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How is the political climate currently in the state and city that you live in? Denver and Colorado have an interesting political climate. Very few people that I have spoken to, liberal and conservative, have been particularly happy about things since the primaries wrapped up. Conservatives wanted Cruz and liberals wanted Bernie. Folks are mad that services and infrastructure are messed up around the state, but no one wants to vote for tax hikes. In Colorado, thanks to an amendment to the state constitution, every tax increase in the state has to go before voters. And if more taxes are collected than the initial estimate, those taxes are supposed to be returned to the people! The far west of the state and the far east are very rural and thus very conservative. Denver is slightly more radical left, but the second biggest city in the state, Colorado Springs, is pretty staunchly religiously conservative. The next biggest enclave, Boulder (pejoratively refereed to as The People's Republic by most everyone else in the state) is basically the result of trust fund hippies from SF deciding to settle down after the summer of love. They have no kill laws on the book for vermin, but also won't let anyone construct a building over like, 3 stories. What kind of food culture does your local area have? if you're into cooking, or simply know of some local delicacy, please share a specific dish, with a recipe if you have one, of something that you enjoy making or buying yourself that would be representative of your local food culture. Depending on where you are, food culture in the state tends to be on a sliding scale of Southwest, TexMex, and bland Midwestern. Most restaurants have some sort of hot sauce on the table and will have a green chili dish somewhere on the menu (unless it's an obviously ethnic place like Italian or Chinese). A lot of famous Fast-Casual joints were originally started in Colorado as well (Chipotle and Noodles & Co). I really don't know why. The two big crops that I know from the state are Palisade peaches and Rocky Ford melons, so you will usually see those used a lot in salads or preservatives/syrups. There is also a massive craftbeer/brewing culture in the state. Living in the capital, I'm a 10 minute walk from 3 craft breweries. But even in say, Grand Junction, you're never more than a short drive from a craft brewery. If you don't brew your own beer, you know someone who does. How is religious life and worship for you in the states? As an outsider, it appears as if religious life might vary pretty wildly from state to state, with some US areas having markedly different religious demographics than others. I'd be especially interested in whether people experience any prejudice or bias against their religious practice, or lack thereof, in their home states, or from US society at large. Colorado is Pretty White and Pretty Protestant. A lot of people in my circle aren't really involved or practicing, but they were usually baptized and will go to church when they are visiting family and Grandma wants everyone to dress up on Sunday. There are also a lot of evangelicals and mega-churches. I don't like those organizations at all. The evangelicals are filled with hate and corrupt the officers of our air force. The mega-churches are pretty blatant tax shelters. For as many folks living in Denver that are cool with other religions, you've usually got someone in the suburbs complaining about Jews running the media and Muslims killing our children. Sharing what you work with or study for, or if you have any specialized knowledge, would imo also be interesting, because it would allow follow-up questions for specific fields, like, imo someone working with law or healthcare would probably have interesting insights on those areas. I'm a programmer that used to work for the state courts (fun fact, they are one step above disfunctional) and I know a lot of folks involved in education and accounting (private business does great and still don't pay poo poo, state/municpal institutions also pay poo poo, but they don't provide free coffee either.) If you belong to a minority group, do you experience harassment? If you do and you are willing to share personal anecdotes, and thoughts about how your state or city might differ from other areas in the US, then please do. I'm about as white/male/straight as they come. Denver is the most diverse city in the state, but it's still pretty obvious that most of the poverty affects black/latino populations in the city and that the city/state is White As Hell. People have some wide and weird opinions about hispanic culture, Spanish, and Mexico. If you want a good insight into things, imagine Hank and Gomez's relationship in Breaking Bad. How familiar are you with other US states than the one you live in? Like, how many different ones have you lived in, or visited for a shorter or longer period of time. Are some states essentially as foreign to you, or even more, than some foreign countries might be? Do you feel as if there is animosity between your home state and other states? I've done a little travelling around the country. I've visited Chicago and NYC, and lived in Boston for a couple years. Honestly I've probably seen more of Europe than the US though. The deep south is a mystery to me and in some ways so is the west coast, although there are a lot of folks from CA/WA/OR that move to CO to provide some insight. Colorado is pretty closely tied to Wyoming, Utah, and Kansas. Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan are also pretty culturally in line with the state and before weed was legalized here most of the transplants I knew and liked were from that part of the country. The biggest "outsider" populations tend to come from California and Texas and folks who grew up in the state tend to have pretty strong opinions about them. Most people here like to pretend everything east of the Mississippi just doesn't really exist. have you experience bias or hostility as an American when travelling abroad? I've only traveled to Europe, once in 2012 and again in the summer of 2016. For the most part everyone was pretty pleasant and polite, curious and willing to talk about whatever, although I also tended to play my nationality lowkey and didn't talk to a whole lot of people outside of homes and hostels. Almost everyone wants to talk American politics at some point though, which is understandable but I will say that I often feel like I'm on the defensive in those situations and I hate my own ignorance of international politics which makes it hard to poke back. I've found that folks from the UK usually have the most negative things to say about American politics, although I did meet an older Slovenian gentleman on an airport shuttle who wanted to see Trump win so that the US Imperial wars would stop. I'm kind of curious how he feels about things now... If someone was to visit the US for the first time, or your state or city in particular, what sights would you recommend? I'll stick to Colorado/Denver, since there's plenty out there to read for bigger cities. I'm biased, as I like Colorado a lot better when it's not winter, so visit from late April to late October. Denver is probably where you'll fly into, so take the train downtown, stay there and stick around for a day or two. See the art museums, wander around downtown, drink some of the local beer, eat some good chili and burritos, maybe visit a dispensary  , walk along the Platte or Cherry Creek trails. Visit the botanical gardens or one of the parks. Then rent a car and just drive around the state. Go to Rocky Mountain National Park, go to the Great Sand Dunes, go to Mesa Verde, check out the Grand Mesa and Colorado National Monument, if you feel brave go over Red Mountain Pass. Drive up through Kenosha Pass into South Park. Drink coffee in Aspen and gawk at the rich Americans who live there. If you like camping, you can rent gear from REI and just camp your way around the Rocky Mountains.
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Feb 17, 2017 21:40
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On the shoes thing, growing up in Colorado, I by default leave my shoes on. Like even in my own apartment I'll leave my shoes on unless they are obviously wet/salt crusted/muddy or if I'm in my "I'm home and staying home" mindset. So even in my own space they only come off if I expect to stay a while and get comfy. I think that's actually part of it. Like removing your shoes in someone else's home indicates a sort of familiarity or intimacy? I realize it's dumb but I think that's what a lot of it is. Especially in the midwest/south there's like a level of expected hospitality given to any caller, so by taking your shoes off when visiting, you indicate that you're on really close terms with the host and/or plan on staying a while, which in a culture in which every caller might get invited into the home, can create a sense of over-familiarity in a situation that doesn't allow for that? Like growing up the only times I really remember explicitly taking my shoes off were at my maternal Grandparents home and my Aunt's house and in both cases it ends up sending a vibe of like, anal-retentiveness? Overly focused on cleaning? As if somehow your presence makes work for the host and they want you to leave as little trace/impact as possible. It's funny because I had the chance to visit my childhood friend and his wife in Slovenia once, and both he and I kept our shoes on, even in what should have been considered a safe and intimate space, and all the Slovenian's at one point were like, "do all Americans track dirt into their home?" I'd literally never thought of it as a weird practice until that point. The folks in my part of the country that insisted you take your shoes off before entering were considered weird. As for voting, I've only actually voted in person twice. Once in Colorado just after I turned 18, because my parents were going to the local polling booth (in a church) and once in Boston at the Roxbury Community College. I never dealt with lines either time but that might have been a fluke. For the most part I've always received a packet in the mail that was formatted like a big ol' scantron, with a bunch of tracking numbers and barcodes. Sitting in your home with a beer in hand and the Internet in front of you while you go over the ballot is absolutely the way Democracy was meant to be carried out. What's on the ballot in Colorado is pretty interesting too. The big stuff is usually there, President, State and Federal Congressfolk and Senators. But there's also usually a collection of amendments and referendums. So in Colorado people are allowed to amend the state constitution directly (although the last election raised the minimum standards to the point that only Corporations will be able to put amendments on the ballot) and sometimes the legislature will put stuff to a direct vote that they don't want to be responsible for the outcome of. Also any tax increase has to go in front of voters (thanks TABOR). And there is also usually a section of the ballot dedicated to retaining judges. So judges in Colorado are nominated by the Governor and approved by the Legislature, but at the end of their term, the citizens of Colorado are asked to retain the judge or not. In Colorado there's also something known as The Blue Book, which usually goes out a month or so ahead of the ballot, that informs citizens of the issues and candidates that will be on the ballot. There's a few paragraphs that describe the matter in a factual manner, and then a place for pro and con arguments to be placed. The pros and cons section is solicited from the public so some issues don't have a pro or con issue posted. There's also a non-partisan commission that provides recommendations on retaining judges. Most judges usually get a rubber stamped recommendation to retain, so if you're in Colorado and you see a judge with a recommendation not to retain, that judge has hosed up hard and should never ever be retained.
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Feb 22, 2017 08:30
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Also a couple of fun bits of Americana that don't have to do with shoes or voting that I didn't notice until an outsider pointed them out: A lot of Americans have a vocal tic where they'll end end sentences with "You Know" and various extensions/degredations of that, y'know? The Car is an extension of the self. Folks have a lot of their self worth and expression wrapped up in their car. Even not owning a car can be an expression of self and opinions. If you drive a domestic or import, sedan or truck, suv or minivan, brands, engine size, it all says something about the person. Even when it doesn't. Bumper stickers and accesories are another extension of that. Anyone with 3 or more bumper stickers, sports flags, or truck nutz are loving crazy and should be avoided.
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Feb 22, 2017 08:37
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Shbobdb posted:
All dressed or ketchup?
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Apr 6, 2017 22:31
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Milk in a bag and throwing loonies at strippers