An American image: still a gringo after all these years
I just love this photo. I found it years ago on a slide show from Slate magazine of “pre-digital” photography and I thought I would share it today with my friends at Firedoglake.
The photo from the 1970s is absolutely American in every detail.
Every American living abroad I’ve ever shown it to went 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 ever 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.
