Over the weekend Rob and I went to a concert of our favorite band, Eddie from Ohio. They were performing as part of an Independence Day weekend celebration, and one of the events was a pie-eating contest. But there were different kinds of pie! Some people in the contest got banana cream, others got apple, others got boysenberry or something. How unfair is that? The people who got the fruit pies were at a major disadvantage because the fruit pies had crusts on top AND chunks of fruit to chew! There we were, celebrating America as the land of opportunity and equality for all, and the pie-eating contest was rigged! WTF?

In both rounds, a banana cream pie eater won. Obviously. The second round was won by Olga, a Russian woman who glared at the host when he asked her where she was from. (He meant where in the area, but she did not like the question.) And then when he asked her "How did you win this contest?" she said, "I ate fast. And I am Russian." Everyone laughed nervously.

What with the false sense of equality and the multi-cultural misunderstandings, perhaps it was an accurate representation of this country after all.