American Under Fire

A few weeks ago, I gave a presentation on Chicago at a seminar for French English teachers. Essentially it was just a slideshow that I spent several hours putting together. I realized that my casual shots from summers past didn't really capture all that was Chicago. And as I am fond of the city, I wanted to represent it well, so I scoured the Internet for a diverse group of shots that included Obama, Biden, and the new Secretary of Education with school children, a sketch of the Great Fire of 1871 and the Chicago River dyed green for St. Patrick's Day.

The final shots of my slideshow consisted of deep dish pizza and polish sausage. One of the women in charge of the seminar is Polish and she was a little horrified at what we do to her culture's food. An Americanized sausage resembles a hot dog with neon green relish, bright mustard, ketchup, onions, and whatever else you can find room for.

That led the group of French teachers to ask me to spell the word "doughnut." Wondering if I'd fit their stereotype of a typical lazy American and spell "donut?" No way. Thankfully I passed that test.

After that I mentioned something about Obama's inaguaration on France's basic cable channel TF1. As soon as I said, "TF1" did the teachers flail their arms up in disgust. Not at me, but at that particular channel. Apparently, TF1 is the most American of French channels and none of them watch it. I briefly thought about FOX in the U.S., but then shrugged. I only have five channels in my French apartment so I can't really be picky.

It just so happens that TF1 is airing the Superbowl tonight at 12:25 am... I guess they're right.