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AMERICAN CULTURE PROJECT Faith MacDonald Sociology Period 4A

PLACES TO VISIT New York City New York City was named the #1 city in the world to visit in 2011 by Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2011 and our US-based staff agrees that it’s a top destination for the coming year.

Since 9/11, the site for the World Trade Center’s twin towers has stood out as a closed-off, out-of-view, painful gaping void. This year that changes, as the former WTC site finally reopens to the public with the National September 11 Memorial. For all of New York, September 11, 2011 will be a defining moment.

The city is also experiencing a renaissance: half of the roads in Times Square have been given over to pedestrians, the 85-acre Brooklyn Bridge Park continues to see old piers transformed into parks and apartments, and the universally loved High Line, a reinvention of an elevated train line as a landscaped walkway, opens its second stretch in Chelsea this year. Also, Brooklyn’s Coney Island finishes its much-needed $30 million makeover this summer. And on May 23, another icon will have a historic moment when the New York Public Library turns 100.

Denver, Colorado Another sesquicentennial – bet you didn’t know it’s the 150th anniversary of Colorado Territory. Maybe you did. The Colorado Gold Rush started in 1861 and brought an influx of settlers into the region. We’re lucky that Colorado is now much easier to get to as it has some of the best skiing in the country with over 26 resorts, including the country’s first ski-in/ski-out ballroom at the Viceroy Snowmass.

Even though Boulder often gets all the love, we highly recommend Denver. This sparkly-clean mile-high city is nestled amid beautiful mountains yet urban delights abound. The Denver Art Museum, designed by Daniel Libeskind, is an architectural feat where you can see modern art as well as historical exhibitions. The shopping area near 16th Street features some fabulous stores including Tattered Cover, one of our favorite independent bookstores in the US. And IM Pei, who designed the Louvre pyramid, also designed several projects in Denver like the Mile High Center and Courthouse Square. It’s like Paris in the West.

Northern California Our US office is based in Northern California so we’re biased. But no one will deny that Northern California is like no other place in the country. Come for the stunning natural scenery, incredible food, biodynamic wineries, micro-brewing companies, wildlife, beaches, and you might find yourself staying a long time. And how about those World Series champion Giants? Their first home game is April 8!

I personally recommend: Big Sur, Anderson Valley Brewing Company, Santa Cruz, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Yosemite National Park, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, San Francisco burritos and Oakland’s taco trucks, Eastern Sierra hot springs, Mt Shasta, mushroom hunting in the forests, and visiting local cheese makers. Hey, if you need more suggestions, just ask me!

Grand Canyon National Park A lot of National Parks came up on our shortlist but Grand Canyon National Park won out over the rest. A perennial favorite and a jewel of the National Parks system, Grand Canyon recently opened Phase V of the new Grand Canyon Greenway trail. With its opening there is now a continuous, paved, accessible trail all the way from Grand Canyon Village to the South Kaibab Trailhead. The two rims of the Grand Canyon offer quite different experiences and, as they lie more than 200 miles apart by road, are rarely visited on the same trip.

Most visitors choose the South Rim, which boasts easy access, the bulk of services and the panoramic vistas for which the park is famous. The quieter North Rim has its own charms; at 8200ft elevation, its cooler temperatures support wildflower meadows and tall, thick stands of aspen and spruce. For many, the Grand Canyon epitomizes the ultimate American travel destination. If you haven’t been yet, don’t wait another year.

Hawaii Flights to the Hawaiian islands may seem pricey but when you step back and compare these with tickets to the South Pacific, Hawaii is an affordable tropical paradise. By serendipity and design, Hawaii is an almost flawless destination. It’s an enchanting multicultural society with roots in Polynesia, Asia, North America and Europe, and it’s an expression of nature at its most luscious and divine. Hawaii is hiking sculpted cliffs or diving coral-reef cities in the morning and drinking mai tais to slack-key guitar at sunset. It’s slurping juicy papayas with hibiscus flowers in your hair; it’s Pacific Rim cuisine, fiery volcanoes and cavorting whales. Hawaii offers something for everyone, even if you hate beaches. And 2011 is the 70th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor. CLOTHES TO WEAR Jeans are usually always safe to wear unless it is a formal event such as a wedding or funeral. Sweatshirts are acceptable in a casual setting. To semi formal occasions boys wear kaky pants with a nice shirt and tie and girls ear short dresses. To formal ocassions boyswear tuxedos and girls wear long dresses.

FOODS TO EAT 1) New England clam chowder (Massachusetts) While no trip to Boston is complete without a proper bowl of clam chowder, it's not fair to hand this one to Massachusetts alone — or to pretend that chowder is any one thing.

Bob Fila /  Chicago Tribune via KRT Clam chowder — as good in a cup as in a bowl. The original etymology is thought to be French, from chaudière (cauldron), perhaps passed along by French fishermen who crossed the Atlantic in colonial times. In his book “50 Chowders,” Boston chef Jasper White traces the first recipe to a 1751 edition of the Boston Evening Post. However, that soup not only neglects to mention clams but fish at all. Its basic foundation was salt pork and onions, followed by spices and soaked biscuits. Cod or bass were added in by the end of the 18th century, but not until the mid-1800s do clams begin to appear in recipes, and the milk — now considered an essential component — didn't appear until the 1860s or so. The formula was cast by the early 20th century, though the creamy classic occasionally vied for competition with tomato-based Manhattan clam chowder. (Not, in fact, from Manhattan.) The clam of choice is usually the Eastern variety known as a quahog (CO-hog), with a shell thicker than three inches; its meaty insides help give chowder a briny kick. Smaller clams of the same type, Mercenaria mercenaria, are better known as littlenecks or cherrystones and not usually used for chowder. A proper chowder is deep and aromatic, with layered flavors atop a porky foundation. Between the Red Sox finally winning, and all that chowder, I'd warn residents of Boston to expect a flood of visitors who won't leave. And I'm not talking about Harvard students. 2) Pastrami (New York) Reasonable citizens can disagree about which pastrami is the best in New York, and therefore the universe. Some praise the prototype at the ever-flashy Carnegie Deli. Others stake their money on the thick, hand-cut version at Katz’s. (While we appreciate the fervent West Coast partisanship of Langer’s fans in L.A. ... c'mon.)

Susan Tusa /  Detroit Free Press via KRT To watch the countermen at Katz's hand-slice pastrami is to watch an act of true artistry. What’s beyond dispute is that pastrami on rye is the Platonic ideal of deli food: two simple slices of good caraway-laced bread, an inconceivably high pile of warm sliced beef, perhaps a modest smear of mustard. Pastrami is the very triumph of man over meat. It begins with a simple slab of brisket (or plate) — a cut that, unlike the simple grill-and-serve of more obvious hunks of cow, begs for transformation. Then a dry cure: salt, undoubtedly a good portion of cracked black pepper, maybe some sugar and spice — which sits on the meat as it is smoked with eternal patience. New York meat expert Mr. Cutlets notes the Carnegie cures their pastrami for two weeks. When finally ready, whole pastramis are steamed for several hours before serving. It’s an Old World cooking schedule, with a name derived from a Yiddish take on Romanian pastrama, and even older possible roots in Turkey. But it was New York’s Jewish immigrants who claimed pastrami as their own in the early 20th century, and made it a staple of culinary life in this greatest of food cities. 3) Shoofly pie (Pennsylvania) Americans are suckers for fruit pies, but this Pennsylvania Dutch treat strips pie-making to its essential, tasty core. Crust, with molasses and crumbs. Nothing more. (Though James Beard insisted raisins were part of the mix.)

Bob Fila /  Chicago Tribune via KRT Another theory: Food historian William Woys Weaver contends in his book, "Pennsylvania Dutch Country Cooking," that shoofly pie actually is a breakfast cake that dates to 1876. Its origins are slightly gooey. Author John Mariani found a first reference in 1926, while Linda Stradley posits that it’s an update of treacle tart, which was made with refined cane syrup. In either case, the Amish — who enjoy both “wet” (crumbs on top) and “dry” (crumbs mixed in) versions — have claimed it as their own. Some might claim the dry is really more a crusted cake than a pie. We're not going to quibble, because either way, it tastes pretty good. Those crumbs add texture to a dense, rustic molasses taste. In Amish country, you might be told the name refers to the constant need to shoo flies away from these toothachingly sweet treats and the pools of molasses that formed atop them. Variations abound, incorporating chocolate or Steen's cane syrup. They're good too, though the original doesn't need much updating, save for a dollop of whipped cream on top. Shoofly pie is perfect baked-good simplicity. It’s proof that sometimes basic ingredients are all you need. 4) Smithfield ham (Virginia) Italians have their prosciutto, Spaniards their serrano. These are hams of character and substance, hams with history. So why are so many American hams just pasty hunks of flavorlessness?

www.smithfieldhams.com You can get Smithfield hams both cooked or uncooked. The cooked hams have such a strong, salty flavor, you'll need to slice them paper-thin.

COMMON PHRASES 1. Whats up? 2. Check ya later 3. You see what had happened was.. 4. Sorry not sorry 5. BOOM 6. Word 7. How you be? 8. Whats good? 9. That's straight 10. Im down 11. Bump that

Important Laws 1. Don't kill anyone 2. Don't drive on the left side of the road 3. Don't steal anything 4. Don't drink and drive 5. Don't touch little kids inappropriately 6. Don't light things on fire