America the Beautiful

It's almost July 4. I love Independence Day. I love fireworks and picnics and parades, and every year my family has a huge party and we all swim and grill and chat, and it's even more fun than Christmas because no one has SAD.

But I also love Independence Day because, hokey or silly or zealot Republican as it may sound, I love America. She's one motherfucker of a great land.

In the July 4 spirit, here is a partial list of American Things I Love, in no particular order. Please add your own if so inspired.

The Bill of Rights, Constitution, and Declaration of Independence
The Civil Rights Act, 40 years old this summer! Happy birthday!
Wide streets
National parks
Jazz
TexMex
Hippies
Truckers
Shriners
Tap dance
John Philip Souza marches
Star Wars
stand up comedy
egg rolls and fortune cookies (invented in San Francisco, I hear)
San Francisco
New England
New England foliage
New Mexico (whadda state!)
Powwows
Old mill towns
Old fishing towns
Colonial architecture
Federalist architecture
Historical reenactment sites (you know, Williamsburg, Plymouth Plantation)
Theme parks! What could be more freakin' American!
Multiculturalism
Churches (though Italy has some great ones, too.)
Chocolate chip cookies
Peanuts, peanut butter, and so on
Corn
Popcorn
Broadway musicals
Earnest over-enthusiasm (Europeans hate that)
Clambakes
Clamboils
Abstract expressionism
Great animation (Disney, Warner Bros., Pixar, Dreamworks...)
This American Life
Self-criticism (The United States is always trying to improve itself. Don't tell me otherwise.)
Free public schools
Sitcoms
Reality TV
Music television
Miss Manners
William Carlos Williams
Robert Frost
Emily Dickinson
Adam Gopnik
Amy Tan
Hip hop
Saturday Night Live
Great pop music (like Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder)

Man! I'm getting tired! Maybe more later!!