It's gay pride week here in good old NYC but today in Brooklyn a parade past by my street and I thought 'could it be? A small gay pride march through the streets of Dyker Heights Brooklyn?'
Well, don't be fooled by the name, it's made up of over compensating macho men and loud bossy mothers, I mean women. Mostly Italian, some Greek, Jews and Irish off springs. Meaning it's a typical melting pot (of over bearing straightness and American family values). Not just on the street but in my own home. - You have me, the off spring of once Jewish immigrants from the late 1800's - who came over from Russia. You have GT, born in Greece but raised in Brooklyn and wants nothing to do with his birthplace. And living in the apartment below us is his elderly mother who is Greek and although she has lived in America for 30 something years, can't speak English. There you have my Brooklyn.
So hearing the bagpipes marching down my street I ran out excitedly hoping to see the local branch of the national Transgender Irish American League proudly portraying who they are but a lass that wasn't what I found. Only the usual off spring of once upon a time Irish or Scottish immigrants (like I know the difference by their skirts?).
The parade was made up of random clubs and groups of either boy scouts, various cars with a flag on them and some women with strollers - all toting the American flag. So, I guess it's an American Pride Parade? I'd much rather have drag queens and boys in sparkly shorts throwing out condoms and beads to the crowd, not neighbors watching their neighbors prance around with a flag - of a country we all live in - down the street.
But when I got back upstairs to excitedly tell GT about it he rolled his eyes. "You shouldn't be proud to be born somewhere," he said with disdain.
Then all the sudden a flood of American pride shot through me. "How can you of all people say that? You weren't even born here, but you're here now."
Having spent a year away from America I realized how awesome home is.
Okay, I know we have a lot of fucked up situations going on including Iraq but you know what? So do other countries. They aren't perfect at all. Not only that - their TV sucks - so why else did our forefathers come here? (if not for the TV, cheese burgers with a side of apple pie?)
The world outside our large island may care more about theater, and cultural issues, they may also speak other languages but if they had a world separated from the rest I guarantee they'd end up like us too. (I know that because we - Americans - are all bits and pieces of them!)
Not to say I think we should only speak English - in fact I hate that I can't understand other languages and that I was never really taught the truth about the world outside - but I can't blame that all on our education. If I really wanted too I could have studied on my own - but I'm American right? So I'd rather blame someone else and not do anything about it myself and I'm proud of that.
I didn't choose to be born here but my family did choose to immigrant here a few generations back because life as a Jewish person and life as a Russian wasn't particularly easy. So they gave up their home, came here so I can now sit on a leather couch and blog away on my laptop computer about how hard my life is (or isn't.) So yes, I say I am proud even though I was just born here. So what? Gay pride week is about being proud of who you are - most would say you are born gay - so I was born American. Can't I be proud too? I wasn't oppressed or anything like gays - blacks - native Americans or even middle eastern immigrants are now or other Jews were and are but does that mean I can't be proud at all? DO you really have to over come something in order to be allowed to show some spirit? I guess the neighborhood consensus on that is no. But what about everywhere else?
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