Correspondents' Correspondence Going Home Again

ROBERTS, COKIE

Correspondents' Correspondence BRIEF TAKEOUTS OF MORE THAN PERSONAL INTEREST FROM LETTERS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS Going Home Again Athens ?Living abroad often gives...

...Our pilgrimage ended in Washington, where the White House and Capitol brought history alive...
...Because the kids aren't growing up with the everyday experience of U.S...
...An adulthood scarred by Watergate, the Vietnam war and the dramatic realization that poverty and discrimination persist in the U.S...
...Having fought through customs and traffic to the Holiday Inn at LaGuardia, the kids were amazed at the size of the elevator, and we were shocked at the size of the room rate...
...I wasn't ready for "deodorant socks" and I worried the kids couldn't handle "fast food...
...After the initial shock of hearing English, we regretted understanding the language in the madhouse at Kennedy Airport...
...We expected the children's observations would give us a special insight, too, for our five-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Rebecca, had announced that she couldn't remember America...
...living, we often consciously talk about the country...
...And a visit to the new Aeronautics and Space Museum the day Viking landed on Mars gave us a taste of the achievements of the present We came away excited about America: Though it seemed flawed, and sometimes silly, we were glad it's home.—Cokie Roberts...
...I was struck by how American children grow up in age-ghettoes, with food, entertainment and activities designed especially for them...
...Correspondents' Correspondence BRIEF TAKEOUTS OF MORE THAN PERSONAL INTEREST FROM LETTERS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS Going Home Again Athens ?Living abroad often gives Americans a new perspective...
...still shines as an only slightly tarnished land of opportunity...
...may have turned many of my generation against their country...
...and the fireworks on the Charles River turned out to be just plain fun...
...Talking to family and friends, we soon realized that the mood of America had truly changed and the new upbeat attitude stayed with us for the rest of the trip...
...But viewed from Greece, where you can't get ahead unless your family knows somebody, the U.S...
...We did our time in suburbia, glimpsing the effects of mass culture and the craziness affluence can bring...
...washed down with frozen orange juice and coffee served with non-sugar sweetener and something called non-dairy creamer...
...So when my husband and I decided to use the Bicentennial Fourth of July as an excuse to take the kids home for a visit, I wondered if the country would look as good close-up as it does from afar...
...My spirits lifted, however, as I watched the efficient air shuttle system—the Greeks would never form such an orderly line...
...The first day did not bode well...
...So it was with some trepidation that we brought the small patriots home to celebrate...
...Our nieces and nephews, who should have been saturated with the Bicentennial, seemed as eager to celebrate the Fourth as we were...
...In Greece nothing is childoriented...
...And I realized the kids weren't such hicks when our seven-year-old son compared the Hudson to the Nile...
...Then in Boston my worries about the national birthday proved unfounded...
...Young people go anywhere adults do, becoming interesting conversationalists and even learning table manners...
...Even in New York smiling people stopped to ask if they could help, as the kids stood staring at the tall buildings...
...To the contrary, they loved it along with all other aspects of "plastic America...
...The next morning we dragged our little hicks away from Saturday morning color TV down to the restaurant...
...We finally were seated to a hearty American breakfast of pop-up waffles, topped with something called "table syrup...
...Those conversations plus a school program on American history made them excited about the prospect of spending Independence Day in Boston...
...We grownups, though, had read about the Bicentennial's commercialism, and the last time we visited the States was shortly after the Nixon resignation when the mood of the country was hardly positive...

Vol. 59 • September 1976 • No. 18


 
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