Maira Kalman on our Nation of Immigrants

Because I love her work, here is Maira Kalman's latest art blog from the New York Times.

It's funny. I haven't really, except in the technical sense*, spent any time in New York. And yet, it is impossible for any American whose had significant exposure to our mass media and our popular culture to not be familiar with New York at some level. And most of them have a reaction to that knowledge: either they find NYC an exciting place they'd like to go, or they consider it a scary place to be avoided full of people anxious to corrupt them.

This piece makes me wonder: Could it be that there are two definitions of what being Americans means in this country? One is the America subtly defined in this piece, a "celebration of multi-culturalism" view of the nation, New York as microcosm of the country. And the other is the "pockets of purity" definition, that pulls up the ladder after itself and says "American is me and my family and anything different doesn't qualify." The microcosm here is a stereotypical small town that until 10 years ago didn't even have any ethnic food, let alone any people of color.

These two different definitions of what we're about here could explain the polarization of our nation. But the way the lines keep getting increasingly blurry gives me hope. I have met a few people who absolutely have no interest in eating anything but "classic" American cuisine (meat and potatoes). I do not understand these people, and they make me sad. But I've met a lot more people who enjoy having their horizons broadened. Inasmuch as they are parochial, it is merely from lack of exposure, but when they get the chance to experience new things, they do so and enjoy it heartily.

The truth is that it's our humanity that brings us together. We all eat. We all love children. We all enjoy music and color and celebration. Culture is not what we're at war about. Culture is what will bring us peace. Maybe that's why Kalman's work can address these issues so much more effectively that mere words.