Describe America to me?

The air smells like warm rootbeer and children jump on gumdrop trampolines under the melted blueberry ice cream sky every day.

But seriously. I’m from the Southeast and the Appalachian mountains. The people here are notoriously and fiercely independent, and that’s what America means to me, as an idea. In part, at least, because nothing is that simple. Around here, we hunt, grow, and prepare our own food, we make our own clothes, and we don’t ask for help from anyone but we are willing to give the shirt off our back if you need it. I’m very proud of that.

That was lovely, and informative.

You can drive 3,000 miles, never have to show your passport and always find a Denny’s, and everyone speaks your language. No matter where you go, every state has rivers, lakes, cities, meadows, wild life, and someplace worth seeing.

Guess I can’t answer since I’ve never lived there, but I’ll say this; America kicks ass at making movies. Some might argue about all the mainstream and Hollywood glamour, and true they may be, but meh. For me anyways, a lot of good stuff comes from there.

It’s like The Simpsons, but all serious business.

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard, “The air smells like warm rootbeer”. That’s a lyric from Weird Al Yankovic’s song Albuquerque. A song I love and sing along to in the car- OFTEN!

America—the country I live in. The place that is admired, feared and attractive to people and nations around the world. The place with crazy politics where half the people think they don’t count, politically speaking. The land of a gazillion religions, with many zealots.

But none of that affects me. My America is filled with farmer’s markets and liberals and lesbians and a city that is big, but few people know it’s charms, and I hope it stays that way. We have great restaurants, and beautiful rivers and we’re trying to make them more accessible.

My America extends pretty much from Washington DC to New Hampshire and not very far from the ocean. We are relatively well off, although the broken muffler index indicates there are some economic problems. We have a bike race that is the national championship. We have famous markets all over the place. People know us for our cheese steaks.

My America is pretty small. There’s where I live and who I know, and then there’s “out there.” I’ve been to some of those places out there—San Francisco and San Diego, but mostly I’m in my own corner of the country. Rarely more than a ten hour drive from home.

There’s a lot on the news about my America, but mostly that doesn’t seem to affect me. It’s just something to get riled up at. My brother lives a few miles from the former Twin Towers, and smoke blew his direction that day. But people picked up and went on, and the problems with the club downstairs and the neighbors don’t go away.

My America is made up of people living in communities who mostly work on local concerns and are like me. They are concerned about the news, but real life happens at home and in the community for most people. There are travelers. Business men. But for the most part, America is where we live, and where we live is a fairly local place.

@wundayatta ^^ WOW

@wundayatta Damn man, nice.

Very.

Currently, it is a battlefield…
Between optimistic self reliance, with an underlying suspicion of authority,
And defeatist reliance on authority, with an underlying suspicion of optimism.

American has not changed one bit that I can see in my 50+ years here. What is truly great and sadly fucked up at the same time is it can be your American Dream or your worst nightmare. It’s always been that way and always will. But what I see as a constant over the years is people somehow find a way to make it all work.

A country of extremes, good and bad. America brings out the best and the worst in its reach, speaks much truth and sometimes hides lies. Seems to love peace but wages too much war. Seems to get it right, and when wrong agonizes. But the people are free spirits and together represent humanity in a way no other nation comes close to emulating. We fear it, love it, admire it, and hate it all at once. Canada’s greatest asset, often taken for granted by us, I am very proud to call America and the fine citizens my neighbour and friend.

The America I lived in was full of people from many places around the world, or their relatives were from many places. A huge country with every climate from the tropical in south FL to the desert in the southwest. Mountains, oceans, prairies. As an American you have the opportunity to find your niche, your fit in a community. Ski community that is very liberal, or a beach community that is very international, or a rural community that is very conservative, and everything in between. I agree with @wundayatta that we are made up of many local communities and easily can be unaware of the rest of the country out there. In fact in the American south I feel a distinct lack of connection with the former countries people’s families are from, and an absence of second languages being spoken.

My earliest memories are living in NY, the suburbs of NYC, my school, playing with my friends, going to the local playground in the summer and getting ice cream from the Good Humor truck. They also had events throughout the year there like easter egg hunts there. Nearby we had a pond we would ice skate on in the winter, and go sledding down the small hills where we lived. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Memorial Day weekend, all these holidays that everyone’s celebrating in their own way across the country. Memorial Day weekend when I was little was the day the pools opened, kick off to the summer. I don’t celebrate Christmas, but basically the whole country does, and I like the parades and the nutcracker and all tose traditions we have. It was overall carefree and happy. I think this is fairly typical Americana, with some difference depending on climate.

As an adult, one thing I really like about America is overall feeling comfortable anywhere I go in America, even if it is very different from what I am accustomed to. Like @yarnlady pointed out I can travel for 3,000 miles and there will always be someone who speaks English. Overall people are helpful. And, although I feel the country is too full of chain stores and restaurants, sometimes, especially when travelling, I appreciate it. Appreciate being able to stop along the highway for dinner and knowing what type of meal I will get at a particular establishment.

In my opinion America has become more and more divided politically and it will harm us in the end.

Americans tend to love new things. New ideas. New gadgets.

We are getting bigger and bigger, too much crappy caloric food. Fewer and fewer people cooking from scratch.

We are busy, overwhelmed all too often.

The biggest differences for me over the last 50 years is the progression of technology, and the growth in population. About 20 years ago the number of people has grown so that all the places in Northern California where one could get away from it all are now crowded. Driving from San Francisco used to be an easy drive even on busy weekends; now it always takes an hour longer.

But the air and the water and the general quality of life are much better than they were in the 60s.

The disappointing thing has been the growth in disparity in incomes. The middle class has shrunk, and what used to be considered an honorable way to make a living as an autoworker or a steelworker or a host of other manufacturing jobs is gone. America builds very little now; it designs and manipulates, but the actual creation of things takes place in other countries.

Which do you mean by “America”? The land mass, the nation-state, or the form of government? Makes a tremendous difference, I would submit.

It’s a country that tries to keep people of many different beliefs together. That doesn’t always work. But it’s nice to have freedom of speech and access to education and the internet.

America is the place where you can ask a question on Fluther, join your own comment thread and then get modded out for being unhelpful.

It is odd to me that no one seems to regard America as a philosophy. It seems that , to me, that is what it is and must be. Governments come and go , political parties do the same…but through it all the bedrock of America remains. Beliefs and traditions that we aspire to though we have never fulfilled them. Odd way to be. Odder belief system to espouse. It makes of one a walking contradiction and a concatenation of strange and difficult beliefs and practices…imho.

@josie—And in Social. And for welcoming a noob. LoL.

It’s where royalty has no place.
Sure we want to look at them and learn about them, just like we do movie stars and other famous people.
But they are no better than I am. I don’t have to bow or curtsy. I don’t have to pay their way. The firstborn son is no better or more deserving than the last born daughter.

It’s a freedom that was original and rebellious. It certainly isn’t perfect, and it’s still evolving.
We don’t always get it right, but we don’t get it wrong nearly as often as you would think by they way some folks talk about us.
America is generous and greedy, kind, rude, thoughtful and courteous, hardworking, ingenious and lazy.
Where the poor can become rich and the rich can become poor.
It’s neighbors and families, communities and cultures all working together and sometimes against each other.
It’s not always like it is portrayed in the media around the world. It’s much more than just a government.