What Place Best Represents The US For You?

[MrsSpringsteen]

They pick the cliche, typical places. What place would you pick? What best represnts it for you personally?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13067509/

MSNBC

"What does it mean to be an American?

That's the question MSNBC.com will be asking as part of a special section marking this year’s July 4 holiday, the 230th anniversary of the day the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress.

And what better place to ask that question than at the place Americans think best represents the United States?

So what location do you think is best?

* Is it the Statue of Liberty, the symbol of freedom located in New York Harbor that has welcomed millions of immigrants to these shores?
* Or is it a place directly associated with the battle for independence, such as the monuments along Boston’s Freedom Trail, considered by many to be the cradle of the American Revolution?
* Or is it a symbol from the natural world, such as the magnificent Grand Canyon that cuts through northern Arizona?
* Or is it a more up-to-date American icon like Disney World, whose storied acres attract millions of domestic and foreign tourists each year and represent the nation’s creativity and enterprise."

 

[maycocksean]

I think anywhere in Ohio would do.

 

[Irvine511]

best represents the US, or represents the US at its best?

that best represents the US would probably be impossible to determine -- i've just sat here for 5 minutes looking at a map and i cannot think of a single place that can represent a highly complex society of 300m people.

the US at its best would probably be an open, intergrated, progressive college town somewhere with an active, engaged community who actively support the arts, the schools, and each other.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

the US at its best would probably be an open, intergrated, progressive college town somewhere with an active, engaged community who actively support the arts, the schools, and each other.

Sounds like Boston-but of course it has many flaws and is not ideal, no place is

I'd say also what place represents the US at it's best too, great thought

Please post a picture too

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

The first one that comes to my mind is Walden Pond/the site of Thoreau's cabin. Civil disobedience could be seen as the bedrock for so many future happenings in the US, and is supposed to be one of our ideals. When you go there you can actually feel it.

http://thoreau.eserver.org/civil.html


"While Walden can be applied to almost anyone's life, "Civil Disobedience" is like a venerated architectural landmark: it is preserved and admired, and sometimes visited, but for most of us there are not many occasions when it can actually be used. Still, although it is seldom mentioned without references to Gandhi and King, "Civil Disobedience" has more history than many suspect. In the 1940's it was read by the Danish resistance, in the 1950's it was cherished by people who opposed McCarthyism, in the 1960's it was influential in the struggle against South African apartheid, and in the 1970's it was discovered by a new generation of anti-war activists. The lesson learned from all this experience is that Thoreau's ideas really do work, just as he imagined they would."

 

[nbcrusader]

I can think of quite a few - I'll start here:

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

No one else has any? I bet we could come up with plenty to represent the worst.

And geez, I really made way too many typos today

 

[Irvine511]

well, i'll give you some of my favorite places in the US:



the center of the Universe:

the most beautiful city in the US:

the diversity of landscape:

pristine wilderness:

freedom of speech:

and many more ... this is like a big art project.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Maybe this, Elvis certainly represented "the American dream" but sadly it ended tragically. But you usually can't have good without bad.

Like Plymouth Rock-it also could conjure up the mistreatment of Native Americans

 

[corianderstem]

My answer is kind of cheesy, but this question makes me think of "America the Beautiful," so my immediate thoughts go to places with "purple mountains majesty," "amber waves of grain" and all those "shining seas."

I love the diversity of landscapes around the country.

 

[LyricalDrug]

My hometown, Washington DC. We aren't one of the 50 states, but we represent all of them

 

[BonosSaint]

Boston, Philadelphia, Kennedy Space Center (for all its problems),
California.

 

[melon]

Funny enough, when I think of the "U.S.," this is the first place that comes to mind:

Melon

 

[the iron horse]

Down South,

and Texas


Still a lot of rebels

 

[BVS]

Mc Donalds





I don't think there is just one place, it's impossible to sum up America that way. In all the examples above I can say why they don't represent America.

If we could, the rest would be useless.