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englishteacher24/7

United States

November 9, 2010

Greetings Everyone!

This blog is written to introduce you to the culture and daily life of the United States.

Because the American society is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural one,  I will focus on the common items that transcend the many cultures and the experiences that Americans encounter in everyday life.  The society is very diverse, therefore, the blogs I write will not apply to every person, but in a general sense.  Hopefully enough information will be provided to help you imagine that "You Are There!"

 

More entries: You Are There! A Day In The Life In The United States (333)

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01:53 PM Jun 21 2017

englishteacher24/7
United States

The current state of the U.S. political affairs lends itself to a true test of the political system that was designed by "The "Founding Fathers" and amended as per the U.S. Constitution.

The U.S. federal government is composed of 3 distinct branches of government,-Legislative (Congress), Executive (the President), and Judicial (Courts). Congress writes the laws; the President approves or disapproves (veto) the law(s) and the Courts make sure that the laws are followed. The laws are written according to the rules of the Constitution.

This is a check and balance system that supposedly ensures that one person cannot take over the government. In the current Trump administration, some of the presidents' executive orders are being challenged in the courts which have prevented the presidential orders from being implemented.

The presidential order banning people from entering the U.S. from certain countries will likely be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court for a final decision. Be on the lookout for this decision in the news.

02:23 AM Apr 20 2017

englishteacher24/7
United States

WobblyJoe, thanks for the insight you have provided into a balance assessment of the racial aspect of American culture. Surely many things were wrong from the beginning, but it is noteworthy to see the things that have been done to make things right. We're not were we want to be as a nation, but thank God that we're not where we once were.

One of the readers recommended for me to write about my experiences growing up in the U.S. and as a result (for those who don't know) I wrote a mini biography of my life in the U.S. in my Culture forum posted on February 21, 2015. Here is the link:http://englishbaby.com/lessons/6488/member_submitted/culture_forum?page=8

Paradizo, if you're ready for some more reading, there you have it. Thanks for your feedback.

09:34 AM Apr 04 2017

paradizo

paradizo
Iran, Islamic Republic Of

dear teacher

any how its a bit late ,but thanks a million for creating such a useful blog.

i have been reading it for an hour and enjoying .


02:24 PM Mar 31 2017

WobblyJoe

WobblyJoe
United States

Thank you, I appreciate the approval.

I'm sure that like me, you were taught that America is "the Great Experiment", an idea that all men are created equal, that we can function as adults to govern our own lives, contribute to our own neighborhoods and leave our neighbors alone to work at what employment they chose for themselves, to worship however they choose to worship, to teach their children the ways of their people, and they will leave me alone to do likewise. 

History shows centuries of failure, but the ideals are still worth pursuing, and we are doing better slowly.

It's still far in the future, but we're doing better with every generation, and preserving the truth of our early history is worth the effort as a measuring stick of our progress since then.

If you don't remind people living today that people from many races have contributed to what has been accomplished in US history, or that this nation has been a racially diverse effort from the earliest days, it becomes easy for people to think that "American=White", which simply was never true.

History doesn't say "John Smith, white guy", it says "John Smith, American".

To assume that "John Smith" is a "white guy", is an assumption that will often be wrong, and a disservice to the preservation of the history of the USA.

Which is why we have a "Black History Month" to preserve that truth.

01:17 AM Mar 28 2017

englishteacher24/7
United States

WobblyJoe, I couldn't have said it better myself. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the significance of Black History Month in the US.

10:02 AM Feb 28 2017

WobblyJoe

WobblyJoe
United States

Hello everyone! This is the last day of February. In the USA, February is celebrated as "Black History Month".

That might sound strange, "why do we need a month to study Black History in the USA?"

The answer is that black people and white people worked to build this nation together, from the very beginning. If you look at most lists of famous people in US history, most don't tell us which people were black and which were white, so many people assume the people on the list were all white people, but they usually weren't.

It's true that the original black contributions to settling this land weren't voluntary, but that fact doesn't change the fact that in the history of the USA, from the Revolution to today, black people have contributed much to the USA at every point in time.

I don't think that is as well appreciated here as it ought to be, and I don't think it's understood by many people in other nations.

Perhaps most people think the USA is a "white nation" and assume that famous people in our past were white. Hollywood made that view common by only showing white cowboys, white soldiers, white rich people.

The reality is far different.

On the last day of Black History Month, I encourage everyone to look for the contributions non-Europeans, especially those of African ancestry, have made to this nation. I suspect many people would be surprised by how often Hollywood just changed the race of a historical person to suit the movie audience.

Also, while reading many of you will find that people of your nation (whatever that is) have also done great things here.

Everyone contributes, but most stories are lost.

05:16 PM Feb 10 2017

englishteacher24/7
United States

It has been about three weeks since the inauguration of President Trump, and each day since then there has been some controversial issues in the news. The American public is basically split right down the middle between those who support or are against President Trump.

The people who supported President Trump turned out in vast numbers to vote for him, whereas the people who were against him did not turn out in sufficient numbers in critical areas to vote for Hillary Clinton, therefore did not receive sufficient electoral votes for their candidate to win.

The United States has 3 branches of government which are: The President, Congress, and the Judicial (Supreme Court.) It was designed to be a check and balance system based on a constitution so that no single individual could take over the government and implement their will.

In the case of President Trump signing an Executive Order of the President to implement a ban on immigration from seven named countries, the court system was activated to over-ride the executive order initiated in a lawsuit from the State of Washington.

The Trump Administration (also referred to as the White House) appealed the decision which was granted by a Federal Judge and the appeal was denied by a three-Judge panel in the Federal court system.

Now the Trump Administration has to decide their legal course of action if they wish to make the ban on immigration from the seven named countries. Stay tuned for updates.

09:16 PM Jan 21 2017

englishteacher24/7
United States

Well, it's official now. President Donald J. Trump has been installed as the 45th President of the United States. Undoubtedly many are upset by his victory but just as many are happy that he won the election. The U.S. is split right down the middle for and against him.

Like it or not, he is the president and time will tell about his performance as president. Unfortunately, Americans have strong feelings about his presidency and see the opposite side as wrong.

Nevertheless, the chickens have come home to roost and just like the Republicans opposed almost everything President Obama proposed, some Democrats may oppose almost everything the Republicans propose.

However, the Republicans have control of the Congress, the White House, and may have control of the Supreme Court after the next Supreme Court Justice is selected by the president.

One thing is for sure, changes are on the way. Let's hope they're for the good. 

07:37 PM Jan 07 2017

englishteacher24/7
United States

I am planning to write a new forum titled: "English Fluency Blueprint" that will present strategies, tips, information sources, etc. to help those whose goal is to achieve English fluency. Stay tuned.

12:58 PM Dec 31 2016

englishteacher24/7
United States

Happy New Year Everyone!

I hope 2017 will be a better year to achieve your goals. Whatever mistakes were made in 2016 let's learn from them and turn them into a positive.

10:52 PM Dec 11 2016

englishteacher24/7
United States

Opposition to the election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency has tapered off from physical demonstrations to expressions of dissatisfaction through social media and editorials of sorts.

The next big thing will be the final official vote of the Electoral College voters to be held on December 19, 2016. There is a remote possibility that they could vote against the results from the November 8, 2016 election but it is doubtful they will overturn the election.

The inauguration of the president is to be held on January 20, 2017 to officially install the President-elect. There is very likely to be some public demonstrations and attempts to disrupt this ceremony; nevertheless, time will tell how productive the new president will be. Stay tuned.

02:20 PM Nov 09 2016

englishteacher24/7
United States

The U.S. Presidential Election was held yesterday (11/8/16) and Donald Trump is the President-Elect.

Time will tell how he performs as president. Furthermore, the Republicans (Donald's political party) have a majority vote in the Senate and House of Representatives.

Therefore, two branches of the U.S. Government (President and Congress) will be controlled by the Republicans. The Supreme Court is the 3rd branch of the U.S. Government which has a vacancy that the President will have the privilege to fill. The person to be selected will likely be a conservative. Stay tuned.

01:35 AM Nov 04 2016

englishteacher24/7
United States

The U.S. Presidential Election takes place on Tuesday, November 8, 2016.

It has been the most tumultuous campaign season in memory. The candidates have been slugging it out for over a year and a half. Nevertheless, the million dollar question of who will succeed President Obama will be answered soon.

Most U.S. Americans will be glad when it's over!

11:30 AM Sep 25 2016

WobblyJoe

WobblyJoe
United States

We agree on rent control in certain areas. Income diverse cities are critical to the preservation of a class mobile society.

10:52 PM Sep 24 2016

englishteacher24/7
United States

Please bear with me as I inform you that I recently wrote and published my first eBook entitled: "How to Own a Car on the Cheap (without sacrificing quality). 

https://payhip.com/b/A9i2

It was a new experience for me to learn how to do things that we take for granted such as a clickable table of contents, headings, research, formatting, editing, book cover, hosting, etc.

I invite you to buy a copy and read it not only for the automotive content but to read an English topic other than learning English to develop your comprehension of English.

Furthermore, I do plan to compile my English lessons into eBooks for your convenience.

Finally, if you have the time, I encourage you to write your own eBook to develop your writing skills and make a little money to boot.

12:22 PM Sep 19 2016

englishteacher24/7
United States

WobblyJoe, you are correct. Let the marketplace use supply and demand to dictate the prices. Although I do believe in rent control in high-priced markets.

08:09 PM Aug 23 2016

WobblyJoe

WobblyJoe
United States

"if the government adjusted the incomes to the price increase"- President Nixon tried this in 1971. It was a disaster. It failed completely. There is a cultural bias here against such governmental powers, it wasn't well supported by the people.

12:25 AM Aug 21 2016

englishteacher24/7
United States

Hi Anja, your assessment of the current U.S. presidential campaign is right on. Typically, presidential campaigns are intense between the candidates, however, in this campaign season all the stops were pulled out and this one takes the cake.

Nevertheless, I believe that after the election, things will settle down, although we'll be at a crossroad of things getting better or worse. Time will tell.

Grocery prices have been incrementally inching up over the 2 years since you were here but some food prices have come down such as milk, eggs, and some produce. Many people shop the sales and use coupons.

The demographics of the country are changing rapidly and some people are not accustomed to seeing it change before our very eyes. Keep hope alive and stay tuned.

12:24 AM Aug 19 2016

buttafly

buttafly
Germany

Hello Alston! It's nice to read a comment from your perspective. The two presidential candidates clearly seem to divide America. In an established magazine I read that the campaign has "morphed into a movement". As outsiders we read and hear all kinds of words- vulgar ones, embarrassing ones, angry and dishonest ones..and many, many lies. I truly hope for the American people that who ever wins the election, will not demolish the hope for a better America.

Exactly 2 years ago I spent two weeks in Miami. First thing I noticed was the prices for groceries that have sky-rocketed since my last visit. When I asked if the government adjusted the incomes to the price increase as well, I only looked into frustrated faces. It's clear to see that the trust in the US government is at its lowest since the last decade. Well, it's on all of the US-voters alone to make a difference - especially for the younger generation!

01:47 AM Aug 15 2016

englishteacher24/7
United States

Well AnjaWobblyJoe has summed it up pretty good in a nutshell. Our country is split right down the middle politically and in many other areas. Much of the greatness you mentioned is momentum from the past which is the theme Donald Trump uses to try to recapture it.

Back in the 1980's our Japanese vice president of the company I previously worked for said, "The U.S. is a great country!"

Objectively speaking I can see certain aspects of his point from the perspective that the U.S. is a vast country with a lot of useable land (less than 10% is developed) many natural resources, agricultural technology, research and development, and a host of other areas.

Nevertheless, I would have to take a sober position with WobblyJoe on the current assessment of our country. Previously the U.S. was in the top 10 in many areas but unfortunately we are now in the top of lists that we don't want to be.

We are at a critical point for our country and the politicians can say this, that, and the other. However, the bottom line for the vast majority of Americans is their ability to provide food, clothing, and shelter for their families.

11:53 PM Aug 14 2016

oblaco848

oblaco848
Russian Federation

Thank's, very interesting blog!

08:20 AM Aug 12 2016

buttafly

buttafly
Germany

Hello Wobbly Joe. Thank you for elaborating on this topic. It was interesting and very informative to get an inside view from someone who experiences the whole campaign first-hand. Like I said before, I have always followed parts of the presidential elections. On a linguistic level it is impressive to see the strategy of words, candidates use to get their message across - sometimes clear, sometimes not so clear! What makes this campaign so outstanding is not only the unpredictability but the irrefutable emotionally-charged language that is used. 

Our world experiences one crisis after the other. Whatever the future holds, one thing is certain - this year's presidental election will make history. God bless everyone of us!

12:27 PM Aug 10 2016

WobblyJoe

WobblyJoe
United States

Buttafly- The Donald has been a tabloid staple in the USA since 1980. He's always talked like he does, he's always acted like he does. He has a bombastic, dominate personality. Such people are common in New Jersey, where he's from. We know that. Many New Jersey people "talk tough" because they are tough. New Jersey people are actually both famous and stereotyped for being tough and talking tough. We take that into account when we listen. We know him better than you do, and that also scares many people.

It is pretty great living here, but our greatness is our people. By culture we are friendly, helpful, and law abiding and generally dislike those who are not. Most of us are also pretty impoverished by Western standards. We aren't even in most "top 10" lists anymore.

This is the first generation in our history to be worse off than their parents.

Thats what Trump is talking about. Some here feel our politicians have been adopting European style Socialist economic policies for which the US has neither the culture nor infrastructure in place to support at the same time we have been losing the jobs which formed the basis of our economy, in heavy manufacturing.

The Donald is not a professional politician. He got so far in this election perhaps due to a general disapproval of the professional politicians in our midst. He's a citizen, not a lawyer. Those people I have talked to who support him realize he has shortcomings, but few of our presidents are actually "qualified" for the job. Most expect he will do his best, and figure he can't do any worse than the last few have.

Both candidates offer great risks to us regular people. We are deeply divided here, choosing between perceived risks to our future.

11:44 PM Aug 08 2016

buttafly

buttafly
Germany

Hi Alston,

I do follow the presidential election up to a certain extent. Always have! At first "The Donald" seemed like a breath of fresh air. He was quite entertaining despite his rhetoric flaw. Yeah, for a while he was even funny. Now-with less than a hundred days to go- it's not funny anymore! His tone and tactics are just absurd to me. I know as a German I'm not qualified and it's actually none of my business but when did America stop being anything but great???

04:01 PM Aug 08 2016

englishteacher24/7
United States

The 2016 Presidential campaign is continuing to heat up between Republican Donald Trump and Democratic Hillary Clinton. All the stops have been pulled out and surprisingly some Republicans are jumping ship and voting for the candidate for the Democratic Party.

Furthermore, today 50 Republican National Security experts have signed a letter opposing Donald Trump as president. It's a first for Republicans to support a Democratic nominee instead of their own party's nominee.

The upcoming presidential debates should be very interesting (if they happen at all.)

Stay tuned!

01:25 PM Jun 30 2016

englishteacher24/7
United States

You're welcome Amira.

I offer my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives at the airport in Istanbul and pray for those injured in the bombing.

02:58 PM Jun 29 2016

La Princesse de la vie
Egypt

How kind this boy is!

My Grandmother always tells me that every good deed you do for others, every help you provide is held for you till comes the day you'll need it, but unfortunately most people are ignorant of this fact.

Thank you Mr. Alston for sharing this heart-touching story!

02:51 PM Jun 29 2016

englishteacher24/7
United States

Yesterday I was eating lunch at a restaurant with a view to the cars leaving the parking lot. Near the end of the parking lot was a homeless man sitting on the ground with a sign asking for help to buy some food. I observed several customers in their cars exiting the parking lot and ignoring this man.

Finally I observed a young boy on a bicycle, stopped, reached in his pocket and gave the man some coins he had in his pocket. The man thanked the boy and the boy rode away on his bicycle.

There's a lot we adults can learn from children!

 

07:03 PM Jun 13 2016

englishteacher24/7
United States

Thank you both for your comments in memory of Muhammad Ali.

Unfortunately now I must offer my condolences to the families of the victims in Orlando, Florida.

02:38 PM Jun 05 2016

WobblyJoe

WobblyJoe
United States

That is certainly true. He had fans everywhere and was a classy guy who had a great many fans. His fights were exciting to watch and in his personal life; he stood up for his rights as an American, raised a caring and respected family, and often provided comments to the media that gave real insight on social issues.

His 'trash talk poetry' is legendary, and can be found online easily along with his serious comments. Nearly everyone here knows "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee".

He was given America's highest award a few years ago in recognition of his great contributions to us all.