Introduction

Hello to all,

I am Jared, a student at Kettering University in Dr. Joy Arbor's "Listening Across Difference" class. I was born in Pontiac, Michigan; I live in Waterford, Michigan; and attend school in Flint, Michigan. I have never left Michigan for more than a couple weeks at a time.

Michigan has a rich automotive heritage, being the home of General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and Chrysler. Being the home to these, the largest three American car companies, a significant portion of Michigan residents work in the auto industry. Due to the recent economic downturn, people are buying less new cars and as a result, Michigan's economy has suffered lately. Due to this and the fact that myself, as well as many of my family members work in the automotive industry, I am a strong believer in the increasingly common notion that American citizens should buy American cars. Due to past quality issues, many Americans have the belief that Japanese cars are of a higher quality than American cars, but this is no longer true.

Most students at Kettering University, including myself, do not like the city of Flint. In the mid 1900's, Flint was a booming city due to money the citizens made working for General Motors. Most of the General Motors jobs are now gone, so Flint has a very high unemployment rate. This is partly responsible for the crime rate in Flint, which is one of the highest of any city in the USA. A large portion of Flint citizens are relatively poor as well as being poorly educated. Over 53% of Flint residents are Black or African American. Kettering students are generally more wealthy than the citizens of Flint, most coming from middle or upper class families. The majority of Kettering students are White. This difference in social standing as well as race (racism is illegal in many forms in the USA, but it is still rather common) has caused the two populations, Flint residents and Kettering students, to largely remain separate. Kettering students, even those living in Flint, generally do not consider themselves Flint residents, and do not associate with Flint residents more than necessary.

Hopefully this has helped students of AUD better understand the culture in Flint from a Kettering University students perspective.

I do not like Flint, but I think Michigan is a pretty good state to live in (unemployment rate is currently high, but otherwise it can be a beautiful state that also has many very safe cities, such as Troy) and I have no interest in living anywhere other than the USA. I feel that citizens of the USA have more freedom than residents of any other developed nation. We can think, speak, or publish anything that we want. We can work any job that we can get, and buy anything that we can afford. We can wear what we like to and go anywhere that we please. Generally speaking, the government has no control over our daily lives, which I like. The citizens created our government, and they run the government to this day. I love the USA.

My favorite hobby is probably traveling. The only foreign country I have been to is Canada, as the USA is a huge country with a LOT to see. Going from one state to another in the USA can result in very different cultures as well as different environments and landscape. In the USA you can find everything from the ocean to deserts. Mountains to plains. The USA is a beautiful nation, and much of the south and the west are largely undeveloped. Even in the more developed areas of the USA, there are large portions of the land set aside as state or national parks which remain undeveloped by man. The natural beauty that can be found in the USA is amazing. Because of this, I like to go on road trips. Road trips are popular in the USA and essentially just mean you load your car up with everything you need and drive around for a week or two, just to explore and see new things. I recently returned from a six day road trip where I traveled 2,500 miles (4,000 km) and saw a total of nine states, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. I saw all kinds of landscapes and met all kinds of people in less than a week, without ever leaving the USA. I will post a recent picture taken inside a state park in northern Michigan, hundreds of miles away from Flint.

This is getting long and I have things to do this weekend, but I hope this post provides insight into who I am as well as where we live and attend school.

Jared