Different cultures - does it attract or repel you?

Accurate response Bozette;))

Always succinct 
;)

Hi Nevan, I too had linguistics in my PG so I very well know the close link between language and culture I read once that you were studying ancient languages including Sanskrit, so I can understand your perspective in learning it in anthropological context.

So true SapphicHeart....I learnt so much from different cultures!

:-)

That must have been great Pearl!

An individual without culture... I've never met one more than a few hours old.

Well... there are some heads that need to be shrunken a bit. As for mutilating the body... I see around here a lot of body piercing in one part or another, and quite a bit of tattooing as well. And quite a few men -and not only Jewish- ar circumcised. For a while at least it was common practice by obstetricians/pediatricians to circumcise newborn boys unless parents specifically forbade it.

Although I am Jewish and male circumcision is a religious rite, I see it more as a health issue which is why so many non-Jewish males are circumcised.  What I object to is female circumcision - that is mutilation.  Yes, there are a lot of people who do tattoos, piercings, etc., but that it not what I would call American culture. 

I hope you're right -that piercings, etc. are not American culture. But from what I see among young people, I fear that it may be where things are going.

I certainly agree that female circumcision is barbaric and unforgivably cruel. 

Tattooing and piercing, especially facial piercing, may wind up going out of style when these people realize that it will be really difficult to get jobs looking like that.  Even the military is cracking down on tattoos unless they can't be seen when in uniform.

Well... the young people whom I see frequently who are into that sort of thing don't hold much hope of serious employment. I work -actually I volunteer; I'm a retired old man- with impoverished persons in a very depressed formerly industrial city in a pretty depressed state. But I do think that the folks I work with are pretty representational of a large and growing segment of the American population -people who not only have given up on "the American dream" but have never dreamed it in the first place.

I'm sorry to hear that so many of the people you see have little hope of getting ahead.  I don't know how you encourage people to want to do better with their lives.  Certainly, education or learning a skill is a plus, and, if there are no jobs where you are, maybe you have to move to where the jobs do exist.

Ever hear of "Circles Against Poverty"? It's a movement started by Scott Miller in Ames, Iowa, whose centerpiece is surrounding a really motivated person or family, trapped in poverty, with a circle of middle/upperclass friends to provide encouragement, contacts, information, and other non-monetary assistance to climb out of the "poverty pit". My wife and I have been involved in this for over ten years -we are in our 4th circle at the moment.

Learning a really RELEVANT skill is a big help, certainly -but forecasting types of employment is not something our supposed economic experts are very good at. I could go into this at great length.

It can be very difficult to move from an impoverished area to a prosperous one. Just consider housing costs, as one example. Our city has hundreds -probably thousands- of abandoned, unsalable houses, which means both that rents here are pretty low and that homeowners who wish to leave can't get anything like decent prices for their houses. But certainly young people who can leave do so -which means, for one thing, that our school enrollment has shrunk to a fifth of what it was in the 1970s, which in turn means that our school district -that is, the city district; I live in the country- is bankrupt... and can't offer the kind of education our young people need... And then there are psychological difficulties. And social ones -consider how hard it is to lose one's supportive network of family and friends. Poverty is a many-layered trap!

My wife and I are just above the national median in income. But by local standards we are upper class! And so... that carries obligations... 

Shrinks heads...hmm I've no idea!

Ha ha I like the way you put it;))

We have not seen any sign of earthquake damage.  Our host here, in the mountains, did feel the quake and were quite "shaken" by it even though it was offshore, far from here.  A few days ago there was another strong quake deep below the surface in a remote area I felt it and was pretty alarmed but my wife didn't even notice it.  It could have been mistaken for the shakes you get when you drink too much coffee but only lasted a few seconds.  Still, it's disturbing.  I am quite used to the ground being firm underfoot - terra firma or terra not-so-firma.