Dear Paul Revere

Updating our greatest fleeting guest on the most important details of modern life in Medford

By Nate Rubright

Dear Paul Revere, 

So I am assuming that these letters are getting to you in some form of mail, and that means they are timestamped. This also means that, if you are counting at home (in Boston), this country is turning 250 years old this year. 

And this strange milestone (let’s be honest, 250 is no 300, much less 500) is bringing out a lot of feelings here in Medford. It’s like celebrating your 40th birthday; how much of a thing should it be? When I’ve talked to people, the amount they want to acknowledge this semiquincentennial (blah!) usually depends on how they feel about America right now, and this understandably has a lot to do with politics.

Your correspondent loves talking shop, but instead of jumping into my thoughts, I want to instead ask you a question. I studied some history during my middling academic career, and one thing I found surprising was how often in the beginning the United States is referred to as an “experiment.” I wonder, is that how you saw it? 

Your perspective on this would be fascinating. Hearing that we made it 250 years, would you take us out of the “experiment” phase? From what I read, there was a lot of anxiety about how a country so young would fare on the big stage, especially when there seemed to be so little its people had in common.

In a lot of ways, America was defined more by what it wasn't (literally, anywhere else) than by what it actually was. This apophatic approach to our identity certainly led many to label America as a continuing open question, answered not by the wise but by who might be shouting the loudest. And we have produced a lot of uniquely loud people in the last 250 years. 

But after so much time, does that open question eventually become our identity? Since America’s founding, over 558 million people have lived here, and I am absolutely sure not a single one has the same story. At some point, that open characteristic is the story. Pretty much everything we’ve got here is some amalgamation of different cultures, influences, and origins. Come to think of it, one thing we really do all share is a general ignorance of where any of our culture actually comes from. 

If this is the claim I am making, are you good with that as the legacy of America at 250? Was the plan to eventually settle on a shared narrative that was easier to explain? I guess by asking you, that goes against my thesis, since you are just one of many other voices.  

Nate in North Medford

P.S. I want to just let you know that the World Cup (I’ll explain it and the sport of soccer some other time) is happening, and the United States, Mexico, and Canada are hosting. Many people dress up as historical figures to root on the home team and your man Washington gets a lot of love. Not here, when I root for the yanks, I’m going as your doppelganger. 

Nate Rubright is a Medford resident.