As the United States prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday amid attacks on civil liberties and marginalized communities, museums and galleries in the nation's capital are opening exhibitions that question what it means to be an American.The National Gallery of Art presents 115 works in Dear America while other shows focus on individual artists such as Mary Cassatt and Nick Cave, all in the pursuit of exploring "Americanism" as a facet of education, expression, and aesthetics.
Thanksgiving, as it tends to be celebrated, is the most honest American holiday: all appetite, no apology. Every other event on our civic calendar asks us to remember something noble, or to mourn something tragic, or to celebrate something grand or abstract, but Thanksgiving just asks us to be hungry together, and then to eat. In any year, this would be a potently simple path to commonality;
The photographs in U.S. Route 1 resist nostalgia, focusing instead on the contradictions and tensions of contemporary American life during a politically fractured era.
My moments of relief before remembering Trump as president are fleeting, and his visit to Scotland only amplifies my frustration with the presence of annoying, unhinged, rich Americans.
"When Kate Smith stands up and sings 'God Bless America,' she's not singing about Saskatchewan." - Richard L. Yuengling Jr. emphasizes the clear cultural distinction of 'America' for the U.S.
