Via Tania

One of my earliest introductions to Australia was delivered via National Geographic magazine, wherein one issue was a photograph of a man affixing a prosthetic nose to his face; skin cancer attributed to Australia’s intense sunlight cost this man his beak. This made an impression on me. I thought, “Damn, that place is hot.”
Australian native Tania Bowers doesn’t have such peculiar early-adolescent memories of the United States, but unlike her country, whose greatest exports prior to the ubiquitous Outback Steakhouse restaurants were Crocodile Dundee, INXS and Yahoo Serious, the United States in attempts to strengthen Americo-Australianian relations, transmitted a steady stream of culture to our southerly neighbors.
“ In Australia, you grow up with an equal proportion of American and English culture through mostly TV and radio,” Bowers said. “I would say an equal third, including Australian TV shows and music on the radio, etc. So, American shows constantly on the telly, I would hear things like “Glee Club” and wouldn’t find out what that was for years, but that was when I was very young... Adolescent memories would probably be more in terms of music I started listening to like Sonic Youth and the Ramones, whatever made it this far through to a teenager’s bedroom... But I remember people always saying, ‘Only in America would that happen,’ a lot, like every time something crazy or ridiculous came on the news or something."