What are some of your favorite things about your social/religious/regional culture?

Social: belligerent conversations with friends (knowing we’re still ok with each other), introducing people in my local community
Religious: n/a
Regional: Southern California is home, always will be. I love its variety of environments, cultures, classes, etc. It’s like a mini-USA. And yes, there are rednecks and “jes plain folk” in SoCal.

religious: Jews don’t convert people. we accept other cultures as having the right to exist.

regional: Canada has free health care. its also a more “neutral” country. we believe that diplomacy works best, most of the time. i also love the multicultural aspect and that everyone is free to show off their uniqueness. oh, and our dollar is better than ever.

Montreal: the city can be divided among francophones and anglophones, but one thing brings everyone together: hockey. its a great, active sport. there are also many festivals in Montreal, such as jazz fest, reggae fest, just for laughs, fringe fest, formula 1, winter fest, fireworks fest, and many others. the nightlife is amazing too, with clubs and strip clubs at every corner. we have beer at the deppanneur, not the convenient store, and the metro is great too. this sums up a lot of my feelings lol.

fireside, the ‘great question’ is from me

thanks chica, no offense meant really. I think EVERYONE is the shit

I post this a lot, but the affirmations of humanism say it all for me.

Social: From Sheepshead and Cribbage and traveling pot luck dinners I love our social life.

Religious: Well, I don’t know if us UU’s are religious, but I guess it fits some parts of the definition. The best part of being a UU: All the world is accepted from Pagens and Wiccan’s to Jews and (disgruntled) Catholics. Throw in a mix of gay and lesbian and a dash of African, Asian, Hispanics and you’ve got one hell of a culture.

Regional: Milwaukee area is rife with festivals and parties. Go Brewers!

One aspect of Judiasm today that I love is the ability to talk loudly and listen at the same time. “Outshouting” is a finely developed skill. (The softer accompanying leitmotif is always, “Have seconds. You’re thin as a rail.”)

And this acceptable opening conversational gambit; “Hi, nice to meet you.
What do you do and how much do you earn? Are you single? Have I got a (fella) girl for you.”

Gail, you must have met my father’s side! New york jewish family. There’s this magical ability for everyone to talk at once and still know exactly what’s being said. The biggest problem with it is that such things are considered to be ‘rude’ in ohio.

@Del: Never mind Ohio. My second marriage was to a quintessential New EnglandWasp; with a degree from Harvard and an MeD from U. Wisc. He had three sons; they used to warn their then girlfriends before meeting me that I was going to be nosy and pushy.

(Now that they are all very adult, they have admitted that I was fun, most of the time.)

I grew up in SF, in the city proper. I look back and realize how blessed I was to live in such an amazing place. Not only that, but growing up there most definitely shaped me into the person I am today, and I think that is a good thing.

What I love about it.. it’s full of highly intelligent people who dance to the beat of their own drummers. Differentness is not merely tolerated, it’s encouraged and celebrated. You have every kind of person living there, every shape, size, color, orientation, ethnicity, etc. You can walk down the street with hot pink hair and a crazy outfit, and while people might look at you, ultimately they kind of shrug and say, “Ha.. only in San Francisco.”

You can totally be yourself in SF, inside and out. You can get crazy or creative with your self-expression and it’s accepted. I love that!

I am not asian and admire the respect for family life and the elderly that asians cultures have.

It is something that is missing from western society.

I also admire they way asian cultures emphasise the community rather than the individual.

I think Western society’s emphasis on the individual leads to selfishness, loneliness, and the breakdown of human relationships .