Colloquium
DATE 02 - 28 - 2010

Today's Shooting Star: AMERICA Bare with me as I ramble a few seperate but connecting ideas: 1. Through out the trip when asked where I am from by the locals I often respond with, "The U.S.," because to me that is a more accurate description of my home country. However, most of these shop keepers don't understand what I just said. "The United States," as an attempt to clarify. -insert continued confused stare- Reluctantly I give them the one word, which I should have used orginally to save the fuss, "America." "AH! America! Obama! Great!" Internally I sigh because I am happy that they finally understand but uncomfortable with that word--America. That one word encompasses a completely different mind set, which is the mind set that still views the United States of America as this 'land of opportunity', as a place where the streets are 'paved with gold', etc. 2. Recently, a group of us had dinner and a few drinks with a woman who had been an exchange student at Ryan Geismar's high school. They had not seen one another since graduation, but Ryan was confident in the good time that indeed happened. Linda, the local, now has two daughters (ages 8 years and 14 months) and is married for the second time. Linda and Ryan had a blast recounting stories from her one year's stay in St. Louis. Several times Linda expressed how she had not wanted to return home at the end of her year and how she wanted to return. But, as the night continued it became more and more sombering listening to her deep desire to return to the States. 3. Last night, a classmate and I were discussing how individuals perceive their lives often in terms of golden moments that they later idealize and can never improve upon. In this moment these individuals see themselves as the shooting star of the era be it that they were the record breaking basketball player or the smartest individual around. So how does all of this relate? And especially how does this relate to a world culture? America is repeatedly seen as this 'grass is greener on the other side' location. Repressive foreign and former government institutions aside, the US is still filled with plenty of unhappy and under priviledged individuals. American citizens are being repressed by the social institutions that our government has ignored or not been able to truly reconcile. This idealizing of countries like others do of America and like how many Americans (especially design minded indivudials) idealize European and Asian cultures creates the fuel for the spread of global ideas. Thus, these envious and desirous tendencies are what create this blending and diluting of existing cultures. As students of the design world, we are surprised to hear that even ancient European cities are losing people to suburbs despite the advent of the re-urbanisation movement. Now I must acknowledge that this is seeming biased and America-hating. The 'grass is greener' outlook on the US is legitimate due to the degree of the repression that has occurred throughout the world and due to the easy living that most Americans do experience. People do slip through the cracks, but our citizens are allowed to speak up against the harsh realities. The challenge is to discover how to create individual happiness from the rubble of old repressive governments--how to continue searching for the solutions that are appropriate for the established social norms instead of simply dreaming of moving to another 'better' country or trying to adopt their ways to a different past.