This weekend I attended a rodeo- a legitimate boot-wearing, cow riding, oh-my-gosh-that's-a camouflage-stroller rodeo. To say it was an experience in culture is an understatement. Moreover...a 9/11 memorial at a rodeo? It doesn't get more cultural than that.
I have to admit...I sort of expected the intense and emotionally charged memorial.
I also expected the military salute.
I was a little surprised..but not shocked when the rodeo clown openly poked fun at Obama ...
but what shocked me out of my mind was the national anthem.
All of us were standing on our boots (ok..I was wearing cute ballet flats), hands over our hearts, as the last notes sounded like this...
"O're the laaaaaand of the freeeee and the hooome of the braaaaave....We'll put a boot in your ass, it' the American way!"
and the crowd. went. wild.
In an instant I was jolted from the comfy melody of the national anthem to a crowd of self-proclaimed rednecks whooping as Toby Keith's controversial"Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue" blared on the loudspeaker. without single note between the two. Even stranger...I think I was the only one jolted and possibly the only one (minus my friend who was with me) who noticed a contrast between the two songs.
It's official. I may have grown up in this culture, but I am officially.....an outsider.
In a way it reminded me of Jamaica. Oh no, there wasn't any jerk chicken (or marijuana that I know of), but as I sat there with mouth agape, people would look me over, stare at me, and try to figure out what an outsider was doing there. I'm not sure what labeled me the outsider (other than my scarf- I couldn't help myself), but they knew....In a weird way, I kind of enjoyed it.
Anyone else ever feel like a foreigner in their own hometown?
