Tune for a Monday Morning

Happy Birthday to the beautiful, complicated, maddening, extraordinary, tragic, hilarious, incredibly friendly and unbelievably diverse country I come from. . . whose water, soil, air, and ideals formed my blood, bones, and spirit.

I grew up with John Mellencamp's music, and it embodies for me the essence of a certain slice of pickup-truck, working class America: those big-hearted, left-leaning, union-joining, hard-working, open-minded, racially/culturally mixed, quick-witted, generous-spirited men and women that are the backbone of so many communities all across the country. This song goes out to my brothers in Pennsylvania. Drink a beer for me today.