h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm all for cultural sensitivity. I'm all for expanding the American calendar to include cultural aspects from around the world. What I am NOT in favor of, however, is losing the American holidays in favor of being politically correct. Okay, Columbus Day is a gaffe, since Columbus really didn't actually set foot on the continent, and there's mounting evidence that perhaps we should refer to it, if we must, as Leif Erickson Day. Still insensitive to the Native Americans, since no one really "found" it, they just showed up late. Christmas, which used to be a universal holiday, is no longer pc, and frankly, the religious overtones of it dictate that it shouldn't be. Other religions have different celebrations, and I am all for that. Easter, same thing. A little too Christian for non-Christians to handle, and understandably so.

Halloween, however, is different. I know that some cultures think witches and ghosts and demons and ghouls are bad, icky things. Okay, then say none of those kinds of costumes are allowed. Only costumes without supernatural origins, such as fairy tale characters. But to take Halloween away completely in the name of some politically correct mumbo-jumbo over cultural sensitivity is beyond me. If I have to explain other culture's celebrations to my daughter, then frankly, I don't see what's wrong with expecting another culture to explain Halloween to their kids. I think there are certain things about living in a country that one must expect to have to deal with. If I lived in England, I would certainly expect to participate, or at least witness, Guy Fawkes Day. Does Guy Fawkes resonate with me? No. But should the residents of my adopted town suddenly stop celebrating it to be sensitive to me? Absolutely not. Same with Chinese New Year. The firecrackers and dragons and drums are not something I'm used to, but does that make it bad? No. Should I expect to deal with it? Yes.

I could not agree more with your take of other cultures festivals and celebrations. I always thought the "melting pot of America" should be more of a salad or smorgassboard. I am curious how a Montana girl is surviving in S. California! I am in Co.,I would love to be in Montana myself! I just came back from a N. California vacation. I loved it. I wrote a bit about it on my homepage. I have enjoyed all my trips to California, just cannot imagine living in southern California especially.You still sound sane!When where you last in Montana?

I left Montana on 28 June of this year. I have spent all but 7 of the last 20 years in Montana, moved there when I was very young, and consider myself a Montanan. How am I surviving SoCal? I tend to put my head down and just ignore a lot of stuff, or, if I'm feeling particularly spicy, walking up to someone on their cell phone in a restaurant or what have you and saying, very loudly, "do you know how unbelievably RUDE you are?" or some such. I tend to try NOT to drive.

Sounds like you have what it will take. Pick you battles wisely! Good Luck! Hope you make it back home soon.

The same people who want to take away the ghosts and devils at Halloween are the same ones who push the religious overtones of Christmas. Next time they start getting bent about Halloween costumes, tell them you'll trade them their Nativity for it.

Isn't it fun how some people try to tell everyone how to live in an allegedly free country?

Good luck with OC. I almost moved there. Then I started attending training in Costa Mesa, and experienced 4 road-rage weenies in the three weeks... and I'm such an atypical California driver that I actually use turn signals. Maybe that was the problem... I had the gall to warn them beforehand and didn't allow them to cut me off from behind, as they approached me from the freeway shoulder.

Needless to say, I decided to remain in the safe confines in the meth lab-dotted landscape of the IE. It's not necessarily better, but at least it's familiar... and sometimes you see other people out here using turn signals.

I know, I use my turnsignals, too, and it confuses them. They also honk at me when I come to a complete stop at (gasp) stop signs.

Lately we've taken to writing down the plate numbers of every car that drives through when the school bus' red lights are flashing. It's illegal!

I noticed a comment elsewhere about freeway speeds, too. Since you've come from abroad, I couldn't expect you to know that we consider speed limits to be averages, rather than limits. We do 80 to make up for all the time we spend on the freeway doing 3.

Is that what it is? It blows me away, all that passing at high rates of speed. Although after sitting on the 91 for three hours, I can see why.