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Microcosms of American Culture - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Anecdotal Testimony Small talk is a great way to get to know people, make good first impressions, and judge someone's character, but I know, for me, it can sometimes be ingenuine. A lot of people really do care when they ask, "How are you?" but others just don't like awkward silence.
      - Anecdotal Exception Growing up in a small town, then moving so close to Philadelphia was an eye-opener. When you live in a small town, everyone knows everyone, so when someone new comes in, everyone wants to know everything about them; this starts with small talk. When I moved to Skippack, PA, no one really cared. My school had at least 400 kids per grade and was very fast-paced. Not many people cared about or even noticed a new face. It's like that in most big cities too. You ignore everyone around you and get from point A to point B.
  - - - Anecdotal Exception Like I said, I believe all people are competitive by nature. In younger generations, though, "laziness" is a trait becoming more and more prominent. My generation has the highest reported amount of mental health problems, (cnn.com), and, though a lot of things factor in, I don't believe mental health is taken as seriously as it should be, so someone who is gifted with intelligence may be misjudged as lazy when they're really just ill. I personally struggle with this. Though I used to be an all "A" student and a promising athlete, all of that is gone now. It's assumed that I've become lazy, and that I don't care anymore. But, in reality, all of the pressure placed on me as I was growing up--by myself and others--has burnt me out.
      - Anecdotal Testimony The capitalistic ideology that encourages competition in America is embedded into our minds the moment we walk through the doors on our very first day of school. I believe people everywhere are competitive by nature, but here in America, from a young age we are told that in order to be successful, we have to get good grades, earn scholarships, be the best at sports, go to the best college, and get a great job. Then, at that job, we are trying to be noticed and promoted. We'll spend our lives always striving to be at the top. I don't think this is necessarily 100% positive or negative.
- - - - Anecdotal Testimony When I moved to North Carolina, I sent my friend a Snapchat with the time stamp on it and she said, "OMG are you in PA?" because she thought each state was in a different time zone.
      - Anecdotal Exception I feel like nowadays students are more aware of these stereotypes and are trying to break out of them. Though a lot of adults are geographically, politically, and technologically ignorant, younger generations are becoming more educated.
  - - - Anecdotal Exception: My brother turned vegan a couple years ago and gets mostly organic foods. Most fast food restaurants don't have options for him and others like him.
      - Anecdotal Testimony: I don't eat a lot of homecooked meals because it's hard for my parents to accommodate to my dietary restrictions. Fast food is the easiest, fastest, and cheapest meal I can find a lot of the time. When I'm not eating fast food, I'm usually eating unhealthy processed foods.
- - - - Anecdotal Testimony So many people can't afford to have basic necessities. If you get into a car accident and have to be flown to a hospital, it can cost anywhere from 12,000-25,000 and that's not even including hospital bills. There are several payment plans and aid that you can apply for, but it's ridiculous how much it costs to stay alive. The way I see it - you didn't choose to get into an accident, or have diabetes, or cerebral palsy, so why should you have to pay so much more to be alive?
      - Anecdotal Exception Obamacare is still in effect until the end of 2021, and that helps some people, but in 2019, 9.2% of Americans didn't have health insurance. There is no excuse or exception to this rule.
  - - - Anecdotal Testimony Black Lives Matter protests spiked over this past summer in response to police brutality, and more and more survivors of rape and sexual assault are finding their voice and speaking out. I will never be able to understand the hardships of a person of color in America, but I can speak on what I've experienced. As a woman in America, I don't even feel safe walking to my car after work. I, along with many other women I know, carry some sort of self-defense weapon around with me. We check under the car before getting close, carry our keys between our fingers, and jump in the car and lock it as fast as possible from fear of being abducted or having our achilleas slashed. According to ifitweremyhome.com, if you lived in Denmark, rather than the US, you would be 81.58% less likely to be murdered.
      - Anecdotal Exception Nowadays, more light is being shed on the violence in America. People are demanding that those committing the acts of violence are held accountable.
- - - - Anecdotal Exception I have faith in the new administration to restore the trust that was lost by the former administration. Though America has been a place for the people, our voices were drowned out these past 4 years.
      - Anecdotal testimony This past election year, the American people were fed lies by the person who is supposed to defend and support them. These lies led to a violent coup attempt which left Americans' faith in government and our people diminished.
  - - - Anecdotal Testimony My oldest sister, Sarah, prides herself on the fact that she was valedictorian in high school, got accepted in early admissions to Cornell, and graduated a semester early there. People always want to stand out to employers, and other people by having the most sought after credentials. They obtain these credentials through the pursuit of higher education,
      - Anecdotal Exception I, personally, have never understood the hype surrounding prestigious ivy league universities. I don't understand why a degree from Harvard will get you so much farther than that same degree from a public university. I also think that Gen-Z will have the lowest college enrollment.