Reflections on American identity after visiting a gun range and a hipster speakeasy in deep Trump territory — and a cultural guide to the United States, a maddening, dysfunctional, wonderful place.
This is one of the best.... no. That's not right. This is THE best piece of writing I've read in a long, long time. (Or ever?) It hits all the buttons - timely commentary, historical perspective, cringe, and humor.
As an aside, I'm a lifelong resident of Colorado ("native" is a terrible, haunting term that I will not use) and the stunning array of landscapes within this one state cannot be believed. That, and the stunning array of political views.
Congratulations Brian on your dual citizenship!!! That is very exciting and something I wish I had. My husband is British citizen, and I’ve started the process but it seems interminable, so I applaud yours. I loved this article! It made me shake my head and laugh out loud. Being from California, I was pretty much unaware of the bigotry like you described in certain states. After moving to Colorado (which yes is a beautiful state) I experienced for the first time racism working as a nurse. Maybe I was never exposed to it because I was younger or just was lucky enough to grow up in a civilized area of the San Francisco Bay Area. I was aware that other states natives considered us Californians as coming from “The Land of Fruits and Nuts” whilst on road trips. We would go to visit cousins in Minnesota by the way :). Cheers and I am so enjoying your new book Fluke! So is my husband who stole it from me before I was finished!
When you first announced you'd take out UK citizenship a few posts ago I was going to ask you about the swearing-allegiance part. This comes up from time to time in Canada because public officials swear allegiance to the King (in Quebec they don't but many commentators consider that let's say not constitutionally compliant). Anyway, FWIW in my view this is part of the handwaving and deliberate vagueness of constitutional monarchies. "Really" you're swearing allegiance to the constitutional order, as represented in the person of the King, but not to the King personally.
Don't know about the UK but most public property in Canada is literally owned by "HM The King in right of [name of province or Canada]" but "we all know" that it's really just the Government. And on and on. It can be fun but it cannot be interpreted literally.
Enjoy your ceremony! As a nativeborn subject of the Queen/King I didn't get that chance!
In 1981, in my gap year before uni, I spent three months driving across the States (east to west) with two girlfriends. In cities we were able to stay with friends and family of one of the friends whose mother was American. Everywhere else we camped in state and national parks which are fantastic.
It is definitely worth going to places off the usual tourist path. We found people were incredibly kind and friendly, although being three young women may have helped.
One time when our car had broken down late at night in Massachusetts, police officers, who had driven past us, took us back to my friend’s aunt’s house in the back of their squad car. We thought my friend’s aunt would die from embarrassment!
Since then I have taken my teenage sons on a couple of road trips which have included Utah, Wyoming and Colorado.
Finally, a British cousin lives in Houston and is married to an American. For many years she was quite happy just having a Green Card but then Trump was elected president. She took US citizenship so that she would ‘have a vote next time’. The irony is that her citizenship welcome letter has the thick black scrawl of Trump’s signature.
I have wanted to live in the UK for many years now. I love the culture and the history the type of government and the humor! I am so unAmerican! Your article reminds me why and you didn’t even begin to get into “race” stuff which is one of the main reasons I feel so disaffected! Thanks for this you lucky dog!!!
I look forward to everything that you write. By osmosis, you’ve acquired a gentle British sense of humo(u)r. I’ve recently discovered Would I Lie To You, a side-splitting antidote to the grim US and world news. And just to put in a plug for my home state, there are few places more lovely than the rolling Virginia countryside and Blue Ridge Mountains in the spring.
Many spot on points there, Brian. Perhaps one unifying theme is America's love affair with Big. Big houses, big cars, big food portions....= Big People. I live in Canada, 20 minutes from the border. Whenever I've crossed that border, Big is what happens to food: fish n' chips orders with enough fries for a family of 4...markets where a small size of any food item seems non existent...huge steaks, huge potatoes, huge everything. Big happens to people, as a result-- my personal impressions/observations: walking down a main street in BC, Manitoba or Quebec vs walking down one in Califronia, Texas,, or NY? There are more overweight people in America. Much more, considering we are both participants in the distinctive 'North American food culture'...
We too are keen to build 4000 sq ft homes; we too drive F-250's.
The 'bigger is better' approach to food seems to be uniquely American.
Great stories and observations on your national culture. Unsurprisingly, given the geographic proximity and the enormous difference in population and cultural influence, many of these observations apply to Canada. However, there are sharp differences as well. One thing that happens a lot to Canadians in Europe is to be either confused with Americans or assumed to behave exactly the same. As an example, we were berated by a AirBnB manager in Barcelona because she assumed that we were clogging the kitchen sink. Her assumption was that all houses in Canada have garbage disposals and that we are used to throwing everything in the sink. I pointed out that I had no idea what she was talking about (I checked and only 3% of houses in Canada have garburators) and she finally sent a plumber (yes, it was their plumbing that sucked). The commonplace observation that Canadians are more polite and deferential than Americans has some truth to it, although a lot of it on the Canadian side is passive agressive behaviour. In my experience with international scientific contacts, I liked Americans the most, more than Canadians or any other group I encountered. On average, I found American scientists friendlier, more open and also more direct in their criticisms. At least, you knew where you stood. They were also a lot better at communicating (and more showy) than especially Europeans. I assumed it was because they were brought up in a much more competitive system, where if you are unclear or timorous you don't get the money. Finally, I will quibble with your observation that geographic diversity is highest in the US. To me, accounting for your experience in California, it is hard to beat Europe for that, given that it is basically an accretion of peninsulas with mountain ranges popping up all over the place. But yes, parts of the western US in particular are a close second.
My adopted home is Massachusetts via Illinois. Miss demolition derbies I saw in downstate Illinois but love the inflatable, wiggling tall plastic Gumby things at car dealerships we can still see here in the northeast. “Why not?” Is the best description. Love the weirdness and optimism of those inflatable beings.
Great piece. I disagree with “American accents are, generally speaking, better equalizers.” A southern US accent is considered deeply un-posh, and taken as a sign that the speaker is a racist moron.
A wonderfully quirky piece, Brian. As an Aussie, we have stereotypical ideas about America and its citizens (not necessarily all good), but maybe, just maybe, I will visit one day and travel to some offbeat and out of the way places. That type of travel holds more value for me than the "must sees".
This has got to be one of my favorite reads recently - as someone who moved to the US from South Africa more than 40 years ago, I still remember my wonder the first time I encountered a drive-up bank.....
Thanks for making me smile even though so many things here are falling apart.
A vote from me for the truly breathtaking wonders of the USA. In my early 30’s I was lucky enough to spend a month hiking National Parks and National Monuments in Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. Bryce, Canyonland, Zion, Canyon de Chelly, Monument Valley, Arches and The Grand Canyon - all absolutely stunning. In total I visited just 7 of 199 such National Parks/Monuments there are in the USA ! A second vote for American kindness - the people I met were very warm hearted and friendly. Some advice for visitors to the USA – learn the police traffic stop process (daylight and after dark) – if a police officer pulls you over you need to follow this process – I nearly got this wrong (and might never have written this).
A wonderful hommage to your birth country. I have had the luck to go many times for business, sometimes to rather out of the way places (Kansas City in... Missouri? The Gaylord Hotel *snigger* in Nashville) and also for some personal road trips to various National Parks. The thing that I come home with each time (to France and UK) is the sheer size of the country. They're is so much space! Incredible. I've found myself avoiding the country since Trump's rise but you're stirring some wanderlust...
Have been to the US a few times, I can relate to a lot of the points. There is a lot to like, and a lot that is not so great. We went on a family trip to Florida recently, mostly to look at rockets and alligators. We had a great time, despite the ridiculous temperatures in August. But I found the amount of waste and over-consumption to be really depressing. Some observations: https://successfulsoftware.net/2023/09/19/ship-of-fools/
This is one of the best.... no. That's not right. This is THE best piece of writing I've read in a long, long time. (Or ever?) It hits all the buttons - timely commentary, historical perspective, cringe, and humor.
As an aside, I'm a lifelong resident of Colorado ("native" is a terrible, haunting term that I will not use) and the stunning array of landscapes within this one state cannot be believed. That, and the stunning array of political views.
Congratulations Brian on your dual citizenship!!! That is very exciting and something I wish I had. My husband is British citizen, and I’ve started the process but it seems interminable, so I applaud yours. I loved this article! It made me shake my head and laugh out loud. Being from California, I was pretty much unaware of the bigotry like you described in certain states. After moving to Colorado (which yes is a beautiful state) I experienced for the first time racism working as a nurse. Maybe I was never exposed to it because I was younger or just was lucky enough to grow up in a civilized area of the San Francisco Bay Area. I was aware that other states natives considered us Californians as coming from “The Land of Fruits and Nuts” whilst on road trips. We would go to visit cousins in Minnesota by the way :). Cheers and I am so enjoying your new book Fluke! So is my husband who stole it from me before I was finished!
When you first announced you'd take out UK citizenship a few posts ago I was going to ask you about the swearing-allegiance part. This comes up from time to time in Canada because public officials swear allegiance to the King (in Quebec they don't but many commentators consider that let's say not constitutionally compliant). Anyway, FWIW in my view this is part of the handwaving and deliberate vagueness of constitutional monarchies. "Really" you're swearing allegiance to the constitutional order, as represented in the person of the King, but not to the King personally.
Don't know about the UK but most public property in Canada is literally owned by "HM The King in right of [name of province or Canada]" but "we all know" that it's really just the Government. And on and on. It can be fun but it cannot be interpreted literally.
Enjoy your ceremony! As a nativeborn subject of the Queen/King I didn't get that chance!
In 1981, in my gap year before uni, I spent three months driving across the States (east to west) with two girlfriends. In cities we were able to stay with friends and family of one of the friends whose mother was American. Everywhere else we camped in state and national parks which are fantastic.
It is definitely worth going to places off the usual tourist path. We found people were incredibly kind and friendly, although being three young women may have helped.
One time when our car had broken down late at night in Massachusetts, police officers, who had driven past us, took us back to my friend’s aunt’s house in the back of their squad car. We thought my friend’s aunt would die from embarrassment!
Since then I have taken my teenage sons on a couple of road trips which have included Utah, Wyoming and Colorado.
Finally, a British cousin lives in Houston and is married to an American. For many years she was quite happy just having a Green Card but then Trump was elected president. She took US citizenship so that she would ‘have a vote next time’. The irony is that her citizenship welcome letter has the thick black scrawl of Trump’s signature.
I have wanted to live in the UK for many years now. I love the culture and the history the type of government and the humor! I am so unAmerican! Your article reminds me why and you didn’t even begin to get into “race” stuff which is one of the main reasons I feel so disaffected! Thanks for this you lucky dog!!!
I look forward to everything that you write. By osmosis, you’ve acquired a gentle British sense of humo(u)r. I’ve recently discovered Would I Lie To You, a side-splitting antidote to the grim US and world news. And just to put in a plug for my home state, there are few places more lovely than the rolling Virginia countryside and Blue Ridge Mountains in the spring.
Many spot on points there, Brian. Perhaps one unifying theme is America's love affair with Big. Big houses, big cars, big food portions....= Big People. I live in Canada, 20 minutes from the border. Whenever I've crossed that border, Big is what happens to food: fish n' chips orders with enough fries for a family of 4...markets where a small size of any food item seems non existent...huge steaks, huge potatoes, huge everything. Big happens to people, as a result-- my personal impressions/observations: walking down a main street in BC, Manitoba or Quebec vs walking down one in Califronia, Texas,, or NY? There are more overweight people in America. Much more, considering we are both participants in the distinctive 'North American food culture'...
We too are keen to build 4000 sq ft homes; we too drive F-250's.
The 'bigger is better' approach to food seems to be uniquely American.
Great stories and observations on your national culture. Unsurprisingly, given the geographic proximity and the enormous difference in population and cultural influence, many of these observations apply to Canada. However, there are sharp differences as well. One thing that happens a lot to Canadians in Europe is to be either confused with Americans or assumed to behave exactly the same. As an example, we were berated by a AirBnB manager in Barcelona because she assumed that we were clogging the kitchen sink. Her assumption was that all houses in Canada have garbage disposals and that we are used to throwing everything in the sink. I pointed out that I had no idea what she was talking about (I checked and only 3% of houses in Canada have garburators) and she finally sent a plumber (yes, it was their plumbing that sucked). The commonplace observation that Canadians are more polite and deferential than Americans has some truth to it, although a lot of it on the Canadian side is passive agressive behaviour. In my experience with international scientific contacts, I liked Americans the most, more than Canadians or any other group I encountered. On average, I found American scientists friendlier, more open and also more direct in their criticisms. At least, you knew where you stood. They were also a lot better at communicating (and more showy) than especially Europeans. I assumed it was because they were brought up in a much more competitive system, where if you are unclear or timorous you don't get the money. Finally, I will quibble with your observation that geographic diversity is highest in the US. To me, accounting for your experience in California, it is hard to beat Europe for that, given that it is basically an accretion of peninsulas with mountain ranges popping up all over the place. But yes, parts of the western US in particular are a close second.
My adopted home is Massachusetts via Illinois. Miss demolition derbies I saw in downstate Illinois but love the inflatable, wiggling tall plastic Gumby things at car dealerships we can still see here in the northeast. “Why not?” Is the best description. Love the weirdness and optimism of those inflatable beings.
Spot on! Admittedly, I had no idea about those school buses - but Go Twins!
Great piece. I disagree with “American accents are, generally speaking, better equalizers.” A southern US accent is considered deeply un-posh, and taken as a sign that the speaker is a racist moron.
A wonderfully quirky piece, Brian. As an Aussie, we have stereotypical ideas about America and its citizens (not necessarily all good), but maybe, just maybe, I will visit one day and travel to some offbeat and out of the way places. That type of travel holds more value for me than the "must sees".
This has got to be one of my favorite reads recently - as someone who moved to the US from South Africa more than 40 years ago, I still remember my wonder the first time I encountered a drive-up bank.....
Thanks for making me smile even though so many things here are falling apart.
A vote from me for the truly breathtaking wonders of the USA. In my early 30’s I was lucky enough to spend a month hiking National Parks and National Monuments in Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. Bryce, Canyonland, Zion, Canyon de Chelly, Monument Valley, Arches and The Grand Canyon - all absolutely stunning. In total I visited just 7 of 199 such National Parks/Monuments there are in the USA ! A second vote for American kindness - the people I met were very warm hearted and friendly. Some advice for visitors to the USA – learn the police traffic stop process (daylight and after dark) – if a police officer pulls you over you need to follow this process – I nearly got this wrong (and might never have written this).
A wonderful hommage to your birth country. I have had the luck to go many times for business, sometimes to rather out of the way places (Kansas City in... Missouri? The Gaylord Hotel *snigger* in Nashville) and also for some personal road trips to various National Parks. The thing that I come home with each time (to France and UK) is the sheer size of the country. They're is so much space! Incredible. I've found myself avoiding the country since Trump's rise but you're stirring some wanderlust...
Have been to the US a few times, I can relate to a lot of the points. There is a lot to like, and a lot that is not so great. We went on a family trip to Florida recently, mostly to look at rockets and alligators. We had a great time, despite the ridiculous temperatures in August. But I found the amount of waste and over-consumption to be really depressing. Some observations: https://successfulsoftware.net/2023/09/19/ship-of-fools/