07.03.07
The 4th of July and Michael Jackson
The 4th of July is the one time a year when us Americans can dress up in red, white, and blue, and drink beer and light fireworks as we sing off-key versions The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Its a day to eat bar-b-que, have block parties, and above all, celebrate. The reason for all the celebration, in theory, is to commemorate our Independence, and to be proud of being American. But what does it mean to be proud to be an American? Living in China, I often come across tiny moments which answer this question. The most recent of these came from an unexpected source.
Last weekend I was enjoying an evening with friends in a private room at a karaoke bar. After several hours of Chinese pop songs, one of my friends selected Michael Jackson’s Thriller to be played on the hi-fi. Unlike most Chinese karaoke videos, the Thriller video is the uncut version of the original.
As the first scene began with Michael proposing to his girlfriend, the normally raucous atmosphere of the karaoke room toned down to a curious movie watching mode. My friends’ eyes remained peeled to the screen as Michael morphed into a werewolf and chased his girlfriend through the woods. The frightened look in their eyes was suddenly spun around as the scene flashes to Michael and his girlfriend eating popcorn in the movie theater. Everybody in the room had been engaged, scared, shocked, and humored, and were now settling into the fact that this was not just a typical karaoke video.
As Michael danced down the street, heads bopped up and down to the bass notes of that famous Thriller instrumental loop. When the music faded and zombies emerged from tombs and man-holes, the girls began to squirm in their seats. As Michael danced with the zombies, the atmosphere reverted back to that of a karaoke room. Shots of beer were consumed, snacks were munched, and the group chitter chattered amongst each other.
The party atmosphere was broken once again when Michael’s girlfriend runs home only to find the zombies breaking into her living room. As the zombified Michael emerged, looks of fright and anxiety graced my friends’ faces one more time, only to be promptly swifted away as Michael reaches in to grab his girlfriend and then suddenly wakes her up from a dream. As Michael turned around and faced the camera with his glowing eyes, the karaoke crowd clapped with delight.
One of the girls turned to me, “Wow, I had no idea he was so handsome back then. He is really strange now.”
Michael Jackson was handsome in 1983. But it was not just his physical appearance. Michael could sing. He could dance. He had the red leather jacket. And his teaming with producer Quincy Jones and a skilled team of directors, actors, musicians, and choreographers, produced a 13 minute clip of pure genius. Watching the Thriller video in a karaoke room in Fuzhou in 2007, it is still every bit as fresh as it was when I saw it for the first time when I was only 4 years old. It’s a work of art, which has proven to cross not only borders of time but those of culture.
During the next song another one of my friends in the room turned to me, and referring to the Thriller video said “That was really incredible. There has never been anything done like this in China.”
Because of various factors, social, economical, political, demographical, and some purely coincidental, the United Sates is an environment where this kind of creative innovation has thrived for 400 years. As the world’s largest fondue pot of ethnic mixing, American culture has produced some of the world’s most profound innovations, personalities, and works of art from the last 400 years. From Thomas Edison to Bill Gates, from Huckleberry Finn to Homer Simpson, and from the Model T to Gmail, the cumulative achievements of American culture should make us all proud.
The Fourth of July is not only a time to celebrate our independence, but also a time to appreciate the achievements which have occurred since our independence. This Wednesday take a short break from the beer and bar-b-que to re-watch the Thriller video. Or read a few chapters from The Grapes of Wrath. Download a copy of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech. Pop in a CD of Duke Ellington, Bob Dylan, or Elvis Presley. Use an iPod. Watch The Simpsons. Listen to one of George Carlin’s stand up routines. Reread the American constitution. Rent The Godfather, or eat General Tso’s chicken.
If anybody asks why you are proud to be an American, you will have a list of reasons to give them. And then you can return to the beer, bratwursts, and acapella renditions of This Land is Your Land.
PandaPassport
said,
July 4, 2007 at 2:11 am
Very well said.
I almost wanna salute the stars and stripes right now,
despite being Canadian.
Great post.
Alan
said,
July 4, 2007 at 2:25 am
Very well said. But the way that Americans consume today, it looks like before long, the good ole America will cease to exist.
Jet So
said,
July 4, 2007 at 9:48 am
What makes a Canadian? … “Well, I’m not an American, eh!”
Chip
said,
July 4, 2007 at 10:03 am
Alan,
You’re delusional. America is succesful BECAUSE of our consumerism, not despite it. We definitely have a lot of problems that will hurt our future, but our love of buying stuff definitely isn’t one of them. Now health care….
Elly
said,
July 4, 2007 at 11:18 am
There is no perfect country or system in this world, and there will never be, every country has shortcomings. So far, American system seems working the best compared with other countries.
However, (I finished Hilary’s Living History last night) this system is showing more and more problems nowadays. One of the major reasons is the “authority machine” is getting more and more powerful, or I should say “mighty”. The power of the authority is going beyond the power of its people.
I think this is going opposite with the original fundamental idea and the principles of the United States of America.
Elly
said,
July 4, 2007 at 11:21 am
Well, this same problem has been existing in China, N Korea, Cuba, some mid-east and South African countries for years…
This is a HUGE topic.
I like American people though, their English is much easier to understand
Elie Levy
said,
July 4, 2007 at 11:24 am
Ben,
How are you?
We met at the chabad house in shanghai around 8 months ago.
I am an importer from NY, I told you my brother had a friend in KS.
I couldn’t remember his name.
Any way… I tried getting on your site a few times, but it never went thru so I stopped trying.for some reason I tried again tonight and I got connected to your blog.I read the last few days.
Youre a funny guy
Do you remember me?
Be well!
James Chiang
said,
July 4, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Happy birthday, the United States.
RedKemp
said,
July 4, 2007 at 4:49 pm
It is strange how weird moments like that can make you remember foundly the USA. I have had similiar experiences. The holidays are tough over here. I miss my usual 4th of July journey to Wintrop, MA (way better than Boston’s in my opinion). And of course hotdogs.
Today I did my usual routine on these holidays, eat lunch at McDonalds and then get sick. But hey it’s a tradition.
Edward
said,
July 4, 2007 at 9:50 pm
美国人有理由自豪，创造了令世界所有国家都瞠目结舌的经济，美国的文化和思想观念都在很迅速的传播到世界各地。美国对世界的影响是不容否认的。
但是，美国在经济扩张的同时，美国人是不是也应该看看自己是不是也犯了错？本人实在不能忍受伊拉克战争，所以对布什没有什么好的映像。
所以，I am very proud that I am a Chinese!!!!
还有，很喜欢看你写的东西，可以让自己思考一些东西。
Miles
said,
July 4, 2007 at 10:31 pm
Ben:
As your father, your comments had very special meaning to me. They touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes. Thanks for taking me on a very special ride through your heart, your mind, your childhood, and the old neighborhood. GREAT POST.
Laura Li
said,
July 4, 2007 at 10:53 pm
I am a Chinese who has lived in the US for 11 years. I liked this country a lot, not because it is perfect, but because I cannot find a better alternative in the world with all things considered. I challenge anyone to produce a better alternative for me.
Sure, this country has its own problems I do not like — I would be much delighted to see a flat-rate federal tax system but my neighbor Karen might just hate that — but the other countries might have more or worse. I believe the magic this country can always pull off is to correct its wrongs through a peaceful, stable process, while, in the process, it is never afraid of engaging the general public in an open debate.
Alan
said,
July 4, 2007 at 11:16 pm
>>”America is succesful BECAUSE of our consumerism, not despite it. ”
Chip, you are correct to a certain point. But we can’t keep on consuming by getting deeper and deeper into debt. You live in China and you should know that China has a huge sum of foreign reserve (roughly $1.5 trillion), most of which is loaned to the U.S. government. I definitely want to see America continue to be the world’s super power in every sense. But her future looks bleak. Have you heard about a private equity firm named Black Stone and that Chinese recently bought 30% of this company? Many patriotic American investors are worrried. You should read Buffet’s article again. Too bad that government schools in America have done such a good job in brainwashing the generations of Americans with their agenda.
On a separate note, another reader Elly on this board has mentioned about Hillary’s book. You are better off reading something else. God helps America if she becomes our next President. Hillary is a diehard socialist. That no one denies, even her supporters. Yet they somehow think socialism is good with Hillary. Another example that government education in America has succeeded.
Alan
said,
July 4, 2007 at 11:52 pm
On this Independence Day, I do not feel good about my beloved, adopted country, the U.S. of A. I escaped a totalitarian government 20 years ago to come to America. I spent my first 2 years in America as a gradudate student. I loved it then and had many wonderful memories. One of which is the religious freedom. I was free to openly go to church on Sundays without the worry of being reported and harrassed, which I did not have where I was from. Today I am a successfull business owner. In my humble opinion, America has slided more and more toward socialism. That’s something that all patriotic Americans should be worried about. To give you more information, here is what a research has shown:
At about the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution, in the year 1787, Alexander Tyler (a Scottish history professor at The University of Edinborough) had this to say about “The Fall of The Athenian Republic” some 2,000 years prior:
“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.”
“The average age of the worlds greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
From Bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage.”
Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the most recent Presidential election:
Population of counties won by:
Gore = 127 million
Bush = 143 million
Square miles of land won by:
Gore = 580,000
Bush = 2,2427,000
States won by:
Gore = 19
Bush = 29
Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by:
Gore = 13.2
Bush = 2.1
Professor Olson adds:
“In aggregate, the map of the territory Bush won was mostly the land owned by the tax-paying citizens of this great country. Gore’s territory encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off government welfare . . .”
Olson believes the U.S. is now somewhere between the “apathy” and “complacency” phase of Professor Tyler’s definition of democracy with some 40 percent of the nation’s population already having reached the “governmental dependency” phase.
Benjamin Ross
said,
July 5, 2007 at 12:31 am
Here’s a translation of Edward’s Chinese comment:
Americans have many reasons to be proud. They have created the world’s most admired economy. American culture and ideology has been spread rapidly around the world, and you cannot deny the US’s influence around the world. The US’s economy is very strong, but do Americans ever look at themselves and know that they have done wrong as well. Personally, I am very much opposed to the Iraq War, so I don’t have a very good impression of Bush. Therefore, I am very proud that I am a Chinese. Also, I really like to read your work. It helps me think of new ideas for myself.
Jaimie
said,
July 5, 2007 at 1:17 am
Can we get General Tso’s Chicken here? You said something about a good Hunan restaurant. Listening to Janis Joplin, Happy 4th of July.
lw
said,
July 5, 2007 at 1:26 am
I am a Chinese. After reading your blog, I have to say that yourself also show what is good of American. Congratulation for a job well done. Happy July 4th.
Benjamin Ross
said,
July 5, 2007 at 8:39 am
Jaimie-
Unfortunately I have never seen General Tso’s Famous Chicken in China. I remember reading somewhere that it was another wonderful American Chinese creation, just like crab rangoon, chop suey, fortune cookies, and those little take-out boxes. Last time I was in Shanghai I was wondering around downtown and found a bona fide “American Chinese Restaurant.” Unfortunately it was closed, but that might be our best bet at finding General Tso in the motherland.
Chip
said,
July 5, 2007 at 9:40 am
Alan,
I’m personally not worried about Blackstone. I see most of the negative news about it as coldwar retoric worried about Chinese influence. What is more easily forgotten is the huge numbers of Chinese companies being bought by american firms. As you said, “patriotic” investors are worried, because they are blinded by patriotism. the main purpose in investing is to make money first, any other concerns should be second. If this buyout makes Blackstone more efficient, increases revenue or profits, etc, then I’m cool with it. And the national debt is huge, for sure, but is actually decreasing in relative size to the economy. I agree we need to do more to reduce it, but it’s hardly anything that will damage our future.
I agree with you that America is becoming more socialist. We don’t need Hillary, just like we didn’t need Bush. We need a conservative (republican party, do you remember what that word means??????!?!!).
Matt Schiavenza
said,
July 5, 2007 at 9:48 am
Alan,
This fear of “socialism” seems outdated by about fifty years. Even Hillary, your bete noir, supports economic policies far to the right of even right-wing parties in other democracies.
Plus, your analysis (or that of the asinine professor of law in Minnesota) of voting patterns in the 2000 elections is laughably flawed. Gore’s voters were tenement dwellers living off the government? In San Francisco (my hometown) and New York, voters favored Gore by large margins over Bush. Both cities have the highest median real estate value in the country. Plenty of well-to-do, middle-class, law-abiding people voted for Gore and Kerry. And will vote for Hillary.
And if America is too socialist for you, where the hell can you go?
China Law Blog
said,
July 5, 2007 at 11:35 am
I love reading the Economist on the US because I see it as pro-US (generally), but pretty objective. Anway, they had a really well-written piece saying that the US has not really lost much in the way of either soft power or hard power, it’s just that Bush does not know how to use either. China is on the rise, no doubt, but that does not in any way mean the US is in decline. Great post and Happy 4th!
Alan
said,
July 5, 2007 at 2:07 pm
>>We need a conservative (republican party, do you remember what that word means??????!?!!).
From what you have written on your second entry here, I pretty much agree with you. I am a Libertarian and am totally for Fair Tax. I think Fair Tax will do wonder to America. What you and I disagree about is that I feel the U.S. government has a huge deficit which will eventually have to call for more tax increases, some of which will be hidden taxes. Many years ago China boasted about “no income taxes” for their citizens. In actuality, taxes had already been taken out of paychecks for all Chinese workers through government subsidized housing, government jobs (all jobs were gov jobs then), all-citizen health coverage, etc. I fear America is on its way to a system of much higher and more taxes that an average Joe doesn’t even know they exist, just like China 2 or 3 decades ago. You’ve probably heard about the Computed Income during the Clinton era. Computed Income is basically a hidden tax on home owners. For a family making $50,000 a year who also owns a house, under Computed Income, the said family is deemed as having a household income of approximately $62,000 per year because the family is assumed to have $1,000 a month rental income since they are technically the landlord of themselves. They were taxed on the computed income bracket when coming to write-offs and tax credits. So my point is that with huge trade deficit plus unstoppable government spending, by and by the wonderful imperial government will have to tax more one way or another. The question is – are we ready to prevent our government from doing it? The average American is an idiot when coming to government spending and personal finance. Most Americans today are wired with this entitlement mentality. They want things even if they can’t afford them and always feel government should pay for them. Don’t get me going with the high gas price, Sicko crap, and calls for government regulations on healtch care and gasoline price. The sad truth is most voters will go for it.
To answer your question, I feel some Hollywood idiot was correct when she said that “Republican falls between reptile and regpugnant in the dictionary.” It is sad. I am for the Libertarian Party. Only if those Libertarian Party leaders could actually communicate their message across to American people. Somehow they are so bogged down with drug discriminalization and other fringe elements.
Alan
said,
July 5, 2007 at 2:42 pm
>>This fear of “socialism” seems outdated by about fifty years.
Not true at all. It is probably true with communism. But socialism is well and alive in America today. Don’t you think today’s Democrat Party is basically a Progressive Socialist Party? Hillary Clinton recently said that each person should all think less of his own good for the sake of the common good (I don’t remember her exact words but I got the gist of it). If the universal healthcare plan championed by Hillary, Obama and other Dem hopefuls isn’t socialism, I don’t know what it is. Who pays for the health care costs when those don’t work and don’t want to pay?
>>Even Hillary, your bete noir, supports economic policies far to the right of even right-wing parties in other democracies.
Probably true to some extent. But to her, government is the answer. Individual responsibility doesn’t exist in her repertoire. That, in my humble opinion, makes her a socialist.
>>if America is too socialist for you, where the hell can you go?
I wasn’t saying I didn’t like America. Just the opposite, I love America so much that I don’t want it to become a socialist country. America is still definitely the best country in the world today. Again I fear it’s becoming more and more a socialist nation, especially if we have a socialist president in the future. (I know you are grinding your teeth as you read this and hate my guts. “What a stupid right-winger! ” you thought.)
As for the asine analysis, I apologized. I copied and pasted the paragraphs from somewhere. I probably wouldn’t have agreed to everything the prof had said there. NYC and SF are metro cities and needless to say have a higher crime rate than the heartland Bush country, but that doesn’t make their voters criminals. I agree with you on that. But hey, Hillary has got to go! If you high-income earners in NYC and SF are so good, you shouldn’t need government to do everything for you. It’s that simple.
Personally I came to America 20 years ago as a poor international student with $200 borrowed money. Today, I am doing well, with a net worth close to $2 million. Why and how could I do it? Because I have worked hard and never expect the government to give me stuff. I don’t whine like Dumbercrats when things don’t work my way. I am grateful to be living in America and for all the opportunities that are available in a republic governed by the rule of law. If an immigrant from a foreign country could make it in America in 20 years or less, why can’t those welfare recipients do the same? At least all the big government followers should think about this question.
canrun
said,
July 5, 2007 at 2:49 pm
I began my lesson yesterday by telling my class (of very advanced-level students) students that I wanted to sing them a song. I proceeded to sing a rather lousy version of the Star-Spangled Banner (but not THAT bad!) After their (somewhat) patronizing applause died down, I asked them “What did I just sing?”
Now, I know that I am in a culture very, very different from my own and that the Carpenters and Michael Learns to Rock are considered High Art. Out of that group of 12 students…not one…ONE…could even begin to identify the song I had just, ahem, attempted. Not the actual title, mind you (the American national anthem)-but just the idea of it. No clue at all. I shocked the hell out of them when I proceeded to belt out the entire Chinese national anthem. After five years here I still VERY much take for granted what the people do and don’t know. Frog in the well. Learn from Lei Feng, indeed…
canrun
said,
July 5, 2007 at 2:58 pm
@ Alan,
I listen to Neal Boortz every night at 8:30 PM here in China. http://www.boortz.com. Enjoy! (Though he’s P.O.’d at the Libertarians at the moment…)
canrun
said,
July 5, 2007 at 3:00 pm
Whoops! That link doesn’t work.
http://boortz.com/
Handan
said,
July 5, 2007 at 11:10 pm
hmm, looks like Ben’s set aside an ideal stage for making public some of my long held thoughts.
I’ve been very proud of many of America’s achievements. I think it’s great that the New Continent presented a once-in-history opportunity for buiding a great community and the Forefathers made the most out of it.
I’ve found no occassion to share my pride with anyone, though, cuz I’m a native a Chinese. As some absurd unspoken rules go, praising another society’s system=traitor, or in case specific terms, hailing American achievements=blind superpower worship.
…anyway, here are some of my piecemeal thoughts.
1. The poster child of the USA shouldn’t so much be democracy as judicial independence and until recently, effective check on government power, which, as the Forefathers rightfully feared and tried best to prevent, sets in an unstoppable growing momentum once put in place.
2. Like all other countries, the US make mistakes and take wrong turns. But what sets her aside is the amazing self-correction power.
3. I pray that the policy mistakes and the more fundamental damages that W Bush has made to the (fantastic) system could be redeemed later.
p.s. Michael Jackson’s unbelievable. I watched my collection of his MTVs over and over during my home quarantine days during the SARs outbreak in 2003.
Alan
said,
July 5, 2007 at 11:24 pm
Canrun, excellent! Boortz is so entertaining. He makes a lot of sense. If we could get the Congress to pass Fair Tax, America will be much more competitive in this global economy. It could even fix the illegal immigration issue to a certain extent when everyone in America pays taxes through a national sales tax. On the other hand, China has very low income tax for both individuals and corporations. They have no capital gains tax, either. Recently they just did away with interest income tax altogether. Even though China is a communist nation per se, its fiscal policies are very friendly toward businesses. I am not a nationalist or protectionist. But in this competitive global economy, if a nation’s citizens depend so heavily on their government, that nation won’t be able to survive in the long run.
Laura Li
said,
July 6, 2007 at 12:00 am
Here is a relevant article by Peter W. Schramm
American by Choice
We must all learn what it means to be an American.
by Peter W. Schramm
The Weekly Standard
06/28/2007
THIS WEEK, I am being honored by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services as an “Outstanding American by Choice.” This strikes me as an interesting name for an award. It is meant, of course, to recognize selected citizens who were not born in America. But the idea of being an American by choice points to an important, and perhaps unintended truth: being American is not simply reducible to the happy accident of birth. Americans, both natural and naturalized, must be trained–they must be made–and much of my time these days is devoted to making Americans out of people who just happened to have been born here.
Over fifty years ago, when I was just shy of my tenth birthday, my family fled Hungary during the failed revolution against the Russian Communists. Our family’s story was like so many of the refugees from communism, complete with relatives arrested, property seized, and a nighttime dash to freedom. The decision to escape was an easy one to make (although not so easy to execute), but the question I had–the one I distinctly recall asking my father–was “where are we going.” We could have stayed in Europe–and indeed, the Germans would have welcomed us as Volk deutsche because of our German surname–but this was not my father’s plan. “We are going to America,” he said. “Why America?” I prodded. “Because, son. We were born Americans, but in the wrong place.”
Born Americans, but in the wrong place? I’ve spent the better part of the last fifty years working to more fully understand these words. Mind you, everyone understood America to be a free and good place where one might prosper unmolested. But in saying that we were “born Americans, but in the wrong place,” Dad, in his way, was saying that he understood America to be both a place and an idea at the same time. Fundamentally, it is a place that would embrace us if we could prove that we shared in the idea. We meant to prove it.
Because America is more than just a place, being an American citizen is different than being the citizen of any other country on earth. We Americans do not look to the ties of common blood and history for connection as people the way the citizens of other countries do. Rather, our common bond is a shared principle. This is what Lincoln meant when he referred to the “electric cord” in the Declaration of Independence that links all of us together, as though we were “blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh, of the men who wrote that Declaration.”
Because ours is a bond of principle and not of blood, true American citizens are made and not born. This is why, odd as it may seem, we must all learn–those who are born here, and those who come here by choice–what it means to be an American. Regrettably, we are doing a poor job of passing this knowledge on to future generations. Looking to just one practical indicator, the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress shows that 73 percent of twelfth-graders scored below the proficient level in civics, as did 78 percent of eighth-graders, and 76 percent of fourth-graders. To put this into perspective, 72 percent of eighth graders could not explain the historical purpose of the Declaration of Independence. This ignorance is tragic not merely because it indicates a deficiency in our educational system, but because with it comes a loss of our national identity. And so, I find it somewhat ironic and yet very fitting that fifty years after coming to this great country, I spend my days at an institution where my job is to teach college students and high school teachers what it means to be an American.
In recent weeks, there has been much talk about immigration, but very little informed discussion about what it means to be an American–about what is necessary to make Americans. Yes, there needs to be a sensible policy for accepting new citizens, and for ensuring that those who come here do so legally. But what happens once they are here? I hear frequent conversations about failures in integration and assimilation, even among recent legal immigrants. This is not new. What is new is that America’s own natural citizens increasingly have forgotten what it means to be American. Some do not know the basics principles of this country, and still others have embraced the ideology of multiculturalism and self-loathing to such a degree that they can no longer recognize, let alone proclaim, that ours is a great nation built on lasting principles. If we no longer understand or believe in that which makes us Americans, then there is nothing substantive to assimilate into. We become many and diverse people who share a common place, rather than E Pluribus Unum.
We cannot forget who we are. We are Americans. This is a great nation. We Americans insist on holding to the connection between freedom and justice, courage and moderation. We think that equality and liberty have ethical and political implications, and, as we have shown time-and-again throughout our history, we are willing to fight and to die to make men free. We need to impart these principles to succeeding generations.
We Americans correctly demand respect for our rights but, in getting that respect, we must continue to demonstrate that we continue to deserve it. We have to exercise our intelligence and develop our civic understanding so that we may preserve our liberty and pass it on, undiminished to the next generation. If government “of the people, by the people and for the people” is to endure, its endurance can only come from the devotion of Americans–born here and away–who have been so made.
Peter W. Schramm is an American who happened to have been born in the wrong place. He is also the executive director of the John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs, and the chair of the Masters in American History and Government program at Ashland University.
Chip
said,
July 6, 2007 at 9:12 am
Canrun,
Um…..I probably wouldn’t recognize any other countries national anthems other than China and UK. I guess I should get out more, eh?
Jason
said,
July 6, 2007 at 10:17 am
Nice post. : )
canrun
said,
July 6, 2007 at 6:53 pm
“I guess I should get out more, eh?”
Guess so…
Kim
said,
July 11, 2007 at 12:26 am
Leaving politics aside for a moment I agree that America is a wonderful cultural extravaganza and produces an awful lot of what is culturally stimulating in the modern world. It’s not all good of course…A British writer, Martin Amis, once wrote a nice piece called “The Moronic Inferno” about the amount of crap that gets spewed out, but then went on to admit that most of his favourite writers are American.
The US is an amazing place and if only Gore (even better Gore Vidal!) had won all those years ago it would be much more respected and celebrated internationally than it is now. Bush is a modern American tragedy.
AsianSensation
said,
July 23, 2007 at 12:41 am
You are a sweetheart and a wonderful writer/story teller. I discovered Jewish men in my early 20s…once you go Jewish, you never go back!!!