Ask Nathan Anything: Quarantine Edition

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

What do you expect to happen in the next Japanese general election?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

How would you compare New England of a century ago compared to New England today?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

What does the future look like for "Yankee" identity and culture?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

What would you say is the single biggest influencer on the accents of New England, and what secondary influences exist?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

did the accent of western MS and Vermont change in any major way due to migration from New York City and other areas?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

did the accent of western MS and Vermont change in any major way due to migration from New York City and other areas?

It became less pronounced. Since it's at heart a more conservative form of Inland Northern, it was "sanded down" a bit due to in-migration from areas where Inland Northern was spoken. (Of course, there are also New Englanders who straight-up have pronounced accents from other places, like how Bernie Sanders's accent is pure midcentury Brooklyn to this day.)

Where would you find a good audio example of the speak of, say, mid-1950s VT?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Also, are the integration of Western references—Jazz, Shakespeare, the Bible—in Japan-produced anime’s the result of a deliberate marketing strategy, or an organic cultural assimilation of Western works?

this is a good question.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

did the accent of western MS and Vermont change in any major way due to migration from New York City and other areas?

It became less pronounced. Since it's at heart a more conservative form of Inland Northern, it was "sanded down" a bit due to in-migration from areas where Inland Northern was spoken. (Of course, there are also New Englanders who straight-up have pronounced accents from other places, like how Bernie Sanders's accent is pure midcentury Brooklyn to this day.)

Where would you find a good audio example of the speak of, say, mid-1950s VT?

Here is an hour-long, shamelessly hagiographic documentary about George Aiken, which includes archive footage of Aiken and people who knew him speaking about his life and times. (The narrator also has a somewhat old-school accent.)

Thanks for the great find! I'll listen to every second of it.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Update: I watched the entirety of it. Do you personally think it is incorrect at any point? Should I take it at face value?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

what is your opinion on Miyazaki, the famous anime producer?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

How similar would you say Atlantic Canada is to New England?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

thoughts on this video?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

And I thought I was bad...

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Can someone be cancelled for going as a Fremen for Halloween? Asking for a friend...

Short answer: Let's just do it and be legends, man.
Long answer: Probably, yes, but a summer camp I went to in 2007 had a costume ball at one point where a kid dressed up as an "enemy combatant" complete with turban and scimitar, and the satire on Bush-era perceptions of Why We Were In Iraq was, even if unintentional, so on-point and so straight-up funny that even in retrospect I don't really care that it was #problematic as well.

You fortify me in this moment of weakness. Thank you.

The only problematic thing that kid did that day was not tie their shoelaces 100% perfectly, imo.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Did you go to the same summer camp I did (Center for Talented Youth, Lancaster, PA, July 2007), or is the implication that you remember the same kid I do part of a joke I don't get? If the former, wow, what a small world.

I did not go to that summer camp. What I said was satire on the idea that the whole "enemy combatant" thing the kid did was offensive.
(If it counts for anything, I'm Muslim and Arab and found the whole thing hilarious and brilliant)

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Did you go to the same summer camp I did (Center for Talented Youth, Lancaster, PA, July 2007), or is the implication that you remember the same kid I do part of a joke I don't get? If the former, wow, what a small world.

I did not go to that summer camp. What I said was satire on the idea that the whole "enemy combatant" thing the kid did was offensive.
(If it counts for anything, I'm Muslim and Arab and found the whole thing hilarious and brilliant)

Yeah, what was being suggested--that some really dumb racism and Orientalism was going into the "enemy combatant" concept as the Bush administration was using it at the time--was a completely true observation, executed in a hilarious way. I knew the kid and he was against the war so I took it very differently than if he had been some random pro-Bush hack (or the son of random pro-Bush hacks since at that age most kids' politics still basically reflect their parents').

Satire done right, that's for sure.