Thoughts on Culture

Hey guys – I’m currently in the car on the way home from Michigan, where I went with my family this weekend to visit my sister. (Four hours down, eight to go…) I just read “Culture is Ordinary”, and afterwards began to think about not only the essay, but also about my ability to write and analyze what I read. I’m very sad to say that I’ve never been able to do the latter very well. I do love to read, but I suppose I love the things where you don’t have to think much. As for writing, I’ve never felt that I wrote well. I never know how to start and finish… and this makes doing everything in between very difficult. I love grammar. I enjoy using it correctly and learning new things. I also enjoy words – where they come from, weird things about them, etc.
And so I’ve discovered my problem. I love the very basics of writing – words and grammar – I’m just horrible at putting them together to form my thoughts, or dissecting them in order to analyze others’ thoughts. So my purpose for taking this class was to improve upon these two things, and I hope to do just that.
About the essay… Before I began reading I tried to think of what my definition of culture would be. I decided it was the different traditions and ways of life that each group of people follows and practices. I also thought about the title of this essay, “Culture is Ordinary”, and realized that I did not agree with this statement at all. However, after reading the excerpt I understood Williams’ meaning. Every group of people, whether it is a family, a nationality, or a religion, has its own traditions, beliefs, and ways of life. Everyone has their own culture, making it ordinary. While this is true, it must also be said that while every culture exists for the same general purposes, each one specifically is not ordinary; it is the opposite, extraordinary.