All it took was some raisins, a box of saltines and a sheet of paper to teach a group of college students a lesson about culture.
The first day of the Milwaukee Urban Plunge began with a game in which students from a number of Wisconsin universities broke into four groups, each receiving a slip of paper describing our group’s made-up “culture.” I was placed in group D, a refined culture that preferred keeping a comfortable distance and discussing current events rather than getting too personal. We were visited by group A, a thrifty and hardworking culture; group B, a talkative, food-and-family-oriented culture; and group C, an elder-led hierarchical and submissive culture.