Assimilation and Acculturation:

Assimilation: to take in and resemble. In cultural assimilation, a person looks (or is forced) to make themselves an insider in the new culture. 

Acculturation: the process of assimilating, and all of the nuances (consequences, benefits, etc.) that come with doing so. 

To Be or Not To be, that is the question:

• Bourdain talks a lot about "being a man" in the kitchen, even for women.

• NFL player Jonathan Martin left his team during this past season and filed a grievance for harassment against teammate Richie Incognito, who is said to have repeatedly used bullying language (including racial slurs and explicit sexual references to Martin's mother) in texts and phone calls. As for what we do know, media has provided one example voicemail with offensive language.  The controversy popping up within the team and amongst fans is whether or not Martin is "being a man about it." One teammate of both said: "The only person who got [punished] was Richie. The other guy, that was his option. He had a choice what he wanted to do. Richie didn't really have a choice."

What does does it mean to "be a man"? What are some of the impacts that you see with this continued American debate? What do you think it says about American culture in 2014 that we have this debate becoming a national headline?  Free-write for 15 minutes on this!