EuroVision Visions

Gawking at the European Gay Olympics

I never realized how very American I am until I moved to Berlin.

I’ve traveled abroad regularly since I was 19, so I’ve always had some perspective on who I am, nationally – people will remind you, sometimes nicely, occasionally rudely, for America is a complicated subject in the world – but there’s nothing like actually working within another system, and social circumstance, to highlight who you are.

I experienced it first within the US, in New York City, where a Californian sticks out like a sore (or rather, a weirdly-happy-and-friendly) thumb. People in New York would nail me as being from California within minutes.

But there is nothing that makes me feel more American than watching the annual EuroVision Final. It is then that one realizes how different Europe is from North America, where EuroVision, despite its 62 years running, is mostly a distant rumor, something akin to the World Cup, but ridiculous. Will Ferrell will probably never make a comedy about the World Cup.

And it is…