Questions from my American Dad

My American dad is very American. A bit of a west-coast cowboy, but every very bit a brilliant scientist. He owns a truck, the kindest heart, and a mind that refuses to leave any problem unsolved. I’ve only been American for a couple of decades, and while I had a lot of silly questions for him (like wondering why a pickup truck could be of any use to anyone who wasn’t running a hauling business’), over the years he’d ask me the kind of questions that helped me better understand where our cultural backgrounds could have clashed. That I call him “my American dad” should be a clue that we found a way to bridge any seeming divide, and I believe that’s due to how eye-opening his questions were. Their honesty and directness got to the point and cut through a lot of presumptions. Presumptions borne of ignorance. An ignorance that too many prejudiced people are willing to cling to, and too many well-meaning people are timid to shed.

This site is a notebook of some of those questions and conversations. Short essays, posted whenever I have time, each triggered by a single question he’s actually asked me. I am not always sure I had the right answer, or even any reasonable answer, but I’m sharing the best answers we could both reach.

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