Snow Day

This special "Snow Day" episode uses segments which originally aired on "The Morning Show with Marcus Smith" on December 26, 2014. The Romance of Snow in America Snow is the essence of paradox, says Bernard Mergen, professor emeritus of American Studies at George Washington University and author of “Snow in America.”  “Snow falls as soft, individual crystals, but when it hits the ground it becomes heavy and watery – that contrast catches people from the beginning,” says Mergen, of snow’s power. “Snow comes in a season of darkness, but it’s white and reflects the light of sun and moon – so it’s those kinds of paradoxes that draw people to snow.”  Years ago, when Mergen set out to right “Snow in America” he sent out a request in the New York Times for people to share their first experiences with snow. The results surprised him.  “Having grown up in the Sierra Nevada mountains, I never thought about people who hadn’t experienced snow in childhood.” The responses flooded in from people who had their first snow encounter as older children or adults. “The most important thing I learned about snow was that throughout the world it is equated first with Northern Europe, then with the United States. People responded that they thought about “going to America to see snow. That an American Christmas is a White Christmas.”  Mergen traced that connection back to the British Colonists in the 17th Century who encountered in New England, more severe snow conditions than they’d known in England. “As good religious people they saw it as a test. If they were going to create a utopia in America, they would have to work harder than other people.”  New England authors including Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne created a literature of snow storms they felt were exceptional to New England.  “Exceptionalism isn’t just national, it can be regional, too,” says Mergen.  As North/South rivalries and dissension grew stronger in 19th century, “snow was used more and more as a symbol of New England goodness and hard work and pre