Knucklehead,

I lived in the US long enough to understand why you choose your handle. But is may be my rigid Euro upbringing that makes me wince slightly when I use it addressing somebody whom I like and respect; I would rather address you as a Knuck if you donít object

Ted,

You may find it surprising (or not), but I very much concerned with the phenomenon that you describe. I perfectly understand the uniqueness of the melting pot concept. VHD too has a book on the subject, ìMexifiorniaî. I have not read it yet, because I did not want to get even more depressed. I am capable of working myself into very lively anxiety over these things, so I try to pace myself. But I will get to it and will also read the book you recommend.

BTW, full integration of my ancestors into the American society does not worry me one bit. I myself always get annoyed when people ask me: “where are you from” (damn bloody accent of mine always betrays me!). For years I was responding: I am an American, but this never stopped anybody from pushing: but where are you REALLY from. And we are not talking about friends or business associates: every clerk in the grocery store asks me that. I know ñ they are just trying to be friendly. But it never seem to occur to anybody that being an American is more important to me than the accident of my birth. Once I really got upset because an ITALIAN-american guy at a orchid show lunched into a lecture about how I should be proud of my ethnic ancestry at the expense of my American citizenship. It was not terribly good marketing technique because I left ñ without buying anything from him.

Other things that annoy me are ballots printed in 3 languages ñ I thought that passing knowledge of English was a requirement for citizenship. Apparently, not anymore.

Re: wackiness of San Francisco: I live here! It is my opinion that this place will only get better when all the old hippies will die out.