The class has become over the years fairly large, running to three hundred or more, but I always insist upon reading all the student folklore collections myself. Although this is a tall order, I look forward to it because I learn so much from it.
Life, it seems, is nothing if not a series of initiations, transitions, and incorporations.
Polls are frequently taken to try to tease out or determine likely directions and trends, but once taken, they belong to the past, requiring that new polls be taken.
Ancestor worship, or filial piety so characteristic of Asian cultures, for example, does not really resonate with Americans who favor children, not grandparents.
Future orientation is combined with a notion and expectation of progress, and nothing is impossible.
Americans do believe in progress and there is almost certainly a kernel of truth in the joke.
