les états-unis.

this week is patrimonie gourmand in france. it is a sort of celebration of food and the heritage of french cuisine. because of this many local or french products are on sale, many restaurants have special menus, and some food stores have live presentations. today outside one of the bakeries in the mall, the baker was doing demonstrations kneading a ball of dough that must have weighed ten pounds. there were also free samples of bread, tiny brioches with sugar crystals on top, and tiny ham sandwiches.

there is a similar celebration in september called les jours de patrimonie which celebrates the cultural heritage of the country as well as that all over europe. during this weekend, many museums are free or offer reduced tariffs and many cultural institutions open their doors to the public, including the french equivalent of the white house.

all this celebration and consensual enjoyment of the nation's history, culture, and cuisine got me to thinking how rare this is in the US. there isn't really anything like this. the closest things i could think of are thanksgiving and fourth of july, which seem more like excuses to eat a lot and blow stuff up than celebrate culture and history. god forbid portland art museum offer a free time or even reduced entry. and when was the last time anyone got close to the white house. not so much the story in new york but the country on a whole seems rather uninterested in celebrating anything interesting. many holidays had basis in cultural or historical events but are now just an excuse to party. maybe patrimonie does exist in the US it's just hard to think of it while in a foreign country.

i've been trying to stay up on news at home but am finding it more and more difficult and almost guiltily glad that i'm not in the states right now. with the continued bêtises of our current (mis)leader and the start of mudslinging with the upcoming election, continued economic crises, acts of violence and overall distaste for the rest of the world i'm becoming less and less fond of my homeland. with the release of pew global attitudes report last week, some of my worst fears are being confirmed. the report showed the US near the bottom of the list of nearly 50 countries in areas such as support for trade and foreign companies. xenophobia is spreading as the country is less and less open to doing business with other countries or having foreigners bring their businesses to the states. yet americans expect to be treated like gods wherever we go in the world. we live in a world of two-way streets and you're going to get what you give. this notion is also present in our widespread opposition to immigration. do we forget that our country was built on immigration? we should be flattered that millions of people are literally dying to get into our country and have their own slice of our wonderful pie. this is kind of how many conservatives love to hate the french lest they forget that without the french we would have never won the revolutionary war and our greatest symbol of 'freedom', the statue of liberty, was a gift from the french in commemoration of the revolution. the report also showed some 60% of americans believing homosexuality is not socially acceptable. forget marriage or civil rights, nearly 2/3 of the country doesn't think it's acceptable in any situation. one thing i've noticed about being in a culture that is stereotypically rather effeminate is that homophobia is practically nonexistent. we did score well in one area though, the belief that at times force is necessary to maintain order in the world. just never to maintain equal access to food, education, jobs, housing and health care or prevent discrimination in our own country. we can only fight for so long against the bad guys living in caves that hate us before we end up destroying ourselves.

it's becoming harder and harder to miss a place i can't really stand especially when i'm in a place i really love.