I lived and worked in the US for almost 8 years. I met quite a few people, and got to know some of them well. I’ve encountered many more on the Internet, especially on places like SlashDot. I was there both before and after September 11, 2001 and saw the changes. Most of the people I got to know to any reasonable degree were of the same background/ class/ economic strata/ educational level… mostly college-educated techies. I knew a few that were departures from that community.

I’ve already written a bit about “Americans”. As with everything else on my blog, what I write is my opinion, based on my experiences. I can write about Americans in the plural sense and not worry about necessarily painting my friends with the same brush. I know the difference between the aggregate traits of a group and the individuals within the group.

There are differences in Canadians and Americans; I think the differences are apparent and interesting because at the core they are very much the same (thus the differences are accentuated). I’ll be writing about that more in the future, I’m sure.

Oh yeah… and on my blog at least, “Americans” refers to citizens of the United States of America… as opposed to residents of the Americas. My wife, a Costa Rican (ie: a “Central American”) loves to debate that distinction.