Every time I thought about writing this post, before I left the USA, in my head, it always started with “the Bay Area ain’t all that”. I decided to leave writing it aside for a while after moving and I think I did the right thing because now, I still think that the Bay Area ain’t all that but there is something quite fascinating about the elusive identity of the USA that I want to try to do justice to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a European (and a small country European at that) – despite my living abroad, despite my traveling, despite my frequent visits to the USA – I always associate the country with whatever I’ve seen on the screen. The American cultural production (or hegemony) is so strong that there is no escape in my head from the teenagers in convertibles, the fire hydrants in the corner, the sprawling – unending – unforgiving distances, the 4th of July celebrations. It was quite a surprise to me to discover that this exact prism shaped a lot of my first (and second) impressions of the Bay. To a large extent I saw what I expected to see, until, certain that I had escaped the country’s clutches and thus relaxed, America yanked me back, one evening in New York and demanded that I reconsider. <\/p>\n\n\n
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