Happy 233rd Birthday, U. S. of A!

[matrixrefugee]

I missed the bicentennial by about six months, but at least I was conceived during the bicentennial; makes it easy to calculate how old the U. S. of A is.

Happy Birthday, U.S. of A.! And to everyone who lives here, have a blast celebrating your freedom and independence! Enjoy your parades and cookouts and fireworks shows! My plans include watching the Boston Pops concert and helping my dad roast hot dogs over an open fire (I doubt we'll be able to eat out this year, due to all the raaaain we had making everything moist, and the mosquitoes which like to congregate in our yard).

"This is the only country in the world," said Wednesday, into the stillness, "that worries about what it is."
"What?"
"The rest of them know what they are. No one ever needs to go searching for the heart of Norway. Or looks for the soul of Mozambique. They know what they are."

Wednesday and Shadow, American Gods, Neil Gaiman

And if someone could clue me in on the chapter where someone, I think Wednesday, describes the U.S as a cluster of little countries all united by McDonald's and chain stores, I'll be in your debt.

EDITED TO ADD: Found it!

"It's almost hard to believe [San Francisco] is in the same country as Lakeside."

Wednesday glared at him. Then he said, "It's not. San Francisco isn't in the same country any more than New Orleans is in the same country as New York or Miami is in the same country as Minneapolis."

"Is that so?" Shadow asked mildly.

"Indeed it is. They may share certain cultural signifiers -- money, a federal government, entertainment -- but the only things that give it the illusion of being one country are the greenback, 'The Tonight Show' and McDonalds."

:: Off to help cook the infamous Loaded Baked Potato Salad::

Comments

[veilofveronica.livejournal.com]

Happy 4th, my American friend! XD. I envy the pride and patriotism Americans have..I find Canadians are much more apathetic.
I love the song "Coming to America" too.

[nightofcydonia.livejournal.com]

I have to admit that I'm somewhat bemused by the idea of celebrating a country's 'birthday', but given that I'm from a country that was ancient long before America was even named that's probably to be expected. The UK doesn't even have a 'birthday', it's so old that no one's even sure when the first people came here. Which is probably why we 'know what we are'. We're like an old person who's seen it all and done it all, while the US is a teenager (or younger) that's trying to 'find themselves'.
~Weaver

[(Anonymous)]

I am always made to feel happy when I read you being happy.