Kultur 1

The "How German is American?" article was interesting on multiple levels, but what was really interesting for me was the sections on immigrants and German population clusters in the US. Coming from the Midwest where the article cites there being a higher percentage of German population, it put things in perspective for me. I never thought that I lived in a place with more German families, but upon consideration, a lot of families I knew were either Polish (my town is predominately Polish), or secondarily German. Michigan itself has Frankenmuth, which is known for being a very Bavarian style town. My brother and his wife used to live in Wausau, WI, which after reading the article makes me understand my sister-in-law's obsession with German things.

Ann Arbor, although not predominately German, has a large German culture as well. Recently I went to the last German Park on August 27th with a friend, and it was a bit of a culture shock. The entire event was based on drinking beer, dancing to accordion polka music, and eating German food. The entire site was set up specifically for this event, including the parking lot and log cabins and fences that surrounded the area. Not only this, but the entire site was in the middle of nowhere about 20 minutes outside of Ann Arbor. This calls to the reference in the article about German spirit being very rooted in the forest, which Michigan and Wisconsin both obviously are.

Another cool part of the article, personally, was the explanation of Pennsylvania Dutch culture and immigrants. I recently found out that I was Pennsylvania Dutch, and the only thing I knew about it was that it was a vaguely Germanic sort of origin. It also made me think of Bethlehem, PA, where a good friend of mine lives. It is very based in Moravian culture, and the entire town's old culture is based around the old Moravian college and churches, which still have an active culture. My first impression of this town was that it seemed very Germanic, and very "little European" feeling, but in the middle of no where.

What also struck me is how distinctive "German American" culture is as opposed to just German culture. There seems to be a strong nationality among German Americans, but it is different from Germans also, though both intertwined. It's a very unique thing, and is kind of warm and inviting.