Patriots! (Newman!) (And Some Followups)

Re: upsets, I'm just curious—did anyone wake up this morning surprised at who won the Superbowl, having turned the game off last night when Atlanta was ahead by about a hundred and fifty points? Just wondering.

Fox streamed the game for free online, so I got to watch it. It was surprisingly nice to have occasional short quiet breaks in the time slots reserved for local ads. And it was a bit disconcerting to reconnect with television culture after two and a half years away...but I leave that entertaining diatribe for another time.

Personally, I found the game itself hard to watch. Granted, it must have been absolutely magic for Patriots fans, but then, they weren't exactly deprived of happy moments to begin with. I found my sympathies going more to the stunned fans of Atlanta. It's tough to watch a good bunch of guys who should have won have to lose like that. And after last November I doubt I'm ever going to enjoy a last-minute upset again.

I get that we all have to acknowledge Tim Brady as the best quarterback ever in history, but I can't get excited about it personally. (He's not a Packer.) I don't like dynasties. (Except if it's the Packers.) I consider dynasties a symptom of imbalances in power. (Not if it's the Packers.) Would you celebrate when Walgreens puts yet another local pharmacy out of business? Boston's total against Atlanta in National titles in the four major team sports is 36-1.

Imagine Jerry Seinfeld saying "Newman":

Patriots!

(But all right—congratulations, New England fans.)

Re the "Revenge of Analog" post, and speaking of small businesses, Richard Halliburton said he was in Berkeley the other day and saw "a relatively new store called the 'Center for Anachronistic Media.' They sell books and vinyl records (but not film)."

Made me laugh. What a great concept. If that was my store I'd not only add film and board games, but I'd lay in some stone lithography and copperplate etching supplies just for appearances. And a few typewriters! And a selection of turntables. And hey, why not fountain pens? Or quill pens?

Man, that's an idea they could expand on. Funny. Very clever name for a bookstore.

Photo by Herman Krieger

Re: Miatas (Mazda MX-5's), Dave Kee writes, "As a really old (75), bearded, 2007 NC Miata owner the most interesting thing about it is that the longer I have driven it the faster and harder I drive it. Maybe the closer you are to death the less you fear it."

First of all, Dave, you're not that old—you're in the middle of old age, not at the upper end of it. TOP's Honorary Official Oldest Reader is Herman Krieger, born 1926, a fine documentary photographer and an extremely bad punster. "Bad" when it comes to puns is of course a compliment—if you can call it that. (For example, the picture above is called "Angus Dei"!) And Herman's going strong—perhaps puns, like George Burns's cigars, extend lifespan. And hey, Dave, be grateful you don't own that Ferrari I mentioned—that's what could kill you (turn the sound down if you're at work; there's some NSFW language). A Miata is floggable, but forgiving.

Don't forget, though, that the worst drivers are 16–21 year olds, and the second-worst drivers are people in the last five years of their lives. It's just tough to know when you enter that second category. Don't be reckless, and be wreckless.

(How did I do, Herman?)

Re: America, I don't mean to scold, but I wish our British friends (we have a lot of you here, as TOP is disproportionately popular in the UK) would get over what appears to be a little meme going around Britain like a head cold. "America" is short for "The United States of America," and it is not short for "North America." An "American" person or thing is a person or thing from or pertaining to the United States of America. Canadians are not Americans. Mexicans are not Americans. (Unless they've emigrated from Mexico to America, in which case they are Mexican-Americans.) There's no country called Canada of America and no country called Mexico of America. Also, there's no continent called America. If you mean "North America" you need to specify that. America is one and only one particular country in North America. Saying "Canada is another country in America" is an error akin in degree to an American saying Ireland is a country over in England.

If you consider that confusing, remember that the whole business about names in the British Isles is a bit sticky for us to keep sorted too!

Re: film, AKA "analog" in colloquial terminology, I think I might shoot a little. I think the last time I did so was about five years ago. But I have a turntable and a decent little collection of records, and I would say that at least 1% and as much as 3% of my music-listening is vinyl. I like everything about vinyl, from my current restored mid-fi 1970s turntable (there are a lot of guys out there who restore old turntables) to the tone controls on the McIntosh to my antique DJ cartridges, and it makes a nice complement to my normal system (which uses mostly AAC and AIFF files and can be seen here). It's antiquarianism, yes. But there's nothing wrong with that. Although vinyl accounts for a small percentage of my listening time, it amplifies and enriches my music-listening life in a nice way. I find it fun. What's wrong with that?

I should break one of the old film cameras out and run a roll through it. If I did that a few times a year it might account for only 1–3% of my shooting, but it might amplify and enrich my experience of photography, the same way vinyl does with music.

Re: what else I did over the weekend, I spent the whole weekend revising my old book The Empirical Photographer. It's now being offered, used, for up to $214.24 on Amazon, which is ridiculous as you can still buy it new on Lulu for $25.96 (it sells at the rate of about one every two months).

That's the old, first edition version of the book. The new second edition I've been working on is cleaned up a bit (best use of Siri in Mac OS: asking her how to spell things) and has a few more chapters added. I ended up deciding I didn't want to add a lot to it because makes more sense to prepare a whole new collection of more recent articles. I'm just going to send the PDF of the Second Edition of The Empirical Photographer for free to my 153 Patreon supporters (and any other supporters who want one), to say thanks.

I don't like everything in The Empirical Photographer any more, and I'm very tempted to take some stuff out. It does contain the three best things I ever wrote, at least, and I added the photo essay from Black & White Photography magazine about raising my son Xander.

I wish I had more time for writing. I'd love to be a writer. I'm too dang busy writing!  :-)

Cheers. Try not to let anyone upset you today.

Patriots! (Newman!)

Mike
(Thanks to Herman, Dave, Richard and others)

ADDENDUM: Oops! It's TOM Bradey, of course, not "Tim" Bradey. Stupid. Everyone knows that.

ADDENDUM #2: Dagnabbit...I've been told I spelled the last name of the NFL's best quarterback incorrectly. I can't believe I would do that, because I know full well how it's spelled, but here's a correction anyway...it's R-o-d-g-e-r-s, with a "d," not "Rogers."

I hope that's the last mistake today!

Original contents copyright 2017 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

Never upsetting.
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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Eric Rose: "Maybe time management is your issue. Kirk Tuck seems to have time for a very busy pro photography business, new posts to his great blog and authoring several books."

Mike replies: True, but then everyone's different. Any pro photographer almost by definition has more energy than the average bear; I'm even convinced that some professionals go into professional photography because they have tons of energy and lesser jobs won't soak enough of it up. By contrast, my idea of a nice day would be to spend some time thinking, then go read for a while, then rest up from those exertions by taking a nap.

...But seriously, the real issue is "writing energy." In that, too, people are very different. You can hold up the collected works of J.D. Salinger in one hand, whereas Wikipedia credits a fellow called Edwy S. Brooks with more than 800 published works between 1907 and 1966. Barbara Cartland is in The Guinness book of World Records for writing the most novels in a single year—23—whereas Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With the Wind, published only that one book in her lifetime. (A few bits of ephemera were published posthumously.) This is what the collected works of Longfellow looks like...

...And a lot of that is poetry, mind...whereas Dr. Seuss's longest book uses only 236 discrete words, 221 of which have one syllable. Thanks to repetition, that book, The Cat in the Hat, is 1,629 words long. Today's post, above, is 1,231 words long (although it's not as clever and nothing rhymes).

Me, I'm slow; but, at my best, and within my narrow range, I can be good.

And it took me 27 minutes to craft this response to your comment. There are only 18 blocks of time that long in an eight-hour working day.

Not including lunch. Or a nap.  :-)

emptyspaces: "I lost my faith in the third quarter (right about when superfan Mark Wahlberg was videotaped leaving the game because...uh...his kid was sick. Yeah, that's it). I was sitting with my two daughters thinking, 'You know, we have it pretty good, so we're getting stomped in the Super Bowl. May as well just accept it and have fun with them.' And then, OMG....

"I have been a fan since I was a kid when they sucked. I have been to their crummy old stadium. My cousin works for the team. Yet I still feel the need to explain myself when asked who my team is. Watching Tommy Brady mount that comeback at an age when Marino, Kelly, and Montana were all retired, and in a year he was railroaded by our dim bulb of a commissioner, was especially sweet."

Michael: "Too damned busy writing to do some writing? Amen, brother. Today I have handcrafted several ticklish emails, a ticklish request, and a carefully judicious report which will probably be of no use to anyone. Oh yes, and this comment. Any writing done? No. All my sympathy, Mike. Now to do some writing...."

Yvonne Cunnington: "This Canadian appreciates you clearing up the America confusion. You are absolutely correct: Saying 'Canada is another country in America' is an error akin in degree to an American saying Ireland is a country over in England. And you know how well that would go over."

Dave Kee: "Wow, I made the front page. Makes me want to share this shot of the 'death' machine. Nikon D90 with Sigma 10–20mm. Could not force myself to hang a front plate on it, so I am illegal here in Illinois."

Comments

[John Allen]

Mike, you said that you will send the PDF of the new edition of your book to your Patreon supporters, but what about people like me who have been supporting you through Paypal? I've been making a regular monthly payment for quite a number of years. I didn't switch to Patreon because it didn't seem necessary.

[Oh, definitely. And anyone else who has mailed contributions of donations. --Mike]

[Nigel]

Don't forget, though, that the worst drivers are 16–21 year olds, and the second-worst drivers are people in the last five years of their lives.

Given that some of those 16-21 year olds will die in car accidents, there is some overlap between the two categories.

[JOHN GILLOOLY]

The moment I remember most during the game is third quarter, Johnny on my lap, the McCullough Tiki Lounge Basement. After the half, you could realistically see them coming out, scoring first, and quickly getting back in the game. But that didn't happen - the third continued the same as the first two.They were down by 25 but just finally scored a touchdown, then missed the extra point.
I'm sitting with Greg McCullough and our kids and we are trying to keep the hope alive for the kids, and ourselves. We are stretching hard to verbalize the fantastical events that would need to take place for them to win this game. OK guys, they're down by 19. They need to score two touchdowns, converting the two-pointer after each. Before or after those, they also need to get one field goal. Tom Brady is the best quarterback ever - there is a chance that could happen!
Then another piece of the equation sneaks back into our suspension of reality. While they do all of this, Atlanta can not score a single point. We are pondering this scenario after watching the Falcons completely dismantle the Patriots from the first minute. They have been marching up and down the field, gaining yards on the ground and in the air at will. It may not be impossible, but it's as close to impossible that anything in sports ever could be.
And then...........all of that and more..........just happened!

[I'm definitely jealous of Patriots fans. Except for the fact that nothing can ever top it, it must have been magic to watch. --Mike]

[Nigel]

In fact the worst (or unluckiest - which as far as the statistics are concerned is likely to be the same thing) drivers in every age group have a chance of appearing in the "people in the last five years of their lives " category...

[Kusandha]

Will it be an option for folks who aren't Patreon supporters to buy a copy of the revised book?

[Ahh...no, I don't think I could get that far. Lulu has changed so much I'd have to relearn it all, and I just don't have time to figure out how to offer a book on Amazon when it will only sell a few copies. I will have to figure that out when I get the new collection finished, though, so maybe I will add the older book at that time. If I can. I'm not good at those things...just typesetting the book is a chore I'm barely competent to do. I have zero training as a graphic designer and it's harder than it looks. --Mike]

[Peter]

And you, Mike, need to stop mixing up 'Britain' and 'UK'. Two different things.

[david stock]

Re: Re: America.

Also not wishing to scold, but I strongly disagree. Using the term "American" to designate only people from the US is rightly considered culturally arrogant and even a bit chauvinist by many other Americans, including Canadians and Latin Americans. Who decided that we in the US get to monopolize the name of two whole continents of nations?

In Mexico, for instance, the terms "Norteamericanos" and "Estadounidenses"--people from the States--are commonly used to describe those Americans who are not from South or Central America. When you visit Mexico, people definitely pay attention to who is being polite and respectful in their usage of "American."

[That's the meme, all right.

"Culturally arrogant and a bit chauvinist"? Not a bit of it. It's simply common usage in English and arose because it would be very awkward to say "United Statesian" or "United Statesman."

You might be right about Spanish and Portuguese; I don't know. --Mike]

[Don]

The Americas, also collectively called America,[4][5][6] encompass the totality of the continents of North America and South America.[7][8][9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americas

[As a reader for 55 years, a writer for 45, and an editor for 23, I can guarantee you no competent writer of English would ever use "America" for "The Americas" without inviting confusion. --Mike]

[Dave B]

Just a hint. It's Tom (as in Terrific), NOT Tim.

[Arg]

"They sell books and vinyl records (but not film)."

They should start selling prints. (Oops. Does that make Mike an alt.Center for Anachronistic Media?)

P.S. the Patriots had their *biggest ever* Superbowl win yesterday, so, logically, their easiest. I mean, how hard can it be to beat an opponent who has bullet holes in both feet?

[David L.]

Baltimore has Normals that sells used books and LP's. A wonderful place to spend a half day or more and a wad of cash. And True Vine sells LP's. In Manhattan NYC, Downtown Music Gallery is a big seller of LP's.

[SF Murph]

But what about folks who want to buy a PDF of the revised book? No Amazon and no LuLu then, I'd think.

[Andreas Plath]

Funny you should mention board games since they've been enjoying quite a renaissance these past few years. Like many other forms of "analogs" they are cool again.

[Randall Teasley]

Mike,

Before Patriots fans descend upon TOP HDQ like a malevolent horde you need to change the typo in paragraph four from Tim to Tom.

[robert e]

re analog, film, and writing:

I recently came across a piece I'd missed when it came out years ago: Sarah Coleman's essay on Magnum Photo's master darkroom printer Pablo Inirio, featuring his notated working prints of iconic Magnum images. Made me itch to shoot film and print again, and reminds me how far I was from mastery even when I was printing regularly (or, how clumsy and lazy a printer I was!).

https://theliteratelens.com/2012/02/17/magnum-and-the-dying-art-of-darkroom-printing/

Found via PetaPixel's follow-up the next year, which shows the finished prints alongside the notated ones.

https://petapixel.com/2013/09/12/marked-photographs-show-iconic-prints-edited-darkroom/

I assume everyone knows about PetaPixel, but Coleman's blog, The Literate Lens, is new to me, and a happy find. I appreciate the quality and eclecticism that prevails on TOP, so it was exciting and heartening to find another blog regularly publishing thoughtful, knowledgeable, well-crafted pieces about photography and photographers. Nowhere near as active as TOP, but apparently active.

[Lawrence Plummer]

Thanks Comcast! Because of scheduling issues, I DVRd the game and we started watching an hour behind real time. Thanks to Comcast they ended the recording at the time that they thought it should end, 2:28 to go in the game. At the exact end of the miracle catch by the Patriots. The TV then immediately switched to the post-game show and all was revealed to us!

[Rob Spring]

Mike,

The one thing I have learned as a long time Patriot fan (born in MA and now live in VT) is you always watch to the end. It was great theater, with an ending that had it been a movie or book, would have been panned for being over the top with the pretty boy hero not only winning but getting his revenge on the evil dictator.

[jim]

So our daughter is a teenager now and no longer requires animal shaped waffles. We are planning to buy a new waffle maker and wonder which will taste better--square or round?

[Round of course. It's difficult to get the batter to go into the square corners of a square wafflemaker, and they cook less evenly as a result. --Mike]

[Anthony Shaughnessy]

The sketch show "Little Britain" did a good skit on Barbara Cartland's approach to writing books. Don't know if it's easily viewable again.
Anthony

[Tom Hassler]

Old Spanish proverb: "How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then rest afterward."

[Bob Johnston]

Re:Re: america.

I loved that link that explained the mess that is GB/UK/England/.... It's a real mess isn't it? That's what comes of having a messy but fascinating history. As a result of Brexit and a possible second Scottish independence referendum it could get even worse.

P.S. Interesting that the Miata (MX5 over here) is seen as a middle aged bearded man's car in the USA. Over here they have a somewhat undeserved reputation as being a lady's car.

[John Krumm]

I don't like us hogging the term American in the Americas. We are obnoxious enough already. Not that I have a ready solution. I remember having a discission about what it means to be American in my American literature class. Many of my students were immigrants. It became clear that to many of them an American was a white person. And if you think about it, everyone else gets a hyphen.

[Jay Pastelak]

re. Analog and Film:
When I sold my darkroom (gladly, I might add) I kept the film developing tools--tanks and reels and thermometers--because I still had a room with no light and a kitchen sink.

My Rollie, Leica and Nikon sit on a shelf in my office gathering dust. The film tools languish in the remains of the darkroom (now a storage space for our daughter's things as she has moved back home some years ago). Will I ever shoot film again? Not too likely. There's something about the immediacy of the digital image that draws me (I stopped painting in favor of photography because it was faster) and I never liked working in the darkroom. I'm so much more productive (when I work) than I was using silver materials. And it's pretty cost effective: I can soft proof and adjust on a calibrated display without spending sheet after sheet of paper.

Yes, I like the look of scanned film but really: I was turning out some black and white work on a printer at school--pigmented ink jet prints on baryta coated paper--when a colleague came by and complimented my "silver" prints until i reminded him where we were.

It's just another way of working and, really, what ends up on the paper is most important.

[Jim Witkowski]

Sorry to disagree with your definition of American. America was the name give for the new world which was subsequently sub divided into two continents; north and south.
You are a citizen of the United States of America (check your passport) which is located on the North American Continent. Mexican and Canadian citizens also live on the North American Continent which also makes them Americans; much like Italians and Germans are European or people of Zimbabwe and Egyptians being African.

[No, living on the North American continent makes them North Americans.

The whole idea is an invented issue. It's contriving offense from nothing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaPBhxXhprg

--Mike]

[Geoffrey Heard]

Re writer's energy:

Q: What are you doing today?

A: Nuthin'.

Q: But didn't you do 'nuthin'' yesterday?

A: Yes, but I didn't get it finished.

Know the feeling all too well. What am I doing today? Messing around making stupid comments on TOP! What should I be doing? Finishing the rewrite of a client's website.

In respect of the worst drivers being those in the last 5 years of their lives. As you say, difficult to put a starting point on that, easier to mark the end.

BUT how much of that statement is self-fulfilling? Like "I searched everywhere for that boondoggle, I finally found it in the last place you'd look." Well, of course it was in the last place, because when you found it you stopped looking.

Likewise, how many old drivers die in car crashes? In fact, every driver regardless of age killed in a car crash (with a few exceptions where they were crashed into by others on the wrong side of the road or whatever) could be said to be the worst driver in the the last five years of their lives. Definitely in the last five minutes.

I speak as a 75-year-old-petrol-head-as-a-lad-and-even-motorcyclist-imiddle-age who has noticed the tunnel vision and tunnel thinking getting intrusive (the old eyes and old brain don't dart about like they used to) so has stopped driving for the protection of others (and out of sheer boredom with spending hours behind the wheel on choked roads).

Cheers, Geoff

[John Camp]

I agree that the Super Bowl was interesting, but should the critical moment in any championship game depend on the winning of a coin flip?

[James]

"And it took me 27 minutes to craft this response to your comment."
That's one of the main reasons we read your blog - because you care about what you write. Another reason is that you make fewer spelling and grammatical errors than other photobloggers. (Is that a word?)
But I did have to smile at the "Tim Brady" part.
As for K.T's blog, well his pictures are good.

[David Burren]

Mike, don't try to say that Canada isn't a country in the Americas. It seems undeniable. Your distinction then is tough to enforce seeing as America is a synonym for the Americas.
You're referring to the country known as the USA. The use of "America" as slang for that is indeed confusing.

[Roger Bradbury]

Do you mean we have to stop referring to the USA and Canada as "the colonies" now?

(Sigh) I hate the modern world. Everything changes so fast. : )

[Eric Rose]

I agree, naps are VERY important.

[jbeal]

I enjoy a bad (good) pun more than most. Unfortunately, dyslexia upon first reading "Angus Dei" causes delayed enjoyment.

[JimHayes]

Mike, Amazon has a publish-on-demand company called Createspace that makes it easy to self-publish. We have 6 books for the tech society we work with through them now, another coming momentarily. Look it up or contact me for details.

[Dennis Ng]

For the book, just analysis why you do not like it now would be a very good read.

BTW, you are wrong about America. There is indeed Canada of America as America meant the totality of North and South America - well said by the little god of Wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americas

[Dennis Ng]

Just ordered the old one, btw.

[Steve Jacob]

Writing is exhausting.

I envy those who can turn a beautiful phrase to order, but I have to tease each one out of its armoured shell with painstaking care so as not to kill it in the process.

I can only write one thing at a time. Otherwise I have to hold so many things in short-term memory that my brain goes into thermal shock.

I almost never like what I write the first time around. Editing is possibly the most painful and confidence sapping process conceived by humankind, but also entirely necessary.

I have been known to redraft summaries and introductions more than 50 times. I hate trying to explain a 500 page book in 5 pages or less, particularly when I realise I can't.

Yep, writing is a time killer.

[Kevin]

Okay, how many citizens of Canada or Mexico, when asked their nationality, refer to themselves as Americans?

[Brian Taylor]

Shhh! I'm trying to have one (a nap) :).

[Andrew]

Your comment about British folks using "America" for "North America" reminded me of an encounter in Brighton several years ago.

I went into a used clothing shop, said hello, and, as usual, the fellow behind the counter asked if I was American. These were the days of the Iraq war and Freedom Fries so I was quick to say "no, Canadian". To which he replied "well, then you are American as Canada is part of North America". I got the immediate impression that he had adopted pseudo-pedantry rather than admit his understandable but mistaken assumption that I was from the US.

I gamely tried on a jacket. The salesman said it suited me (it didn't). As he and I spoke a bit longer, I realized I was dealing with a complete weirdo so I left.

When I reported my encounter to a British friend, he told the proprietor (and sole salesman) of the shop was the inspiration for the Suit You Tailors on the BBC's The Fast Show. This sketch seems relevant (a bit NSFW):

https://youtu.be/LT-b1qXznKI

[Herb Cunningham]

as an 80 yr old Cowboys fan, I was a Patriot hater. Lately, I am coming around to accepting the fact that they are really really good, and it is not an accident- the coach and his staff, but equally important, the owner are all responsible.
Now if only someone would buy Jerry Jones out--

ps. I particularly like the fact that they don't have any thugs playing for them.

[Lesley Thomas]

Re:Re: America:
We are Canadian. A friend in Oregon has started to refer to herself and to her fellow inhabitants of the U.S.A as U.S.ers.

[Daniel]

As one who does not own a Television I thought I would try the computer hookup for the SuperBowl game.
Would play and then stop, play and stop. Near the end of the first half I turned on the radio and found out the HalfTime show was over and the second half starting.
Re-booted the computer and started on the second half as the online broadcast had none of the halftime stuff and went right into the second half. Watched as it did the play a bit and stop for 15 seconds to a couple minutes. Finally near the end of the third quarter I did another re-boot - only to get the last minute of the 4th quarter and the Patriots scoring a TD to force the game into overtime. Then watched as the Patriots marched downfield and won. But, NO Forth Quarter at all! Missed all of it but that last minute.
This computer broadcasting has a long way to go.

[Bob Rosinsky]

I think our friends across the ponds and up and down the Western Hemisphere are on point. "America" is not the USA. So, hows about renaming the USA, the "Divisive State of N. America," DSNA for short.

[david stock]

Mike, with all due respect, I believe you should pause and rethink your approach to the use of "American" to identify US citizens. The fact that this is common usage in the US doesn't make it right. Lots of word usage has evolved (and should evolve) when its inherent biases are challenged.

I assure you that for decades, many people outside the US have found the monopolization of the term "American" to be symptomatic of US arrogance in the hemisphere. Many of us inside the US, too. It's not an invented issue, and it didn't arise yesterday.

p.s. "The US" is just as easy to say or write as "America." And "US resident (or citizen, or national)" is only one syllable longer than "American." No more onerous than "Argentinian" or "Venezuelan."

[Richard Parkin]

Regarding "American". You call us "British" but most us over here are English and call ourselves such. It stings a bit every time Americans do that because we know you reserve "English" for the language you speak. As I'm sure you know, in this context American and British were just adjectives describing a people about to engage in the third, or was it fourth, English Civil War.
But does it really matter as long as we know who we are. What about Rome, Leghorn, Flushing, Florence, Vienna and so on - all cities that have their own names in English which is different from their native name, sometimes wildly so.

[David Lee]

I don't watch American Football.

[Others do. --Mike]

[Rube]

Re: America.
Don't forget that Mexico is officially 'Estados Unidos Mexicanos.' Nor that Latin Americas routinely refer to 'Nuestra America' meaning all of the Americas, north, central and south.

[John Arlington]

Re America: You are right about who is an American, namely those from the United States. I won't belabor the point. But I will take issue with the now-common idea that Mexicans (or people from any other country who move to the U.S.) become "Mexican-Americans" (or Italian-Americans, or Iranian-Americans, etc.). My father used to say, "there is no such thing as a hyphenated American. We are all Americans." It wasn't until I was much older that I came to realize how important that idea is. Unfortunately it seems like that hyphen is becoming another way to divide us.