all-american

When it comes to food, I am an all-American kind of girl. Growing up in the Midwest in the 60s made a lasting impression on my taste buds.  There's nothing I like more than a good ol' burger and fries, with a large puddle of ketchup on the side.  My new favorite place to find such culinary fare is my local Graffiti Burger. Their handmade milkshakes are out of this world.  Eating here is a special treat, since eating all-American, unfortunately is not exactly the most healthy.

Graffiti's walls are covered with, you guessed it, graffiti.  "All-American" is spray painted in big black letters above the counter.  We chatted about the term and possible origins.  Post-Google, I found it started in 1888, with reference to baseball teams composed of the best players from the United States. Now, to be an all-American, has simply come to mean to possess qualities characteristic of American ideals, such as honesty, industriousness, and health. I liked it better back in the guilt-free days, when burgers and fries were considered well-balanced American eating.

After savoring every bite of the Graffiti lunch, I stopped by the library, and as synchronicity would have it, felt compelled to pick up Elia Kazan's America, America, 1963. Based on his novel about his uncle's experience immigrating from rural Turkey to the United States,  it is one of Kazan's lesser known films, compared to On the Waterfront or A Streetcar Named Desire, but it is certainly his most personal.

There are no big stars in this movie, but the acting is stellar. The unknown faces give it a raw and powerfully real quality. It starts slow, then builds, so give it a chance. America, America received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay, and won an Oscar for Art Direction. Each frame is perfectly shot, like an exhibit of beautiful photography. If you are a connoisseur of art and film, you will love this movie.

As you know, my synchronicities come in threes.  My friend, Laurie Kolp, mentions an all-American as a plate filled with dreams. I wholeheartedly agree.