The Mix: Asian Population of the USA

After this post, I'll give demographics a rest for at least a little while. All sorts of other demographic variables are still in the pipeline, however.

Overall, the population of the USA has jumped to about 308 million, of which more than 80% of Americans reside in urbanized areas (one of many very bad signs for the bumptious Republican Party, incidentally, in the long run).

Add another 100 million people or so by 2050. Keep in mind that in 1800, there were about 5.2 million people in the entire USA of that era. As of 2006, there were an estimated 13.1 million Asian Americans, with high concentrations in or adjoining major cities.

There are significant places called "Chinatown" in the USA (as in the rest of the world) -- in New York City, San Francsco, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and -- more recently developed -- Houston. Some Chinatowns have also packed up their bags and dispersed -- like Detroit's former Chinatown. And let's not forget the burgeoning of Little Saigons around the country. Each Chinatown and Little Saigon almost invariably features good eateries and all sorts of dry goods shops and centers, and fun people watching.














There are so many different people from Asia to consider. India alone accounts for a sizeable group, with more in the pipeline (India's population today is estimated at about 1,166,080,000, nearly four times that of the USA). Let's not forget Pakistan, and on down the line.

Dear readers, diversity is reality. Dig the new breed -- Papa's gotta brand new bag.

Today's Rune: Possessions.

The Mix: Hispanic/Latino Population of the USA

The Hispanic/Latino population in the United States is booming almost everywhere, but particularly in the areas that were sheared off from Mexico after the Texas Revolution and Mexican-American War in the 19th century. At the time, White Anglo-Saxon Protestant ("WASP") ideology called this "Manifest Destiny." Using the same logic -- that which happens, is destiny -- 21st century Manifest Destiny decrees the Hispanicization of the United States. Of course, there's much more to Latin America than Mexico. As of 2008, the Hispanic/Latino population of the USA comprised about 15% of the total population. It'll be interesting to see the 2010 Census results in the wake of the Great Recession.















Back to Senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina from a couple of posts ago. No more racist nor xenophobic than most of his fellow politicians at the time, he argued against absorbing Mexico into the United States at the end of the 1845-1848 war:

To incorporate Mexico, would be the very first instance of the kind of incorporating an Indian race; for more than half of the Mexicans are Indians, and the other is composed chiefly of mixed tribes. . . not as good as Cherokees or Choctaws.

Seems to me that there's little chance of any new formal North American merger anytime soon, post-1853. Canada, the USA and Mexico will remain at odds for quite a little while, even while the European Union proceeds slowly forward. But demographics have their own arcs, and boundaries are artificial, impermanent creations.

The Mix: Black Population of the USA

You can almost see the history of the USA through the prism of its mapped demographic distribution. Here, the shaded areas indicate high concentrations of black Americans, or African Americans if you prefer (the terminology has shifted several times since even the 1960s). By the time we reach some future point, the idea of "in combination" will become more prominent. Most people in the United States without question have ancestry "in combination" somewhere in the past, some kind of mix of ethnic lineage. DNA tests can now prove it, and probably even more so in the future for those with curiosity. One of the more interesting trends is people wanting to know if they have any American Indian somewhere in their makeup. The Seminole Freedmen or Black Seminoles are a salient example of this being demonstrably provable even without testing.

Above, you can see a sort of social archeology at work. The Old South and Slavery, coastal and riparian concentrations (notably along the Mississippi River, the "Blues Highway"), and the Great Migrations to urban areas. The High Plains more thinly populated by African Americans and indeed, by anyone at all. In Colorado, there is a black population centered around Denver and the smaller cities. Overall, the black population in the USA is given in recent census reports as about 13% of the total population.

Today's Rune: Initiation.

The Mix: First Nation Population

I. [E]verywhere the declaration is made that we [i.e. the USA body politic] are an ambitious, unjust, hard people, more given to war than any people of modern times. Whether this be true or not, it is not for me to inquire. I am speaking now merely of the reputation which we heard abroad -- everywhere, I believe; for as much as we have gained in military reputation abroad, I regret to perceive, we have lost in our political and civil reputation . . . We have conquered many of the neighboring tribes of Indians, but we have never thought of holding them in subjection -- never of incorporating them into our Union. They have either been left as an independent people amongst us, or been driven into the forests. . . John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, On the Mexican-American War, 1848. Hmmmm.

II. Tribal affiliations have persisted and survived. As a result of 19th century "Removal Policies," many tribes are still concentrated in Oklahoma, formerly "Indian Territory." More survive in the West and along the Canadian borderlands. In the East, there are noticeable concentrations of "American Indians" in the Carolinas (Cherokee, Lumbee, Catawba, Saponi, and others) and Florida (Seminole, Miccosukee). In Louisiana and other Gulf States, there are additional surviving groups (Chitimacha, the Jena Choctaw Band, Coushatta and Tunica-Biloxi in Louisiana, for instance; Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee in Alabama; Choctaw and Natchez in Mississippi).

III. Native Americans / American Indians / First Nationals make up about one percent of the overall population within the outer borders of the USA. The green-shaded sections of the map above show where the higher concentrations are.

Today's Rune: Partnership.

Spanish Steps II

Found another print of the Spanish Steps in Rome. This is a sequel to an earlier post: http://eriklerouge.blogspot.com/2009/08/spanish-steps.html

It still looks basically the same, centuries later, only now there's more vegetation and everything's in color.













Also found this rough sketch layout of Santa Fe de Granada, Spain, founded circa 1491; showing the main street grid and central plaza, with Catholic church. This kind of plaza (or substitute circle/square) can still be found in many Latin American places, including in what is now the USA. You can see similarities in other places, too. In this case, a mix of Roman, Moorish and Spanish vernacular topped with (or dipped in) Catholicism. It's nifty-fifty . . .

Today's Rune: Possessions.

The Mystery of Sue Kaufman

Three new items pertaining to Sue Kaufman (8/7/1926-6/25/1977).

I. The 1970 movie version of Diary of a Mad Housewife is now accessible on YouTube. It's a PG edit by TLCarpenter divided into several approximately ten-minute segments. Part 2 below. This will have to do until a full-length version comes out.

II. I'm thoroughly enjoying Judith Krantz's memoir, Sex and Shopping: The Confessions of a Nice Jewish Girl (2000, 2001). Though I've never read any of her romance novels, this nonfiction work is very frank and seriously entertaining. There is a recurring thread involving Sue Kaufman; they met as Seven Sister undergraduates (Kaufman graduated from Vassar in 1947; Krantz, then Judy "Torchy" Tarcher, graduated from Wellesley College in 1948) while double-dating Harvard men.

Judith Krantz on Sue Kaufman: Sue was stunning, very dark, with magnificent eyes and delicately flaring nostrils that made her look fully as neurotic as she was. Whenever a conversation became too personal, she'd say, "Dearie, let's not talk about that," and "that," whatever it was, disappeared immediately. I was perhaps her closest friend, but in many ways I never really knew her. No one did. Her sensitivity was too great for true intimacy." (Sex and Shopping, page 155).

III. Finished rereading The Master and Other Stories (1976), a collection of Kaufman's stories ranging from the late 1940s through the 1960s and into the 1970s. "The Master" is Pablo Picasso. More on this eclectic and illuminating book soon, as well as more on Judith Krantz's memoir.

Today's Rune: Wholeness.

Sack Rome If You Want To

Simon says, Open Sesame. Practice The Secret. You've gotta spend money to make money. Everything happens for a reason. It's Manifest Destiny. One door closes, another one opens. Attila the Hun says, The key to a good life: Do the things you love. Follow your bliss: Sack Rome if you want to.

Knock knock. Who's there?

Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune.

Plan Nine from Outer Space

How to make a best selling book. Write what you don't know; have a ghostwriter do most of it for you, and then have it edited by a famous novelist's son. Talk out of your ass like an ass for the ass-kissing masses.

What looks more interesting than Going Rogue: An American Life, Palin's "memoir"? How about Going Rouge: Sarah Palin, An American Nightmare, and let's not forget Going Rouge: The Sarah Palin Rogue Coloring & Activity Book. Not. Making. This. Up.

This is what the box cover looked like for the circa 1965 Jupiter 2 spacecraft from Lost in Space, mentioned in yesterday's post.

Here's an image of the 1968 UFO flying saucer model kit from The Invaders, also mentioned yesterday. Hello, Earth: There's a rogue on the loose!

Today's Rune: Initiation.