Having been born in Rome, Italy and grown up there for the first 8 years of my life, moving the U.S., especially Indiana, was not such a happy prospect for me. Consequently, I have never felt very American…I have just never really identified myself as an American. Not that I identify with being Italian either, since there are no Italians in my lineage and it’s been 10 years since I have been back to Italy, so I guess I can’t identify myself with any nationality, which is sometimes a scary thing. Where do I belong? I often think, on a day in Indiana when I am particularly aware of its unpleasantness, certainly not here. But then, on other occasions, I think it’s not all that bad. My family is here after all, and your family is really all you have.

On this Memorial Day Weekend, while all the true Americans were having their cookouts and drinking beer, I was reminded of how un-American I feel. I just can’t relate and I don’t fit in. It kind of disgusts me actually. I am not patriotic and I don’t understand it.