Excerpt from “On Americans”

… And my life has been so sincerely, outrageously American in the ways I’d always been taught that meant: an independent, self-possessed, family centered, land-loving, work-doing, early-rising, trucker-tanning, home-grown-tomatoes-ing, apple pie baking, God fearing, altruistic, loving, humble as I can, kind-hearted, ham-fisted, potluck bound (probably with potato
salad), God Damned American citizen. …