What does it mean to you to be an American Citizen? How might this text challenge or complicate your opinions?

As part of our English 2010 class for Ms. Sutton, there is a requirement to do some extra work in the form of creating responses to questions posted on her blog. These responses will be posted on my blog and you are more than welcome to read and respond to them. The question raised by our instructor’s blog post (found HERE) is twofold this week. First, “What does it mean to be an American?” and second, “How might this text challenge or complicate your opinions?”
The first question regarding how it feels to be an American is one that without reading the introduction to required text would have been very simple to answer. The answer would be good, normal, or fine as I have always been an American and therefore and extremely used to it. As I read the introduction to our text Rereading America, I am confronted with concept of challenging my narrow definition of an American by seeing that it is not just the simple definition of a citizen of the USA that I first considered it to be. Being an American is not just a geographical reference as I had thought it to be. American can be North, South, or Central as the book talks about as early as page 2. Nor is being American a specific cultural reference as myself and I am sure others have assumed. Being American is a consciousness and an opportunity to explore, challenge and use the power of dialog to grow and expand as a person.
The second question is about how the text of Rereading America could complicate or challenge my opinions. Although the text does a great job of both warning and enticing the student with lines like “Thus, you may find certain selections of Rereading America difficult, controversial, or even downright offensive.”, this student has had many an opportunity to have his beliefs challenged already. I am 38 years old and have lived in some of the most diverse cities in this country. There is no emotional staking of one particular corner of political or religious beliefs in my life, only a firm belief that my way is not the only way. The opportunity to learn some new tools to uncover different opinions, such as Pre-reading and the power of dialog are the real gems of this course. Mastery of these, will be the greatest challenge… and the most fruitful reward.