America and old?!? That, too, two hundred fifty years old!?! Somehow it does not fit the world wide mental image of America, an ever bubbling fount of energy, vivacity, and drive, right? Yup, in the life of a continent, eh, country, two fifty years is absolutely pittance, anyways.
And, oh, yea, sure, under the 'Don' dynasty, the sesquicentennial, the inevitably aging, the kinda middle-aged tag may match somewhat. So feels the radical left. And, oh, yes, not to forget that this 'quater millennial' et al America is the new, White, 'star spangled' America! The Aboriginal America is ancient, though currently almost wiped out.
America is this dream land, the land of the aspirational because it initiated precisely in that very mode. In Charles II's excessively permissive regime, the Puritans, harassed harshly for their religious rigour, aspired for a New Eden which they found across the Atlantic.
The ropes for a return, anyways never wished for, and now washed away across an ocean, the Protestant work ethic made the "New England" a "Temple on the Mount". Waves of emigrés followed, enriching the "log cabin to the White House" royal road to success, provided you had it in you, and were ready to work hard, some contemporary proof being the Silicon Valley.
In other words, America is more an "i-dea." I should know. Why? Well, without ever stepping even a foot on that soil, I can explain why n how it has been "a giant stride for mankind."
Well, I have met the American spirit in the writings of the Founding Fathers. I have found America in Lincoln's life. I have known the cruelties of the slave trade and the darknesses of the black lives from the most enriching texts by Harriet Beecher Stowe to Ngozi Adiche, and very many others of her ilk.
Just as I have rejoiced in nature with an Emerson and a Thoreau, with a Whitman, I have known the loss of "Oh, Captain, Oh, my Captain." A Hawthorne, a Melville have guided me in to the darknesses of the human spirit, while countless twentieth century authors have helped me understand the underbelly of the American dream. How many names to count/enlist. Instead, better to swear by their immense insights, right?
Teaching "American Literature", "Immigrant Writings", "World Literature" is indeed an immensely educative process with a vicarious pleasure/presence, moreover. Be it American Hollywood movies or the music scenario, learning America, warts n all, is immersing oneself in a unique language of being and becoming.
Sure, the coke n burger kind of TNC's price n prove the typical American capitalist, consumerist, expansionist tendencies, not to forget the 'deep state'. Yet there is no denying the fact that America is tolerant enough to graciously accept a Chomsky-ian critique of manufactured consent, and/or its versions.
It is this "I"-dentity that would forever make America an ever expanding land, nay, space, of exploration! Happy Birthday, America! With all your quirks, your oddities, your complexes n kinks, you tend to amuse n attract forever! May you live long, and without any further wrong(s) to the rest of the world!
Pratima@ The American "Circus" is best portrayed by the Presidents. The list, of both the best and the worst ones, is so big that it can overflow a few blogs! Unforgettable, however, are their unique editions of the MAGA mantra, right?
Quote of the day: "America. It is the only place," says Thomas Wolfe, "where miracles not only happen, but where they happen all the time." And of "ALL'' varieties, shapes, sizes n shades they are!
Word of the day: super "Super" is a versatile term meaning excellent, extreme, or superior. As a prefix, it means extreme, above, beyond. Best describes a land obsessed with the superman, thinking itself to be the supercop with supermachines of all sorts, space crafts to guns that 'rock', both in Iran and in every school in each gulley. " AWESOME", in brief!
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