americans for the war in Afghanistan was the AL-Qaeda and their terrorist attacks, now the terrorist attacks are turned off but Al-Qaeda is not arrested. Obama believes that Al-Qaeda has not become powerful, but has been able to best way to impede their efforts is to have a more powerful military force in and a more powerful presence in Afghanistan in order not to let their practices be accomplished. (www.whitehouse.com)

Book Review

Co-author book review by Arezoo Ataollahie and Raziye Kharidar
“The New Americans” by Ruben Martinez
Published in the United States by The New Press, New York, 2004
Distributed by W. W. Norton& Company, Inc.,New York
•Hardcover: 288 pages
•Publisher: New Press, The (March 2004)
•Language: English
•ISBN-10: 156584792X
•ISBN-13: 978-1565847927


"The New Americans" is written by Ruben Martinez who is a journalist, author and musician born in 1962, Los Angeles. He is the son of Rubén Martinez, a Mexican American who worked as a lithographer, and Vilma Angula, a Salvadoran psychologist. Among the themes covered in his works are: Immigrant life and globalization, the cultural and political history of Los Angeles (Martinez's hometown), the civil wars of the 1980s in Central America (his mother is a native of El Salvador), And Mexican politics and culture. (He is a second-generation Mexican-American on the father's side of his family (Wikipedia).
His professional career started from 1986 until 1993, when he was a writer and editor at AL weekly; becoming the first Latino on staff there. Subsequently, he became a contributing essayist to National Public Radio, and a TV host for the Los Angeles-based politics and culture series Life & Times, for which he won an Ammy Award. His essays, opinions, and reportage have appeared in most of the country's major newspapers and magazines.
Martinez’ books include: Flesh Life: Sex in Mexico (with Joseph Rodriguez, Powerhouse Books, 2006), The New Americans (New Press, 2004), a companion volume to the PBS series of the same name, Crossing Over: A Mexican Family over the Migrant Trail (Metropolitan/Holt, 2001), East Side Stories (with Joseph Rodriguez, Powerhouse Books, 1998), and The Other Side: Notes from the New L.A., Mexico City & Beyond (Vintage, 1993). As a political commentator, Martinez has made appearances On Nightline, Politically Incorrect, and Frontline. (Wikipedia)

In this book the author is trying to depict the plight, dreams and wishes of the immigrants who leave their countries and go to America in search of wealth and opportunity and a lot of difficulties are facing them. The author is not happy with the policies that are applied by the United States regarding immigration and especially the policies that were applied after 9/11 toward immigrants. To his point of view the immigrants that are coming to America after 9/11 are facing tough situations. Actually the author feels sorry for the new comers because of the new atmosphere that is prevailing in America in the sense that in the new situation people are more likely to get arrested because of their appearance and their complexion and people from east are seen as guilty of doing something wrong and even they are not free to appear in public the way they wish, because there are prejudices over the people from Asia and the eastern world , but we can say that this book is a descriptive book about the life of seven immigrant families that leave their homelands in pursuit of wealth and security and head toward America to fulfill their wishes and dreams. In this book Martinez tries to depict the difficulties that face immigrants in the process of arriving in America and becoming American. He is actually trying to show how America’s policies toward immigration have changed after September 11, 2001, and how immigration is changing America as well.

Descriptive analytic part:
The book starts with the story of a Palestinian family who migrates to Chicago. At first it is very difficult for them to depart from their relatives and homeland. In spite of the fact that they have been looking forward to leaving Palestine and go to America , now they see that the country and village and people and culture that most often they belittled, is the only culture that they knew and the only place that they sensed. Naima, the daughter of the family and the fiancée of Hatem had long waited for this occasion and had always imagined the future of her life in Chicago and the sense of achieving her dreams encompassed her. But now deportation is not that easy. Here are the sentences from Naima herself that depict her sense more accurately.
But she will know that she has left something essential behind. Not just her family or her old house or the sights and smells of the village.....It is something that is greater than the sum of these parts: history itself. Now she will be divorced from history, from herself. In America she will walk into another chapter of history and all the symbols will be rearranged beginning with language, and language she knows is not just a set of words and their definitions, it is a way of seeing the world(Palestine to Chicago, p27)
But after arriving in Chicago, she finds herself in a completely new world and like most of other immigrants who after a short time can assimilate in the new world culture, Naima tried to get the sense of Americanism and in spite of all the difficulties that faced her, could get the sense of assimilation. For example she no longer wore hijab as a scarf on the head and just dressed in casual American way, shirt and pants. Finally there is a sense of nostalgia and love for the history and the part of their identity that is left behind. The second chapter deals with the problems of a Nigerian family in America. One can see lots of similarities between the life if most immigrants. A sense of leaving part of themselves in their mother land and as a result leaving or more accurately losing part of their identity is pervasive in all the seven stories. In the story of Israel and Ngozi Nwidor from Nigeria, there is the story of an exile family, fleeing from the oppress ion and plight of life in their motherland and seeking refuge in the new world, America. There is a grim fact about migration that for the Nigerians it is difficult to get asylum and the point that for a person to get asylum it is important for the officials whether you are a political refugee or an economic one, because America doesn’t treat the refugees from the countries with dictatorial government s backed by U.s the same as the refugees from other countries. But generally speaking America is a kind of internal promise for those who flee from the harsh situations in their motherland and seek asylum in America.
Critical evaluative part:
Ruben Martinez in this book wants to depict the life and the difficulties that are evident in the life of newly arrived immigrants in the United States. He believes that all the immigrants that chose to come to America are suffering from a kind of oppression and injustice at home and cannot stand the harsh situation there, so they decide to leave their motherland to America. He believes that for the children of those immigrants it is easier to adapt to the new situation and the new environment, but for their parents it is not that much easy to adapt and for the teenagers who are at the stage of puberty and have some kind of connections to their motherland and had left some friends and peers there, it is very much difficult and they experience a kind of turmoil in themselves. And I think the writer has been successful in supporting his ideas by depicting the lives of seven immigrant families. He has been successful in supporting his ideas on the feeling of those newly arrived immigrants and could beautifully delineate their ideas and sentiments, but I think it is not a unique work about the life of newly arrived immigrants to the united states and although it is beautifully written, it does not offer anything new that has not been said before. In spite of all the difficulties that faces immigrants, the author seems to believe that it is better to live in America than in any other nation in the world, because in America there are lots of opportunities for every individual that can seek and come to prosperity but in those dictatorial motherlands there is no way out and you are imprisoned and cannot even think freely, and he believes that after a generation or two you are considered legal American citizen and you would look on those newly arrived as immigrants to your country.
Reference:
www.wikipedia.com
The New American by Ruben Martinez

film review" Dead Man"

Dead man, 1995 Directed by: Jim Jarmusch
Written by: Jim Jarmusch
Music by: Neil Young
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, western
Release date: May 26, 1995
Country: United States/ Germany

Main actors:
Johnny Depp as William Blake, a meek accountant from Cleveland, Ohio.
Gary Farmer as Nobody, a strong and opinionated Native American who was forcibly raised by whites and later given the nickname” he who talks loud saying nothing”.
Crispin Glover as Train Fireman, a coal-covered boiler man who welcomes Blake to the “hell” of Machine.
Robert Mitchum as Mr. John Dickinson, a shotgun industrialist in Machine.
John Hurt as John schofield, the business manager of Dickenson’s factory.
Mili Avital as The Russel, a former prostitute who makes and sells paper flower.
Gabriel Byrne as Charlie Dickenson, Thel’s ex-boyfriend and John Dickenson’s son.
Lance Henrikson as Cole Wilson, an infamous bounty hunter and murderous cannibal.
Michael Wincot as Conway Twill, a talkative bounty hunter.
Eugene Byrd as Johnny ‘The Kid’ Pickett, a young African-American bounty hunter
Lggy Pop as Salvator “sally”Jenko, a cross-dressing, Bible-reading fur trader at a campsite.
Billy Bob Thornton as Big George Drakoulious, a mountain man at sally’s campsite.
Jared Harris as Benmont Tench, a knife fur trader at trader at Sally’s campsite.
Alfred Molina as Trading Post Missionary, a corrupt missionary and businessman.
Gibby Haynes as Man with Gun in Alley.

Plot and analysis of the story:

The story of “Dead Man” is a metaphoric story and it is implicitly understood by the title. Dead Man talks about lack of spirituality in modern human nations. The story takes place in the 2nd half of the 19th century and it is the story of a young man named William Blake who travels to the city of Machine after a letter which had been sent to him two months ago offering him a job as an accountant. On his arrival he is told that he has been late one month and the job has been given to someone else. Hopeless and aimless he starts wandering in the town. After a stop in an inn he finds himself walking with a young girl, after a short time in girl’s room he finds himself killing the girl’s fiancé and the girl being killed by her own spouse. He runs away and comes across a native who is named “Nobody” or “he who speaks loud saying nothing”. “Nobody “imagines William Blake to be the famous poet and believes that he is a dead man. Nobody helps William to learn how to defend himself in the wilderness. Although at first Blake even didn’t know how to use a gun, but on necessity he is forced to use gun to defend himself because in that society only gun speaks and Blake learns that gun is going to replace his tongue. And eventually he starts to be a belligerous man who is an expert in using gun. One can easily notice Gun Culture in America in this movie and the fact that people don’t speak to one another much, instead they shoot to each other because there’s no common understanding among people and that is an industrial society which favors personal success and achievement and doesn’t observe human values, so everybody after personal achievement. Blake’s journey is a dialectic journey both physically and spiritually. As I said before this movie is completely metaphorical and from the very beginning the title implies it. I think ‘Dead Man” talks all about humanity in the modern world. It seems that in spite of all the modern technologies and progress that occurred in the new era, humanity didn’t grow as much and these modernity that was supposed to bring humans closer and closer together, couldn’t fulfill this aim and made the gap between people wider and wider.
“Dead man” speaks of loneliness of humanity. Humans are dead in the sense that they cannot be seen by other humans; not being seen is not the only problem, worse than that is the problem that they are not being heard and unfortunately they are not being understood by people of their own generation. So lack of understanding is the major problem of the new era or post- modern period. People do not agree on the basic concepts and when there is no common ground to build your later discussions on, you are going to be disappointed. I think in modern era because of the blurring of established boundaries and concepts, reaching to a common idea and agreement is very difficult and as understanding oneself is more difficult now than before, humans are lonely and actually they are DEAD.

metaphors of the story:

The train seems to move retroversively which might is intended to take back the audiences to the willing time in the western territories of 19th century America. Starting in train Billy Blake understood that land” speak dagger” to innocents; but as it’s a long time since Shakespeare’s Hamlet, they speak and versify in gun. From street to bed and from hate to love all should have gun “because it’s America”. Industrialization also put more wood on fire of brutality as locomotive engineer did in the starting scenes. Another notion which must be considered is tobacco, a healing herb for Indians which has been changed into a smoking grass for whites.

Conclusion
“Dead man” talks about dead values of humanity. It shows that in this new modern world humans are not as valuable as before and unfortunately even a pinto is more valuable than a human. The director wanted to depict social and humanitarian problems and dilemmas and say that how people are doubtful about their own identities and they need to prove themselves to one another because all the boundaries are now blurred and nobody is sure about anything.
reference:
www.imdb.com

U.S president in Japan

Obama’s visit to Japan inspired a lot of discussions among critics. The most important controversial issue had been Obama’s bow to Japan’s emperor and empress. Americans are so unhappy about Obama’s way of greeting and they believe that Obama as the representative of the most powerful nation in the world shouldn’t downgrade himself and Americans.
This is the second time that Obama uses this gesture. The first bow was in Saudi Arabia. Americans believe that president of the United States should always stand firm and upward to show American power and dignity all around the world, but I think Obama bowed to Japan’s emperor as a sign of respect and friendship and he wanted to do it in Japanese way to fulfill his message of friendship. But there could be other impulses to make Obama willing to do this action. Obama has always introduced himself as a pacifist president opposed to George Bush who was known as a belligerent president waging war on Iraq and Afghanistan. To enlarge the image of a pacifier that Obama had introduced from himself to the world, he had to do something, and this way of greeting could very much help Obama to strengthen the notion that he had created in people’s minds during his election campaign and also he could claim to be the president who carries the message of friend ship and love all around the world and improve America’s image in the world

yahoonews.com

Fort Hood: Unresolved Question

On Thursday, November 5, 2009, Nidal Malik Hassan, a U.S Army psychiatrist, opened fire at his fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas. He is an American born Muslim of Palastinian origin. He has been trained in U.S Army and was supposed to be deployed to Afghanistan on November 28. Some reporters talk of his saying "Allaho Akbar", Arabic for "God is great", while shooting.
The news is totally shocking. The first question that comes up after hearing the news is that, why he did so? As repoted, he was a man of good behaviour and breading, nobody heard anything on mistreatment or misconduct of him. He had never hurt anybody or done something wrong. so why he opened fire on Fort Hood soldiers and killed his comrads?
Afetr the news the word that is mostly heard is "Islam". Every where the words "Muslim and Islam" can be heard along with the news about Nidal Malik Hassan. What does that mean? Doesn't it bring some sort of negative connotation to the listeners' minds?
What a troublesome period Muslims are going to experience again. It seems that all those efforts to make known the true nature of Islam throughout the world were dampened again. What will non-believers think of Islam again? Aren't they going to say that they were right not to believe Islam? We will face a much tougher situation to introduce and propogate Islam from now on. It made us to start from the beginning again.
I think Nidal Malik Hassan had an unresolved question. As I learned from Dr. Hosseini's class, Nidal Hassan couldn't come up with an anwer to his questions. America had spent a lot of energy to assimilate Hassan to American culture, but it seems that it was not successful. Because Hassan ranked his religion and ethnicity above his nationality and Americanness, and put Americans into a lot of trouble. But why the assimilation process was not successful ?

India's ambassador in the faculty of world studies

Tuesday, Aban 12, India's ambassador to Iran- sunjey sing- visited students of Indian Studies and North American Studies in the faculty of World Studies. We as the students of American Studies were eager the see the ambassador. The meeting was held in Conference Hall as usual and the session began with Dr. Moinifar's introduction to the meeting. Then the ambassador started his speech by praising our faculty and its high-tech facilities and interestingly mentioned that he would like to start his education in our faculty if he had time. Then came the main speech.
As much as I understood,
Islam came to India in 11th century by Sultan Mahmood GHaznavi. The languages most used in Indian textbooks were Sanskrit and parakrit, but regrettably Sanskrit is not used in India anymore and it is mostly a classic language, but it is being taught in some parts of the world. He, as any other Hindu was proud of Mahatma Gandhi and called him the "father of the nation". Interestingly he also put emphasize on the Islamic religion of India and mentioned that India has the second Muslim population I the world. He was also proud of India's population which is the 2nd largest population in the world only after china. Other religious denominations present in India are as follows:
- Hindu
- Muslim
- Christian
- Buddhist

India's ambassador to Iran was proud of India's democracy and said that the judiciary system in India is completely independent and there is always a peaceful change of government.
We have always been told that there is a fraternal relationship between Iran and India and that's why there are lots of Indian student in Mashhad and Qom and lots of Iranian students in India. India considers itself an economic power; truly it is right because it has the 3rd largest economic in the world after U.S and China.
The most interesting part of the ambassadors' speech was the part that he spoke about Indianness. What is indiannness? As ambassador said because of diversity and variety of religious and ethnic groups in India it is very common for two Indians not to understand each other, even their appearance maybe unknown, but what is certain is that they can recognize each other in any part of the world and that is the miracle of Indianness. There is a hidden link that connects Indian together.
So it is INDIANness that in spite of all the differences in speech, behavior, clothing, music, makeup and other aspects of Indian life, makes Indians united and coherent.
Now let's think of something more tangible:
Is there such a miracle as IRANIANness to connect every Iranian in any part of the world together?
I just hope so.

Volunteering culture in the United States

In Webster Unabridged dictionary voluntary action is defined as the practice of one's time or talents for charitable, educational or other worthwhile activities. Also Voluntary action is an unpaid work except expenses and it does not mean just to help one's community, but what seems to be more important is that, voluntary action helps the person him/herself and can generate a sense of satisfaction and calmness in the individual.
Speaking about voluntary action, it is noteworthy to mention some of the benefits of voluntary action. First of all sense of self-satisfaction pushes the individual to participate in these kinds of activities. Secondly, it provides a space to open parts of the one's character that were unknown up to that point. But why the rate of voluntary action is considerable in the United States? Does it have anything to do with government, culture, religion, or….? Let's have a look on the rate and traits of individuals' participation in voluntary works.

% characteristics

23 Men
30.1 Women
28.3 whites
19.2 blacks
32.2 married
20.3 single
31.2 35-54
17.8 20s
18.5 Asians
13.9 Latinos
Volunteering in the United States, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2007
It seems that volunteering is declining in the United States, especially among teens. After so much research I realized that volunteering is popular not only in America but also in other countries as well. Especially after World War II some organizations began to exercise volunteering. For example in Asia, Africa and Latin America many people experienced that. But the most important impetuous behind volunteering is self-satisfaction and it doesn't have anything to do with religion or nationality or race. What is here questionable is that why in spite of the fact that Islam has always been a pro-volunteering religion, its adherents especially in Iran are not the most interested people to volunteering? I couldn’t find a persuasive answer to this question, but I think in spite of the ample willingness among Iranians, maybe economic daily life has so much preoccupied them that they prefer to do something financially rather than spiritually rewarding. I can only be hopeful that we practice Islamic lessons more eagerly and relive ourselves from repeated routines.

American identity

Americans have always defined themselves not by their racial , religious, or nationality, but by their values and their right of freedom.“I’m in a New York state of mind.”
—- Billy Joel

sometimes Franklin Roosvelt had said that "People do not inquire concerning a Stranger, What is he? but, What can he do? If he has any useful Art, he is welcome; and if he exercises it, and behaves well, he will be respected by all that know him."

As we can see in 18 century,Congress sets national standard for citizenship. It required no ethnic or religious test, no literacy test, no property criteria ,but just two years of residence, good character, and an oath to respect the constitution. because American identity , as Franklin Roosvelt said, is based on action and attitude rather than racial, religious, or racial identity, americans are different from many other people in the way they define themselves.
Melting Pot or Salad Bowl?

americans have always had the question of pluralism and assimilation.onthe one hand ,it was assumed that immigrants who com e to the United States should assimilate in the american culture like a “melting pot,” a metaphor popularized by the playwright Israel Zangwill’s 1908 drama The Melting Pot, in which one character declares:

"Understand that America is God's Crucible, the great Melting-Pot where all the races of Europe are melting and reforming! A fig for your feuds and vendettas! Germans and Frenchmen, Irishmen and Englishmen, Jews and Russians — into the Crucible with you all! God is making the American."

Individualism and Tolerance

In spite of the fact taht America has always expected the people to assimilate, but it also has given them the opportunity to express themselves.Americans nevr praised success by accident of birth, on the contrary they have always praised wealth and success out of effort and hardship.
Americans love "self-amde" man or woman, especially when he or she has overcome great obstacles.

How much do Americans use the Internet?

Americans' frequent use of the Internet has almost doubled over the last five years.Different groups of people use the internet differently.For example young people are more likely to use the Internet than old people.Also the more educated Americans are more likely to use the internet than people with less education.The other aspect influencial in using the internet is marital status, that is single people spend more time using the internet than married people.(stanford institute for the quantitative study of society, Norman H.Nie, director). Fifty-five per cent of adults in Britain have accessed the Internet at
some time according to figures from the April 2002 National Statistics
Omnibus Survey.

Christopher Merrill in the Faculty of World Studies

About
Christopher Merrill has published four collections of poetry, including Brilliant Water, and Watch Fire, for which he received the Peter I. B. Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets; translations of Aleš Debeljak’s Anxious Moments and The City and the Child; several edited volumes, among them, The Forgotten Language: Contemporary Poets and Nature and From the Faraway Nearby: Georgia O’Keeffe as Icon; and four books of nonfiction, The Grass of Another Country: A Journey Through the World of Soccer, The Old Bridge: The Third Balkan War and the Age of the Refugee, Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars, and Things of the Hidden God: Journey to the Holy Mountain.

His work has been translated into twenty-five languages, his journalism appears in many publications, and his awards include a knighthood in arts and letters from the French government. He is the book critic for the daily radio news program The World.

He has held the William H. Jenks Chair in Contemporary Letters at the College of the Holy Cross, and now directs the International Writing Program at The University of Iowa.

My perception of America and American Studies

I have always taught of America as a different country.I have heared lots of stories about its past, present and future, but I,m not really sure about them, yet. I hope to realize the truth of all these stories and more important of all , to get a thorough understanding of AMERICA. I think American Studies can help me move along this path more powerfully and push me forward to become an expert at the American issues worldwide to be able to analyse AMERICA.