All along, through different stages of my relationship with America … I’ve always been sort of wondering, ‘Where’s home? Is home America? That ideal doesn’t really exist, does it? Where’s all those sort of principals that I grew up with?’ And when I was up on that platform — for those two hours or so that we were up there — it was like all those ideals came to life in ways that I had never imagined. So even with all the politics and all the fiscal cliff and all the rest that going on, for those two hours there was still this sense that was still so pure about America. … Just the idea that all those hundreds of thousands of people have just come to bear witness. … I really embraced America up there like I never had before and I think I finally felt like I was home in some way. … And I turned to my mother at one moment and I told her, “Well, I think we’re finally American.”
Image of Richard Blanco by Sam Farzaneh via Flickr
