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Coming home to a new America
A reporter who left after 9/11 to work in Argentina, Mexico and elsewhere returns to a nation that now seems more like those others.
A reporter who left after 9/11 to work in Argentina, Mexico and elsewhere returns to a nation that now seems more like those others.
Two weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, I packed up my L.A. home and moved to Latin America with my wife and family.
In the years that followed, I watched the United States from afar. My country went to war and elected George W. Bush to a second term. We built new walls on our southern border and started deporting people by the hundreds.
In the years that followed, I watched the United States from afar. My country went to war and elected George W. Bush to a second term. We built new walls on our southern border and started deporting people by the hundreds.
In Argentina, Mexico and other places I lived and visited as a foreign correspondent, people asked me if my country had gone crazy.
I listened to taxi drivers in Buenos Aires rail against "the imperialist Bush." In Mexican villages, farmers asked me: "Why does everyone over there hate us so much?"
And yet, from thousands of miles away, I pined for the U.S.
When you write about young democracies, as I did, you learn to appreciate the comforts of old ones. I covered historic votes in Brazil, Nicaragua and other places but cast my own ballot by mail in every Los Angeles County election. I collected U.S. quarters and used them to teach my children some basic American history and geography. Illinois: Land of Lincoln; North Carolina: First Flight.
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I listened to taxi drivers in Buenos Aires rail against "the imperialist Bush." In Mexican villages, farmers asked me: "Why does everyone over there hate us so much?"
And yet, from thousands of miles away, I pined for the U.S.
When you write about young democracies, as I did, you learn to appreciate the comforts of old ones. I covered historic votes in Brazil, Nicaragua and other places but cast my own ballot by mail in every Los Angeles County election. I collected U.S. quarters and used them to teach my children some basic American history and geography. Illinois: Land of Lincoln; North Carolina: First Flight.
( Read more... )