I write all the time here about things that are different from home, but I was thinking this week that a lot of what is ‘different’ is often a variation of what we do ourselves as opposed to ‘completely different’. I think about that a lot here; though I sometimes feel like the alien, there is little about the US that is utterly alien to us because the US is everywhere, on our screen and in our ears. The blurring of those lines was really apparent to me this week when I went to Wisconsin for a drive and a gawk, and saw autumn as if I’d never seen autumn before. I felt the same way about Hallowe’en. I had never given Wisconsin a second thought in my life. Yet this week I learned a bit about its identity and culture, an identity utterly different from say, Tennessee or Florida despite the fact that anyone not from America thinks they’re six of one and half a dozen of the other. The further one zooms out, the more obvious it is that our lives are all very similar, it’s how we live them that’s different – a tomaytoe/tomahtoe distinction really.
Autumn. Happens everywhere, right? Or does it? Here in Chicago – downtown, on my way to work, on the train – the trees are in spectacular colour; proper, brilliant colour. In Wisconsin, I wanted to fire my phone in a lake because it couldn’t capture what I was seeing before me. Clusters of trees, between them boasting brown (obvs.), golden yellow and yellowing green, shades of magenta and fiery pink, and red – RED! – leaves on many. How do leaves go red?? In Chicago, it’s the trees on the streets but in rural Wisconsin, it’s choirs of colour across acres of lush, living forestry; all the browns, reds, yellows and greens, lit by the sunshine and the reflection of the snow. It felt like I’d never before seen autumn, much like someone who sees snow for the first time or the ocean. New England is famous for its fall foliage but if what I saw in Wisconsin is run-of-the-mill, I can only imagine what driving through New England must be like. And I think it’s a fleeting sight; we had snow here a day or two ago and when it cleared, it and the wind whipped a lot of the leaves too. What’s rare is wonderful I suppose. And yet, it’s autumn I’m talking about – not some fifth season – a season that of course we have in Ireland too. Same season, just different.
And of course, Halloween here has just passed. Again, we do Hallowe’en in Ireland- same festival, same time – but everything in America is bigger and Hallowe’en is no different. People have been dressing up and attending Hallowe’en parties since early October. Loads of houses and homes are decorated with headstones, skeletons and creepy webbing for Hallowe’en and in the past week, pumpkins have appeared everywhere and disappeared as quickly. There were trick-or-treaters out last night and the shops leave out sweets for them, it’s not just private houses that people go to. And I’ve been checking out the local media and news and there doesn’t appear to be the same calamitous night of debauchery that there is in Ireland, where emergency responders and hospital staff are completely overwhelmed and old people scared to leave their houses (this is Chicago though, and with all that goes on here perhaps overwhelmed emergency services isn’t newsworthy). On the whole ‘different but same’ buzz, remember that Hallowe’en was a Celtic festival brought to America by ourselves, the Scots and the Welsh. And yet here I am, marveling at it like I’d never seen it before!
But what really got me thinking about the blurred lines between same and different – or doing the same things but differently – was learning about Wisconsin’s idea of itself at its State Capitol building in Madison. An older staff member with a moustache that extended beyond his top lip gave us an unofficial tour of the version of the state’s story that’s told in the art and sculpture that adorns the capitol (I say ‘version’ because the whole robbing land off Native Americans gets scant attention, apart from depictions of ‘negotiations’ in the art). Nearly all the state capitols are absurdly decadent, many built during the Gilded Age and constructed as grandly as possible to demonstrate a new state’s legitimacy and encourage loyalty to the new states[1]. They did this because the states are very different to each other, though they are all ruled by the federal government, speak the same language and live under the same flag. See, as non-Americans, we tend to look at America as a block and all who live there as Americans. But just as ‘European’ is far too ambiguous a description for us, so too is ‘American’ for them. Listening to Dolly Parton’s America reinforced this: she’s singing about east Tennessee and I’m driving through Wisconsin and they are two very, very different places – just as Ireland and Scotland are; sharing certain traits, ideals and traditions but very distinct nonetheless. Indeed, given the importance of farming in Wisconsin, it’s likely that Wisconsinites have more in common with the Irish than they do with Floridians. Wisconsin is beautiful and well worth a jaunt. The only thing wrong with that trip is that it reminded me, as all trips do, of all I haven’t seen of America – proof I suppose that somethings do stay the same!
I’m not entirely sure there was a coherent point to this post; I just think it’s really interesting that life in America and in Ireland is so different and yet, it’s not really. Autumn here, autumn at home; same seasons, different experience. Hallowe’en here, Hallowe’en in Ireland; same cultural origins and celebration, different experience. Wisconsin, Illinois, Texas, New Mexico, California, New York; same country, verrrrrry different experiences! It’s not really what we’re doing that separates us, rather it’s how we do it.
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[1] Before Wisconsin became a state in 1838, it was part of the Northwest Territories that included several present-day states. As more states were marked out in the early 1800s, the Northwest Territories got whittled down. Remember there was no Montana or Idaho or any of them at the time. So, much like setting up a new country, nobody’s going to buy into it and pledge allegiance to it if it’s based out of some hut in a forest commanding no authority. Remember, people barely knew their politicians and the people running the states because there wasn’t the communication to form those connections. If you’re interested in American history, there’s a YouTube series called Crash Course US History that tells the country’s story in ten minute bites and I highly recommend it.
doireann.ie 
Love your articles Doireann. Do they duck for halloween in the U.S.
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