America: Emily Addy

Hi! My name is Emily Addy and I live in Cincinnati Ohio. I'm a freshman at the University of Michigan. I'm planning on majoring in psychology and minoring in business. I love to paint, hang with friends, go to concerts and hike outdoors. I really want to travel after college and see various parts of the world. I have been to Ireland, London, Canada and Mexico. I really want to travel to France, the Netherlands and Germany in the future. I am in a sorority in college and I am involved in an art club and a club to raise money for cancer research. My teacher told me that you guys don't have prom in high school. Here are pictures of me and my friends at prom in the first picture. The second picture is of me on my bid day for my sorority and the final picture is a picture of my friends at lollapaloolza which is a giant 3 day music festival in Chicago.

Senior Prom

Bid Day for my Sorority 

Lollapalooza Music Festival

What do you like to do? Do you have something like Prom? What's your school like? Also do you like netflix? What shows do you watch?





























In class we talked about Zwarte Piet. Living in the United States, Zwarte Piet would be extremely controversial because of the racism associated with the character. Because Zwarte Piet is black and a "servant' to Santa, a lot of people would have a problem with this tradition. Slavery and racial discrimination is a very sensitive topic in the United States. It has made us become very politically correct and careful with our words and actions. I am also a believer in this. I can understand that Zwarte Piet has been a long standing tradition in the Netherlands but I believe Zwarte Piet is extremely racist towards African Americans. If I were an African American living in the Netherlands I would feel very uncomfortable around Christmas time. To me, Zwarte Piet is dangerous especially for young children. Children see white people painted black joking around and being goofy. It seems to poke fun of African Americans and shows that they are inferior to the white race. In an article I read, the author talks about how the Dutch don't want to end this longstanding tradition because they believe it is a very 'Dutch' thing to do. He states, "To oppose Zwarte Piet signifies an inability to become really 'Dutch'. Imagined tolerance is used as an excuse to utter personal racist attacks and to uphold a superior position towards black citizens"(Frank and Roosbald). Do you believe this statement is true? Through our studies I have noticed that the Netherlands is tolerant in many ways but also very intolerant when it comes to foreign groups and non-natives. I think the tradition of Zwarte Piet sort of shows this intolerance. While I know it is a long tradition that is important to the native Dutch, I think that the underlying racism and intolerance behind the character should be taken into consideration. What are your thoughts on Zwarte Piet? I know our perspectives are probably very different based on our different cultures.