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(06/17/14 7:35pm)
Two things had me thinking about culture this weekend. The first was the awesome global event that is the World Cup, and second was celebrating a wedding in the cultural hotbed of New Orleans.
Among the more exciting games I’ve watched so far, Switzerland’s match against Ecuador was the one to spark my thought on the matter of culture. Much has been made of Switzerland’s national team, as the Swiss government recently passed a measure to limit immigration into the country while their football team fields a fearsome team comprised mostly of players with immigrant backgrounds. I watched the diverse group of players and couldn’t help but think of the community I know.
My friends’ families come from all over the place — Lebanon, India, Hong Kong, Malaysia and China, to name a few. It’s wonderful having them introduce me to their native cuisine and customs. I always like to hear them speak their native tongues when they speak on the phone with their parents or gossip with their siblings. The frequent trips they take to their or their parents’ home countries sound fantastic as well. I think the presence of such friends throughout high school and college has made me a better person, and I cherish the opportunity to live in a place with such different backgrounds.
But sometimes, I’m jealous. Like many Americans, I sometimes feel as though my culture has become diluted through the generations my family has spent in this country. When in the presence of people with such strong, important ties to a singular cultural source, it seems as though you are missing something — that there is an absence of culture in your life. Around an exceptionally diverse group of people, it’s easy to feel like a mutt.
Although I like this state, it becomes especially apparent when living a place like Arizona, which lacks culture compared to other parts of the U.S. Places like the South, the Pacific Northwest and the Midwest all boast vibrant, distinct cultures. In areas such as these, one can cling to geographical culture if there is an absence of ancestral culture.
For a white American, I’m lucky. Spending a weekend celebrating a wedding in New Orleans helped me realize that. My mother’s side of the family hails from Baton Rouge and maintains strong ties to their Cajun heritage, despite spreading out to Colorado and Arizona a little bit. I was able to reconnect with that part of my culture. My father’s side resides in the Pacific Northwest and has ancestral roots to Ireland and Norway. Fortunately, my dad puts a great deal of work into tracking down family history and lineage. Because of my parents, I still feel connected to the cultures of these places.
Plenty of people are not so lucky.
Many are left asking the question, “What is my culture?” Or to a greater extent, what is the culture of mutts across the nation who can’t really pinpoint their ancestry?
There isn’t really an easy answer. Some people fill this void with religion, some fill it with geographical culture, and some simply don’t care.
For some the word “culture” means everything, and others don’t think it really applies to them.Reach the columnist at bjmurph2@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @MurphJaminEditor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.Want to join the conversation? Send an email to opiniondesk.statepress@gmail.com. Keep letters under 300 words and be sure to include your university affiliation. Anonymity will not be granted.
(06/05/14 12:30pm)
The most famous track by the band Defeater is titled “I Don’t Mind.” To most listeners, it’s a soft, pretty song about a man’s relationship with his wife. The first time I’d ever heard it, that’s all it was to me; but fortunately, it got me interested in the band’s other material.
(02/26/14 1:00am)
On Feb. 17, a U.N.-commissioned report confirmed the world’s largely held suspicions that North Korea’s human’s rights abuses are unconscionable — in some cases even unimaginable. Lucy Williamson’s BBC News article quotes a North Korean prisoner as stating, “People could have their limbs chopped off while cutting wood, they could die from parasites, or from hunger; there was so much death that the streets would be lined with dead bodies,” in description of death camps of the North Korean government.
(11/22/13 12:18am)
Industry is capricious, but few see as much perpetual instability as the airline industry.
With the Justice Department's failed lawsuit against the proposed merger between airline behemoths US Airways and American Airlines, it appears that we will witness the introduction of the world’s new largest airline as early as the end of this year. As this development is finalized, Tempe must wave goodbye to one of its two Fortune 500 companies, and the thousands of employees who must now relocate to its consolidated headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, though the final deal is still up in the air.
The deal materialized in response to American Airlines’ need for financial support in light of their 2011 filing for bankruptcy, mirroring the quandary faced by US Airways in 2005 as they were struggling to stay afloat and looked to merge with America West. The America West Airlines-US Airways merger is what brought US Airways to Tempe in the first place, as the negotiations designated Tempe as the new consolidated headquarters.
Many in the Valley have been left with questions about what led to this US Airways- American Airlines merger that will leave Tempe bereft of such an important player in the local economy.
The answer lies in an event over a decade removed from today, but still strongly influencing the decisions of contemporary airlines: the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
Sept. 11 severely damaged the airline industry by drastically reducing passenger demand, and halting airport operations for an extensive period of time, resulting in a crippling loss of revenue. However, few corporations experienced the ensuing financial distress as acutely as US Airways.
As the dominant airline flying through Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, which had activity suspended in the months following the attacks, the airline took losses so heavy that less than a year later, the airline was forced to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2003, and did so again in 2004, surviving by virtue of the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act.
Efforts were made to be as austere as possible in order to pay back the loans granted to them by the Air Transport Stabilization Board. In fact, the loss of revenue caused by the Sept. 11 attacks necessitated that US Airways become a better company.
From its merger with America West, completed in 2006, to its abandonment of the high cost hub in Pittsburgh, US Airways prepared itself for financial success in the coming years.
Where US Airways made progress in the post-9/11 years, American Airlines faltered.
Being among the strongest airlines at the time of the Sept. 11 attacks, American Airlines was one of the few airlines to avoid filing Chapter 11 in the few years following the attacks, and received no loans from the Air Transportation and System Stabilization Act due to their stability.
Although business was trying for all airlines in the years following 9/11, American Airlines did not face as dire a situation as its competitors, thus they did not have to improve themselves as quickly or significantly. In fact, the company garnered some negative attention after their CEO planned to distribute executive bonuses in the wake of post-9/11 restructuring, fully exposing the superior financial situation in which the airline found itself.
The decisions made by each respective airline in the aftermath of 9/11 set the stage for the drama that unfolded in the subsequent decade, and while US Airways rose to the occasion in their distress, American Airlines was the victim of a changing business landscape in which their competition became stronger through their tribulations.
Reach the columnist at bjmurph2@asu.edu
(11/14/13 10:58pm)
Closing
the “gender gap” in the science, technology, engineering and math fields
has become an important initiative across college campuses.