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Published: October 19th 2007
This whole vandalism thing really got me thinking. Tonight when I got home from seeing a movie and taking a walk, not only was my flag ripped up, but someone had written “RICAINE GO HOME! FUCK AMERICA!” on my door. Clearly, the incident has been reported and blah blah blah, so don’t worry.
But my point, more than anything, was that I spent a lot of time in that last post dealing with this issue on naming all the things that I am NOT that people may think I AM since I am American.
So, then, what does it mean to be American? What AM I since I’m American?
It’s all sorts of things. It’s knowing Mary Had a Little Lamb, Jingle Bells, Miss Molly (or Mary) Had a Steamboat. It’s remembering Nickelodeon shows. It’s knowing the Shoes video. It’s knowing the words to Yankee Doodle and the Star-Spangled Banner. It’s being used to the media being overly politically correct and thanking goodness for shows like Family Guy and The Daily Show that make fun of just that.
It’s living in a land where things are fast and convenient. It’s knowing what phrases like “the American dream” and “white picket fences” and “the self-made man” mean, even if you don’t particularly share those values. It’s Thanksgiving and Halloween. It’s being able to move there from any country and feel “American” when you get there. It’s skyscrapers. It’s mountains. It’s accents from Philly, New York, Boston, Alabama, Wisconsin, Columbus.
It seems to me that it’s really not much more than knowing that, as a result of living there, you will learn history, folklore, and language that will give you at least SOMETHING in common with other Americans, even though that may be the only thing you share.
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Jordan Jarjoura
non-member comment
Same feelings
Hey Emily! Long time no talk. I noticed your post on facebook and wanted to check out how you were doing there. Right now i live in Japan, and my situation is not the same as you, but you do realize all of those things after you leave "home". Recently there was an accident here of a group of American solders raping a Japanese girl. Its really made me uncomfortable as an American the last couple of weeks. Everyone looks at you like a monster or you think you are self righteous. Anyways, i guess its just interesting what you start noticing once your away or looking at it from another angle. Best of luck! keep in touch.