What is America?

What is America?

America is place of freedom and life. It is a place where so many different people come together as one. Everyone always says that America is a “melting pot”, and it’s true. As far back as America has history we have been a nation of many different breeds of people. When the settlers first came here in the early 1600s we were a nation of Englishmen and Dutchmen, Irish and Swedes, Germans and Frenchmen. Over the centuries, our nation has become a home to many other nationalities as well. Italian and Greek, Asian and African, Hispanic and Russian alike have come to this country seeking something that has always been labeled as “the American Dream”. Now I am not entirely sure what exactly this “dream” entails, but I am pretty sure it has something to do with the freedom that our country has fought so long to keep. When this country started out a little over 400 years ago it was established as new colony of Britain. Over the years, people began fleeing to the new world from other countries, seeking freedom from things such as religious and political persecution. After a while though, even they became sick of the British rule that was being forced upon them (and that often stood against the very values that this country was founded upon). In the end, they fought long and hard to free themselves from England, and as we all know, they won. And so began a 400 year string of continuous fighting to keep America free.

As an American, I pride myself on being so, and though I have Italian, Irish, and German blood in me, I consider myself an American first and foremost. I think that this is one of the greatest things about living in this country; most people who are here are damn proud of it. So many people are ashamed of where they came from, but the people of America, we take pride in living here. We raise our kids to be proud of this country and where they came from. We fly flags outside of our houses, have them stuck to the back of our cars, and even tattooed on our bodies. The pride we have in our country is known not only among those people with whom we share this great land with, but also with those people from other countries.

American is a place of many things. We are a place of hope. Hope for a better life, hope for happiness and peace. It is a place of choices; a place of forgiveness and trust. We are a country of happy people, not necessarily because we have power and wealth, but also because of the family and friends we have, the simple, mundane job we may work at 9-5, the choices that we get to make on how we live our lives. America is a country that never stops moving, that never sleeps. We have worked hard for the things that we have, and continue to work hard for the things that we want. We take pride in our lives and how we live them. We are a country that is never above doing what makes us happy. We are a country full of people who are just trying to make it from day to day in one piece. America is a nation full of people willing to help others (though we do not do so as often as we should). We, as a nation, love our pieces of media. From the latest U2 song to the newest episode of Late Night with Conan O’Brien; from news stories about a teenager being reunited with her family after being gone for twenty years to books about wizards and vampires. We love our crime scene dramas and a comedy about a dysfunctional family with a talking baby, and a talking dog. We love our food! From Big Mac’s at one in the morning to a Peppermint Mocha Twist Frappucinno Blended Coffee before that big business meeting; slow, home cooked meals from a southern style restaurant with rocking chairs and checker boards lining the “front porch” to pizza that will be delivered in 30 minutes or less, or it’s free. We are a country where convenience means everything and if you can access it from your Blackberry or iPhone, well, that’s even better. We always have our lights on; from small towns to big cities, you are always welcome. Americans always want more! And we always want it now! Doesn’t matter if its money, sex, food, news, or sleep, we want it as fast as possible.

America is a country full of dreamers. We have dreams about everything: where we want to go to college, what we want to do with the rest of our lives, who we want to marry, how many kids we want. We start dreaming about these types of things as kids, and even then, we dream BIG. We dream for things that might never happen, but the joy of America is, no dream is ever too big. And we, as a nation, encourage our kids to dream, and dream BIG. As they grow into teenagers we tell them to keep dreaming, despite how far out of reach their destination may be. And as we grow into adults we tell ourselves, and our peers, that now it’s up to us to make the dreams come true. Our parents and teachers, friends and even enemies, have helped to get us this far, now it’s up to us to make it happen.

America is a country where anything can happen, and nothing is too far beyond your reach. Here we dream BIG and we dream small. We embrace our different nationalities, and as the differences of them all unite, we call ourselves Americans. In America we are free. Free to make choices, free to love what we want to love, and to be who we want to be. America is place full of things that are silly and weird, controversial and wrong, stressful and heartbreaking. We are a country that is proud of who we are; of where we have been and of where we are going. America, well America is full of people who love being Americans.

Introducing me!

Hello all, I’m Brittany and I am currently a sophomore at J. Sarg. I find it incredibly hard to describe myself to other people and I’m not entirely sure why, so I’ll try my best. I was born on July 5, 1990 in the wonderful city (yeah right) of Richmond, Virginia. I am an only child and I currently live with my parents and four cats. I have two best-friends: Alana is an advertising major at VCU and Stacey is a Psychology/Occupational Therapy major at VCU. I use music to describe my moods, and my lifestyle, more often than not because I feel that there are certain songs that can describe me and my situation better than I’ll ever be able too. I currently work at Pump It Up, in Ashland, as a Party Attendant. This basically means that I stand there and supervise/entertain children while they play on giant inflatable moon bounces. I’m unfortunately guilty of watching A LOT of TV, which again, can often tell a lot of people more about me than I probably could. The main shows that I keep up with are: NCIS, Burn Notice, Criminal Minds, CSI New York, Bones, and House; I’m also terribly addicted to Chelsea Lately and Ace of Cakes. I'm a Salvation Army volunteer, and for the entire month of November, and the first 20 days of December, you can find me at malls all around the Metro Richmond area working at an Angel Tree booth. The company that my dad works for, Howell's Heating and Air Conditioning, is one of the major sponsors of the Angel Tree program, and over the past five years they have recruited my dad and I, along with a good friend of ours Jeff, as spokespeople for the program. I love the program and what I do for it more than just about anything else that I spend my time on :). I am really into photography, and I use this as a way to represent and describe me and my lifestyle, it is rare that I’m ever seen without a camera in my hands. Let’s see, I’ve been friends with the same group of kids for almost 5 years now, and there are very much like a second family to me. I’m a very active person, and it is rare that you ever see me sitting still for more than ten minutes at a time. I’m an avid runner, I swim probably better than I walk; I also dance, play soccer, and hike.

So enough of me rambling about the stuff that doesn’t really matter, and on to the interesting stuff: Why I’m here? and more interestingly: Where I’m headed after Sarg? As for the first question: I’m taking this class A) because it was the only way I could get Survey of American Lit to fit into my schedule and B) because I’ve had Steve for English both in the Fall of 2008 and in the Spring of 2009 and I liked his teaching and the way things were done and figured that if I had to take an online class that I would feel safe taking it with someone that I already knew. Now onto the question that a lot of people seem to be asking me lately: Where am I headed after Sarg? Well right after I graduate, in the Spring of 2010, I’m headed to Blacksburg, Virginia for a week to be with family, but I don’t think that’s what people want to hear, so here’s the answer I think you’re looking for… After I’m done at Sarg I’m hopefully (keep your fingers crossed) headed to VA Tech (Radford University is my second choice, VCU my third). While there I want to major in Psychology, with a minor in Political Science. (If I go to Radford I plan to double major in Psychology and Criminal Justice, with a minor in Political Science; I have no idea what I’m going to do if I get stuck going to VCU). I then want to go to Grad School to get my Masters in either Forensic Psychology or Social Psychology (I have no idea where at yet though). My dream job is to be a profiler for the government and for any of you who have ever seen an episode of Criminal Minds (the entire show is based off profilers for the BAU) or Bones (Dr. Sweets is a profiler for the FBI) than you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t ever seen one of those shows, and have absolutely no clue what it is a profiler does here is the Dictionary.com definition: a set of techniques used by law enforcement agencies to try to identify perpetrators of serious crime; also called offender profiling (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/psychological+profiling?o=100074). I mainly I want to work in Terrorism Prevention, but at the same time I want to take a crack at the BAU (Behavioral Analysis Unit) of the FBI. Other than having that dream, I have no idea where I’m headed after I graduate from Grad School.