Show THIS IS Aai ERICA written by a member of a B 17 crew fighting somewhere over germany back in the states nowadays you hear a lot of about everything gas tires cigarettes nylons its a good thing you do it means that americans still care when you quit gripon youve lost interest arl r pins just the rood good old amerl american an A a of saying lets go to a foreigner america is an amazing rather wonderful place the average american can tell you its a pain in the neck just his way of claiming to be a part of it the kid selling papers on the street knows more about patriotism than the elite guard but he know how to spell it americanism screaming about love of country its the right to play poker on friday night and go to church on sunday morning america is a guy with a silk hat and tails eating doughnuts doug nuts and coffee in an all night beanery its reading the funnies first on sunday morning its turning off the war news to listen to phil baker or fibber mcgee its soap operas and vox pop and malrey boats and amby america is vast forests and magnificent ent buildings andi and dams and highways and coney island macys its also apple pie and baked beans and hot dogs and true confessions its st pauls cathedral and a preacher on a mule its the sign on a door that says finklestein cohen and ogrady its high heels and slacks and a mink coat its being in a hurry with no place to go and nothing to do when you get there its kids that jabber jive a and nd kids that say sighted sub sank same its the kids that fight to hear harry james and kids that fight on a cor coral atoll for an ideal idea I 1 its people that love to laugh at a hangover and cry at al jolson its people that love to hunt but hate to kill people that love the woods and cut them down people that save tin cans paper sacks and toothpaste tubes and throw away enough food in the garbage can every day to feed a nation its people that yell their heads off about the way the country is run and forget to vote americas best people go to reno and its worst go to church america is kids in bobby socks screaming for the voice and kids in bobby socks who are building the planes that bomb tokyo its housewives with a welding torch its everything big and small everything t good and everything bad its tor for everything and against everything it cant be built up and it cant be torn down it just grows and its people grow with it its a big brawling good natured evil tempered giant that sleeps and eats and wakes and stretches the world with its laughter or its anger it grew up the hard way and refuses to grow old its the most tolerant and the most vengeful its a polyglot of every ism affected by all infected by none it has everything and appreciates none of it its the best there is and the worst there is and you cant get along with it or without it so you get to be fust a little bit like all of it yank magazine |