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How is the political climate currently in the state and city that you live in? I live in the Greater Philadelphia area. The city itself skews very liberal but 20 miles outside of it and beyond you would've seen a a dearth of Trump signs as the election was going on. Overall Pennsylvania is very rural, we include a portion of the Appalachian, rust belt and agricultural populace. Between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh we're pretty sparsely populated and the two cities might as well be a world apart, considering it's about a 5 hour drive on a good day. 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. We're big on Italian food here, we have some great high-end Italian cuisine. We're world famous for the Philadelphia cheese steak, though we seem to be resting on our laurels a little bit there (the best cheese steak I've ever had was in Charleston, West Virginia). I hate both Pat's and Geno's, though, so I'm probably not your typical Philadelphia native. 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. Pretty much no one I know my age attends church regularly (mid 20's). I personally have never ascribed to a certain faith nor felt any pressure by anyone to do so. 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 studied criminal justice and intended to become a cop but started leaning more toward social work toward the end of my studies. I worked for a murder victim advocacy group in the city for about a year, and considering there are an average of 300 murders in Philly a year, I never wanted for work. I'm leaving for Ukraine to serve two years for the Peace Corps in about a month. 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 am a white male of English/Welsh descent, I pretty much hit the genetic lottery. 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 have lived in both New Jersey and Phoenix, Arizona. New Jersey people are just plain mean and Arizona white people were incredibly bland and incredibly racist toward Latinos. This past summer I road a bicycle across the United States from Virginia to Oregon and savored every flavor of Americana in between. As others have mentioned, the difference is more geared toward a city vs. rural/coast vs. inland dichotomy than any real distinction between states, though every state did have something distinctive that the local population latched onto as a point of pride. The East does seem to have a more cold, driven and individualistic population than the West, which I would characterize as more laid-back and warm. The most unwelcome I felt during the whole trip was in Jefferson City, Missouri. However, St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri were two of my favorites so who knows. I felt Kansas had a very prickly and suspicious population, but Lawrence, Kansas was the most progressive hippie place I've ever been to so yeah, pretty dissonant country. The rural areas of pretty much every state I passed through had a significant meth/heroin/prescription drug problem according the locals I spoke to. Outside of major cities, pretty much from the time I left Kansas City to the time I arrived in Portland, Oregon, I didn't see a single person of color. have you experience bias or hostility as an American when travelling abroad? I've only ever been to Canada so that doesn't really count. Through my college swim team I have friends from Germany, Hungary, Ukraine and Russia who had all consumed American media and culture prior to their arrival and were all eager to ingratiate themselves in it and get to know Americans. The Russians adapted fine but the Eastern Europeans seemed to have some difficulty getting used to the idea of sarcasm, irony, self-deprecation and insult comedy. It's clear that they came up in communities where one expresses oneself clearly and maintaining one's honor and respect among peers is paramount. I became very good friends with the Ukrainian and he admitted to me at a much later date that he had come very close to killing me after I playfully whipped him with a towel after practice one day. He's told me that pretty much everyone he grew up with's favorite artist was Eminem, they all loved the movie 8 mile and that that film's depiction of Detroit hit pretty close to home for them. If someone was to visit the US for the first time, or your state or city in particular, what sights would you recommend? You can see the Rocky statue, enjoy the unique Philadelphia tailgating/Eagles experience, or hit up the Mutter Museum. Centralia, PA is about 2 hours away (the abandoned underground coal fire town that inspired Silent Hill) but everything creepy has been taken down and now it's just a motocross track used and abused by the locals, the Graffiti highway there was pretty cool though and I got to seem some pretty impressively artistic murals before they got covered with dicks. The PA Grand Canyon is about 3 hours away and a very beautiful spot. The Poconos are also pretty incredible and great for skiing in the winter. Atlantic City, NJ is 2 hours away and could best be described as a colder, seedier Las Vegas. I've had a lot of fun there. The Jersey Shore is unremarkable and probably less swarming with Guidos and douchebags than the show would have you believe. DC and NYC are both about 2.5/3 hours away.
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Feb 10, 2017 20:22
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| # ¿ May 2, 2024 07:23 |
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LogisticEarth posted:The area between Philly and Pittsburgh is colloquially referred to as "Pennslytucky", as a kind of disparaging portmanteau implying Kentucky as a rural backwater and the middle of the state is an extension of said backwater. Harrisburg and Lancaster aren't too bad. The Lehigh Valley (where I'm native to and currently live) has seen a bit of urbanization, but otherwise Pennsyltucky is a fitting name. Yeah didn't mean to imply there was nothing in between the two cities, the old steel mill in Bethlehem has been repurposed into a concert venue and was a pretty cool place to visit for Musikfest. They light the stacks up and it's a pretty trippy view from afar.  Harrisburg is an all around clean and beautiful historical city and the home of the infamous three-mile island if you're a student of nuclear history. Reading, PA gets a bad rap but I find it to be a pretty charming town. We have a significant portion of the countries' Amish population and they can be found out near Lancaster. They appreciate not being treated as a tourist attraction, but no matter how many times I do it it's still pretty surreal driving down the highway and overtaking single-horse-drawn buggy in the 21st century. I think the underground fire in Centralia has shifted because none of the cracks in the highway were smoking when I went. I was really bummed not to be able to find any unholy smoking hell pits while I was there.
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Feb 11, 2017 03:57
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Where I'm from, it's generally expected to provide at least 15% tip for the wait staff at a bare minimum. If your waiter goes above and beyond, for example, smiling, showing knowledge about different drink specials, food recommendations, jokes, comfortably assured they didn't spit in your food, it's pretty much a given you'll provide more than that. In my state of PA, wait staff receive $2.86/hr I believe, which is a solid 5 dollars below minimum wage, so tips are absolutely necessary for a server to survive. Also, they usually have to separate their tips between bus and bar staff regardless of how much either of them actually assisted them. The old man patted him on the back with a wink, thanked him for his service - knowing intuitively that he was a vet - and went back to his seat at the bar without raising any fuss.
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Feb 12, 2017 16:44
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Desmond posted:Are you kidding me? Why wouldn't people who live there care about it or about native Americans having to deal with a pipeline? This is big news everywhere else, and the only people who don't care about the pipelines are in the minority. Pipelines are controversial, and with good reason. It's not a loving fad or a flavor of the month thing to protest them. Sometimes people in the minority can carry more political weight than the majority* Pipelines bring money and jobs to an area. Maybe not as many permanent jobs as the oil companies have the locals believing, but then again US citizens have never really needed much justification to poo poo all over Native Americans. *See Trump election
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Feb 13, 2017 01:05
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If you've ever worked in the service industry, unless you're eating in a pretty high class place, it's pretty much understood that the food preparation is going to involve some gross poo poo. I've worked in good restaurants and bad restaurants, and have seen cockroach and mouse traps in both. I've watched a guy use the same rag to clean everything from a bar top to kitchen plates during his entire 8 hour shift (this was encouraged by management because we were low on rags). I once watched a steak get dropped on the floor and then put right back on the plate to serve to the customers. As for intentionally spitting in one's food, that's more of a pervasive pop-culture cliche than anything else but pretty much if you're an rear end in a top hat to your wait staff, it's not outside the realm of possibility.
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Feb 13, 2017 06:56
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Jeb Bush 2012 posted:Because your attempt to "prepare" for this incredibly unlikely scenario (in which, more likely than not, a gun would just increase the chance you get hurt) is much more dangerous than the scenario itself. You are much more likely to kill a) yourself b) a family member than you are to use it to actually defend yourself. Dunning-Kruger. No one thinks they're going to be Oscar Pistorius or Kurt Cobain when they buy the gun for home protection, and most gun owners go their whole lives without incident. Nevertheless, who would reasonably expect that when they put a condom on that they're going to represent the 1% of incidences where the condom fails?
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Feb 13, 2017 19:17
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Tiggum posted:The "it's just a tool" argument always seems to me to be blatantly ignoring the very obvious fact that tools have specific purposes and the purpose of a gun (as a tool) is to kill things. It's probably safe to assume you've never been through a situation where the rule of law disintegrated for an extended period of time, like say the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina where there were no emergency services available in some areas for days. If nothing else, having a firearm in such emergency situations diminishes the helplessness one would experience in securing food (yes sometimes you have to kill your food). Self-sufficiency is the American way after all. We're the country that spawned the doomsday preppers craze.
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Feb 16, 2017 08:11
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| # ¿ May 2, 2024 07:23 |
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Turdsdown Tom posted:Technically, buying stuff in another state to avoid sales tax is smuggling, but no police officer would be able to enforce it. Not only is it not enforced, it's actively disregarded by both the populace and in advertising. I live in eastern PA and I hear radio commercials from Delaware jewelry stores on an almost daily basis encouraging people to cross the border and buy their jewelry there to avoid an exorbitant sales tax. Also right inside the Delaware border are tons of alcohol and tobacco shops advertising their tax-free vices.
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Feb 22, 2017 19:11
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