One of the major parts of American culture has been music. It has spread all across America and in the entire world. Much of the music of America was formed in America, and some came from other nations. Hip Hop, country, rock, gospel, jazz, pop, techno, soul, blues, and other music can be heard here plus globally. Music in America is extremely diverse. America has the largest music market with a total retail value of $4.9 billion in 2014. Without us African Americans, there is no modern American music today as we know it. The rhythmic and lyrical styles of black American music have been fundamental to American culture from the vocals of Aretha Franklin, the self reflection of Otis Redding, the creativity of Amerie, the emotional power of Whitney Houston, the elegance of Brandy, and to the songwriting genius of Stevie Wonder. Back in the day, many black people played banjos which came from the Motherland of Africa. The musical genres of jazz and blues represent the power of American music because the jazz and blues are ancestors of rock and roll and rhythm and blues (which was created in the 1940s). Country music developed in the 1920s. Jazz innovators like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington were icons of music in general. We know that pioneers of rock and roll were Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Elvis Presley, and other people in the 1950s. We know about how rock revolved into Metallica, the Eagles, Aerosmith, REM, etc. By the 1960s, Bob Dylan was a folk singer with songwriting skills. Pop music grown from Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, etc. to Michael Jackson, Prince, Madonna, and Whitney Houston. R&B music has been some of the greatest genres of music to describe the complex nature of love and relationships filled with Toni Braxton, Anita Baker, Brandy, Monica, SWV, Boyz II Men, H.E.R., Ella Mai, Co Co Jones, etc. The sounds from Motown, Stax Records, etc. has inspired the world showing American music at its finest. Hip Hop music has been some of the resilient genres in human history with musicians like Nas, Common, Jay Z, Megan Thee Stallion, Eminem, Lauryn Hill, Tupac, the Notorious B.I.G., and other artists like Arrested Development. We have pop superstars in the 2020s like Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, etc. The annual Coachella music festival in California is one of the largest, most famous, and most profitable music festival in the United States and the world.
Cinema in America has been a huge cultural expression. The movie industry is not just based in the northern district of Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Movie culture in the 21st century has been decentralized in many other cities from Atlanta, New York City, D.C., Chicago, Austin, Miami, etc. with independent projects, film festivals, and other programs to present cinema. The old school Hollywood cinema era was from 1913 to 1969. Also, early black American movie directors existed like Oscar Micheaux who funded and directed groundbreaking movies about race, economics, family, and other aspects of human existence. Frenchmen Auguste and Lousi Lumiere were involved in the birth of modern cinema. We know about movies like Orson Welles' Citizen Kane in 1941, Malcolm X in 1992, the Godfather in 1972, and Avatar in 2009. Today, since COVID-19 and the decline of theater attendance, we have more independent films in internet channels and other digital spaces that allow more actors and actresses to have access in means to express their talents to the world. Broadcasting is power in America has household ownership of television device in America is about 96.7 percent. The majority of all households in America have more than one set. There are media, channels, and ways where people can get information or just be entertained. People know and watch news from channels like ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, Newsnation, MS NOW, and other corporate channels. Today, podcasts, digital news channels, and other grassroots media services are very commonplace in our generation. There has been a high level of critically acclaimed television series in recent years. Americans also celebrate many holidays based on American history, Christian and other religions' traditions, and national celebrations like New Year's Day, the Dr. King holiday, President's Day, Memorial Day, Veteran's Day, Juneteenth (to celebrate freedom of black people from the evil of slavery), Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
Fashion has always been part of the motif of the United States' tradition. Creativity is always part of American fashion styles. The blue jeans were popularized by the merchant Levi Strauss, a German Jewish immigrant in San Francisco. American teenagers and adults wear jeans today. They are worn by people of every age, social class, and race. They remain an American staple, and I wear jeans all of the time. Modern American fashion has been hybrid system from European, Asian, African, and other influences. Back in the colonial days, many colonists wore colonial clothes. As time went on, American fashion has been eclectic and influenced by sportswear too involving shirts, shoes, bras, sweaters, jersey, and other items. Athleisure is very commonplace because it can be comfortable, stylish, and functional. There has been more formal wear with conservative dresses, hats, pants, suits with ties, and other clothes. Designers like Ralph Lauren, Clavin Klein, Alexander Wang, Vera Wang, Marc Jacobs, Dapper Dan, Oscar de La Renta, Donna Karan, Diane von Furtsenberg, and other people like made brands popular form Abercombie and Fitch, Ecko, etc. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis is famous for being a fashion style icon. The annual Met Gala ceremony in Manhattan, NYC has been a world prestigious fashion event that shows experimentation, unique fashion trends, and a lively atmosphere where celebrities and unsung people enjoy themselves. Fashion staples are found in Los Angles, New York City, Las Vegas, Seattle, Portland, Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas, Nashville, etc. The late Virgil Abloh and Pharrell Williams have innovated fashion too. The family structure in America in complicated. Contemporary American society has changed. The old school nuclear family (or a man and woman united in marriage with one or more biological children) has been in America back then and today. Yet, there are mixed families, single families, and other different types of family structures. There are single people too. Back in 1970, the nuclear family was 40.3 percent of Americans and in 2000, that percent is 24.1 percent. Single people rose from 5.2 percent to 9.9 percent. Between 40 and 60 percent of new marriages will eventually end in divorce. There has been a wide variety of housing prices too. Many upper middle-class people have moved into the suburbs. Some previous middle class neighborhoods have become upper middle class neighborhoods. Americans embrace volunteerism and philanthropy heavily. Involving drugs and alcohol, by the 19th century, alcohol was readily consumed with little to no laws in regulating them. Today, most Americans don't agree with banning alcohol outright but embrace legitimate regulations like banning children from drinking hardcore alcohol and dangerous drugs. There are debates on the regulation of drugs to this very day. There are many cultural institutions in America like the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the National Endowment of the Arts, and other historic places like The Grand Canyon, etc.
Much of the literature of America has been influenced by Enlightenment philosophers like John Locke including the political writings of Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson. Also, American literature is diverse filled with authors who are black Americans, Latino Americans, Native Americans, and people of diverse backgrounds and cultures. We know of the late icon Toni Morrison who wrote about family, community, the black experience, and lessons about life in general. Mark Twain didn't just write stories about satire. He shown complex stories about American life back over a century ago in an honest, cogent fashion. Herman Melville and Ernest Hemingway has shown works about many subjects. Fiction and non-fictions have been shown by Harper Lee, J.D. Salinger, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. From Edgar Allan Poe and Harriet Becher Stowe of the past and Donald Bogle, Ta-Naehisi Coates, Colson Whitehead, Jasmy Ward, and Roxane Gay of the present, American literature can be kind, provocative, and make us think about the philosophies of life.
A lot of people are confused about the concepts of race, ethnicity, and nationality. Back many years ago, we were taught about such things in sociology class or geography class. The term of race is a social construct that categorizes people by physical traits (like skin color, hair texture, face features, other types of phenotypes, etc.). In the United States of America by 2020, we have 12.4 percent black people, 61.6 percent white people, 6 percent Asian people, 1.1 percent Native Americans, 0.2 percent Pacific Islanders, 18.7 person Hispanic or Latinos. 10.2 percent of Americans are biracial or multiracial, and 8.4 percent are other races in America. The term of ethnicity is about a shared cultural heritage (like language, ancestry, etc.). That refers to a shared cultural heritage dealing with language, religion, traditions, and ancestry along with shared cultural experiences. The term of nationality is a legally assigned designation (either by birth or by naturalization) that you belong to a nation state being total citizenship. In America, we have a long history of a complex relationship among race, ethnicity, and nationality. In fact, my black ancestors were deprived of basic citizenship rights when they helped to build up America along with other people. As for me, my race is Black, my ethnicity is African American or Black American, and my nationality is American. Race is often imposed by society, ethnicity is often self-identified, and nationality is bestowed by a government. Race, Ethnicity, and Nationality are very diverse concepts. America has the most diverse cultural traditions in human history. For example, the Apollo in Harlem highlights some of the greatest African American cultural excellence in the world, we know about great black American STEM scholars, there is Chinese American contributions in America, we know of the historic contributions of other people (from the Irish Americans, Native Americans, Jewish Americans, Italian Americans, Latino Americans, Arabic Americans, and other people). We should treat all people with dignity and respect, regardless of one's background. That is part of the Golden Rule which I believe in wholeheartedly. One final point is to be made. All humans came from Africa, so I will always honor my black African heritage period.
The ionosphere is an electrified, shifting region of the Earth's upper atmosphere (being about 30-600 miles up) filled with charged particles created by solar radiation. It is important for long range radio communication by acting as a waveguide, while protecting the Earth by interacting with space weather. Solar activity massively changes the ionosphere's density and shape. Solar activity creates the D, E, and F layers that can disrupt GPS and satellites. The ionosphere is formed by extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and X-ray radiation from the Sun breaking apart atoms and molecules, a process called photoionization. The ionosphere is heavily dependent on the sun. During the day, it is much denser and more developed. At night, the density decreases. During solar flares and magnetic storms, the density can change rapidly, disrupting communication signals and radio propagation. The ionosphere enables long distance shortwave radio communication. Radio signals can bounce off the ionized layers, traveling over the horizon. The ionosphere exists in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere. The temperature varies, generally increasing with altitude, often reaching over 932 degrees Fahrenheit in the uppermost sections. The ionosphere serves as the edge of space, acting as a buffer that interacts with solar winds and protects the lower atmosphere. It is also home to the Aurora Borealis/Australis. It's a plasma region embedded within the upper atmosphere. The D Region is the lowest, the E Region is the middle layer, and the F Region is the highest. North of the ionosphere is the exosphere.
The religion of Mormonism has tons of connections to Freemasonry. Many members of Mormons are Freemasons like the founder of the Letter Day Saint movement Joseph Smith. Brigham Young was a Freemason. Also, there are many similarities between Mormon and Masonic rituals like the elements of the endowment ceremony and the stories of recovered ancient records. Smith was claimed to have stated that Mormonism had "true Masonry"; other leaders like Brigham Young said Masonic rituals were an "apostate endowment" corrupted from the rites given in Solomon's Temple that Smith had restored to its original form. Smith's older brother Hyrum joined Masonry in the 1820s, and his father, Joseph, Sr., may have been one as well while the family lived near Palmyra, New York. In the late 1820s, the western New York region was swept with anti-Masonic views after the murder of former Freemason William Morgan. The Anti-Masonic Party outlined dissent with Freemasonry too back in the 19th century. By the 1840s, Smith and most Latter Day Saints (including but not limited to many in Church leadership) had become Freemasons and joined the Masonic lodge in Nauvoo, Illinois. Soon after joining Freemasonry in March 1842, Smith introduced the temple ceremony referred to as the endowment which included a number of symbolic elements that were very similar to those in Freemasonry. Smith remained a Freemason until his death. In modern times, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has stated that its members may become Freemasons, and Freemasonry allows them to join. Early Mormons like Heber C. Kimball and John C. Bennett were Masons.
On October 15, 1841, Abraham Jonas (then the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge AF&AM of Illinois) issued a dispensation empowering a Lodge in Nauvoo and appointing the following Latter Day Saints to be its officers: George Miller as its first Worshipful Master, John Parker as its first Senior Warden, and Lucius Scovil as its first Junior Warden. The Lodge met on December 29, 1841, and accepted this dispensation. Officers were elected and appointed, and bylaws written and adopted. On February 17, 1842, the Lodge voted to hold off on installing its officers until March 15; a request was also sent to Grand Master Jonas for him to preside over that Installation, which he accepted. Joseph Smith Jr (who was not yet a Mason) was appointed to serve in a pro-tempore position as Grand Installing Chaplain for this Installation. He and Sidney Rigdon were initiated as Entered Apprentices in the evening after the Installation, thereby becoming members of the newly-formed Nauvoo lodge; Abraham Jonas presided over that degree ceremony. John C. Bennett helped to spread Freemasonry among the Mormons. There were over 300 Masons in the Nauvoo Lodge. Later, over 1,500 Mormon men in the city of Nauvoo were participating Masons. The Relief Society had Mormon women in it with degrees and rituals. Mormonism became so Masonic that Brigham Young, the 2nd President of the LDS Church was pictured with a Masonic Square and Compasses stickpin in the middle of his shirt. At least the first five presidents of the LDS Church have gone through the first three degrees of Freemasonry being the Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master Mason.
LDS Church temple worship shares a number of symbols with Freemasonry, including concepts of aprons, tokens, ritualistic raising of the arms, etc. Many of these symbols have been adopted and adapted from Masonry to illustrate the principles taught in the movement. For example, whereas Masons exchange secret tokens to identify fellow Freemasons, the church has taught that these tokens must be given to sentinel angels so that disciples of Jesus Christ may be exalted to the highest glory of the kingdom of heaven. The LDS Church's temple garments also bear the symbols adopted and adapted from Masonry: those of the Square and Compass; although the movement has imbued these symbols with religious meaning that wholly differs from the meaning of the symbols as used in Freemasonry. The Square and Compasses were a part of the first Angel Moroni statue, hanging above a horizontal Moroni (which doubled as a weather vane). Additionally, the symbols of the square and compasses exist in other ancient traditions far older than Masonry such as in Christian art and the Chinese legend Fuxi and Nüwa. According to historian Richard Lyman Bushman, "Portions of the temple ritual resembled Masonic rites that Joseph had observed when a Nauvoo lodge was organized in March 1842 and that he may have heard about from Hyrum, a Mason from New York days. The Nauvoo endowment was first bestowed just six weeks after Joseph's induction. The similarities were marked enough for Heber Kimball to quote Joseph saying that Freemasonry 'was taken from the priesthood but has become degen[e]rated. but many things are perfect.'"
Brigham Young is quoted as describing the origin of the temple rituals in a fashion that directly relates to the story of Hiram Abiff from Masonic folklore. Although Young changed some of the key Masonic aspects about Abiff to fit better with the view of LDS Church temples, the story is the same. The LDS Church allows Mormons to be Masons if they desire. People who are Christians and disagree with Mormonism and Freemasonry are Ed Decker, part of the Saints Alive Ministries, William Schnoebelen, and other people. William Schnoebelen's Masonry: Beyond the Light in 1991 conclusively prove that Masonry is not compatible with Christianity.
In recent years, many people have found many links between Mormonism and the Kabbalah. The Kabblah is an occult philosophical movement that believes that 10 emanations from God (to Kabbalists, God is called Ein Sof or the infinite with a number of divine forms or gods that emanated from Ein Sof. The Ein Sof is part of the Sefiroth of the faces of God in the Kabbalic Tree of Life) were involved in creating the physical Universe as we know it. The Kabbalah is a mystical interpretation of the religion of Judaism. They have other tenets too. Such information has been found in articles like "Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection" by Lance S. Owens. This work was originally published in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol. 27, No. 3, Fall 1994, pp. 117-194. The paper received considerable notice, and in 1995 the Mormon History Association recognized Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection with its annual award for the best article in Mormon studies. The paper now has an extensive citation history. Joseph Smith knew of the Kabbalah and his sermon "King Follett Discourse" had theosophic themes. In Kabbalah, God has dual form of male and female allied Hokmah and Binah (God's first emanated forms). In Gnosticism, Kabbalah, Rosicrucianism, etc., there is the concept of the sacred wedding between the masculine and feminine energies. There is a Christian Kabbalah during the Renaissance era of history. Freemasonry has long praised the Kabbalah too from Albert Pike to Manly P. Hall. Occultist Arthur Edward Waite wrote in his 1923 Encyclopedia of Freemasonry that much of the heart of Masonry came from Kabbalah. Mormon author Joe Sampson believed that Joseph Smith's writings is similar to the structure of the Kabbalistic Tree of Sefiroth. He believed that Smith's Book of Abraham translation from Egyptian papyrus was a Kabbalistic work. Joseph Smith's friend and convert to Mormonism Alexander Neibaur had Kabbalistic writings.
Geography is always an important subject to comprehend. Geography is the study of the Earth's physical features, atmosphere, and human-environmental interactions. It is the science of space and place. It analyzes where things are, why they are there, and how they change. There are many branches of geography. Many of the main branches are physical geography (natural systems), human geography (or social/Cultural systems), and other types of geography. Many of the themes of geography are location (being absolute and relatives), place, human environment interaction, movement (of people, goods, and ideas), and region. To know space, place, time, and scale is to understand much of geographic concepts in general. With physical geography, people study the natural environment, including climate, landforms, soils, and water (like geomorphology, hydrology, and climatology). Human geography deals with human activities and their impact including economic, political, cultural, and urban systems. Technical/geospatial geography deals with tools to map and analyze date like GIS (Geographic Information Systems), remote sensing, and cartography. Many careers in geography deals with a cartographer or GIS analyst, an urban or regional planner, environmental scientist and manager, intelligence analyst, an educator, etc. Many famous geographers are Eratosthenes who calculated the Earth's circumference, Alexander von Humboldt (the founder of modern geography who studied the interconnection of nature), and Carl Sauer (a key person involved in cultural geography). Geography is different than geology. Geography studies the surface of the Earth and interactions in it, and geology studies the Earth's internal content and composition.
During this era of time, more and more people about Trump. We tried to warn people since 2015 that Trump is a deranged cult leader. Now, the handwriting is on the wall. It is no secret that Donald Trump is the leader of the MAGA movement. The far-right movement in the Earth have many racist white nationalists who desire America to be expansionist so much that Trump desires to conquer Greenland. The behind the scenes actions of the Trump regime have been deplorable like Trump cutting USAID from giving lifesaving work and help to mostly black people in Africa (and other persons of color worldwide), Trump once trying to downplay the Epstein files (that exposes the wickedness of Epstein plus other super wealthy sick people who abused kids), and he once posted an AI image portraying himself as Jesus Christ (that he deleted as that was extremely blasphemous). The biggest irony in the world is that Trump claims to love America, but many of his policies like the Iran war, cuts to health care, and gutting legitimate environmental regulations are destroying America. Trump eliminating safety measures that protect the public from diseases and cancers will harm human lives plainly speaking. Trump hates America by seeking to destroy American institutions and ruin American society. We know that many ICE agents have terrorized communities by slamming a girl's face to the ground (in Massachusetts), beating people, and caught abusing the rights of U.S. citizens too, not just undocumented immigrants. The same billionaire oligarchs who pay little to no federal taxes are fleecing the working class, the poor, and the middle class for financial plus political gain. Trump, Vance, and Elon are influenced by the Claremont Institute, and many in the far right embraced the evil agenda of Accelerationism. The wicked spirit of racism and xenophobia consume MAGA (as proven by the Politico story exposing private Telegram chat among many Young Republican leaders promoting racism, Nazism, and other evils) which is why Trump wants birthright citizenship gone (when birthright citizenship is explicitly mentioned in the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution).
By Timothy
