SPOILIN’ THE BROTH
Grandson Esten Cooke, 17, is a Rotary foreign exchange student, spending the year in Germany.
Son of Reporter publishers Ken and Christine Cooke, Esten is a 2018 graduate of Fredericksburg High School, having doubled up his course load and graduated at the end of what was his junior year.
(Don’t ask me how he did that. Those are not my genes. I didn’t learn to wave bye-bye until the sixth grade.)
Esten’s sponsoring club is the Fredericksburg Rotary. One requirement is that he file a monthly report on his experiences to that club.
Here is what he wrote for September:
“I was not especially patriotic in the States. I was the first to voice my opinions about what I felt were injustices or inefficiencies in the American political/economic system. But here my identity is ‘that American guy.’
“Contrasting differences against each other make those differences more apparent. Because I represent ‘Americaness’ I feel more American. And in the same way when someone tries to explain to me about German culture, they are performing ‘Germaness.’
“This is felt in small ways: because the American stereotype is ‘loud and patriotic,’ a simple joke about taking my classmate’s chair is made infinitely more funny by shouting: ‘Dies ist jetzt ein Amerikanisch Stuhl. Für Amerika.’
“But also in larger ways: For instance I never realized how deeply I believe in ideas central to American identity like Democracy, Tolerance, and Economic Mobility, until I was asked to explain the philosophies of John Locke for my English class.
“That being said, I was not prepared for the world to be so…. American. I always heard the United States was a ‘superpower,’ but I never visualized it until now. What it looks like is watching American films dubbed in German, listening to remixes of American songs on the radio, a world where children are expected to learn English because that is the language of trade and commerce, and one where American political happenings are broadcast on every news station.
“This comes with the realization that things that happen in America, don’t just affect America, they affect the whole world. It gives the political happenings back home an extra sense of Gravity, and gives me an extra perspective to view those happenings through.
“But that’s all ‘head stuff.’ The food is good. The people are friendly. My German is a little better. If anything, I should probably sleep more.”
—bc—
There you have it. Thank you for indulging me a few column inches of grandpa pride.
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