Cities 07

Before embarking on a journey that placed me in Austria for a high school exchange, I thought that I had it all in America. From unlimited shopping hours to inexpensive petrol; my life revolved around a culture of convenience. It was not until I lived in Austria did I realize the importance of having and observing culture. From street festivals, Christmas and New Year celebrations, harvest parties, theater musicals, all the way to skiing down a mountain on barrel slots through an obstacle course to Mozart concerts. Such events may seem crazy to an outsider, but to the people of Austria it is something greater. A sense of welcome, pride, community; call it what you want, but it is something that is missing from our contemporary America.
It was not until I returned to my home of Hawai’i did I realize that I need to be living in a place with culture. I was sitting in my apartment watching a special on the Travel Channel entitled 1000 Places to See Before You Die. At one point during the special they featured the beautiful city of Pisa, Italy. Pisa, familiar because of the leaning tower, has what I would argue one of the longest running competitions in history. Since the Middle Ages, the four historic districts of the city gather on June 17th to observe Saint Ranieri, the patron saint of Pisa. For this event, the four districts select eight men to a boat who race 1500 meters to a raft with a flag pole. At the top of this flag pole sits three flags. The racers row their hearts out to get their climber to the pole and claim that first place banner. And what does the winning team receive for winning the yearly competition? Nothing! Just the simple pride that they won. It is events like this that appeal to me.
The level that people become emotionally involved in this might seem crazy to an American. The simple fact that people still observe this tradition and come together as a community is something I want and need in my life. Where in this country do we shut down whole cities for a cultural event? Sure we have federal holidays, but they seem to become more and more commercial each year. (Think of sales that are going on now before Thanksgiving even happens, or memorial day/president’s day car sales!) September 11, 2001 has come and passed; we forget things too quickly in this country. I do not think that most Americans can or even will understand how whole cities shut down for the entire day to observe something that has no real meaning in people lives. This is culture and something that is obviously in the void in this country. So, it is this idea of culture that I am going to observe in Minnesota.
For my final paper, I am going to do a content analysis of cultural events taking place around the state. I am going to e-mail 2 large municipalities (60,000+ residents) in the southern third of the state, middle third, and northern third asking about their events reported to the municipality for the month of March and April. I will repeat the above steps for 2 middle size municipalities (30,000+ residents) and 2 small size municipalities (Less than 15,000 residents). For the metro area, I am going to include both Minneapolis and St. Paul. I am also going to contact neighboring suburbs, some known for being mainly white, some intermixed, and some thought to be the “urban ghetto.” I am going to be building off of Wirth’s idea that the increased density will ultimately increase the number of subcultures within a certain area, ultimately influencing the number of cultural events taking place within the municipalities.