Thursday, November 29, 2007

An American image: still a gringo after all these years

David Seaton's News Links
I just love this photo. I found it on a slide show from Slate magazine of "pre-digital" photography.

The photo from the 1970s is absolutely American in every detail.

Every American I've shown it to goes off into gales of hysterical laughter. Non-Americans can't see what we are laughing about. My German wife, for example, finds it utterly disgusting. So does every Spaniard I've shown it to for that matter. So do I for that matter, but still I love it...

I guess that defines me as still a gringo after all these years. I am overwhelmed by the word "we" when I look at this lady. This "homemaker" from hell.

The writer in Slate chose the photo for its, "
quirky blend of innocence and experience", which might be a good definition of the strange after-taste that America leaves behind wherever it goes. DS

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