All this week, we’ve been talking with influential Americans about what patriotism and America means to them. We’re calling the series "My America." We’re wrapping up the series today, with actor, writer, and director John Turturro. Famous for his roles in movies like “Do the Right Thing,” “Barton Fink,” “The Big Labowski,” and the “Transformers” trilogy, Turturro's newest film is called "Passione."

All week, we’ve been speaking with influential Americans about what patriotism and America means to them as part of our series "My America." Today’s guest is Dr. Abraham Verghese, professor of the theory and practice of medicine at Stanford University Medical School, and best-selling author of "My Own Country: A Doctor's Story" and "Cutting for Stone."

Through our series, "My America," we've been asking a lot of people whether they consider themselves patriots. I'd like to answer that question for myself. I love my country and I love my countrymen. If the measure of patriotism is a willingness to defend your country (not your government), then I am a patriot. 

We've been talking with influential Americans all week about what patriotism and America means to them in a new series "My America." Today’s guest is the Pulitzer Prize-nominated novelist Chang-Rae Lee.

All this week, in honor of Independence Day, we're airing a series of reports titled My America. We'll be speaking to leading figures in politics, culture, media and the arts, and we're asking what being American means to them. We've also had quite a few listeners — as well as our producers and hosts — weigh in! 

All this week, in honor of Independence Day, we're airing a series of reports titled My America. We'll be speaking to leading figures in politics, culture, media and the arts—and we're asking what being American means to them. We've also had quite a few listeners—as well as our producers and hosts—weigh in!

In honor of July 4th we’re talking with influential Americans all week about what patriotism and America means to them. We’re calling the series “My America.” Today’s guests have views on America that are informed as much by their work as journalists as by their personal lives.

We've been asking listeners to tell us: What does the phrase 'My America' means to you? Mary Joe Mercer from the Osage Nation Reservation in Oklahoma, told us about the Native Americans that have called this country home for thousands of years. On the Fourth of July, Mercer joins us to give us another perspective on what 'America' means.

My heritage, folks, relatives, DNA connection to America, call it what you will, has been kicking around this continent since the 1600s. My mom’s side of the family is descended from one of the original Dutch settlers in New York. The Stryker family founded a Dutch Reformed Church on Long Island and for years there was a “Stryker Mansion” on the woody, wilderness edge of Manhattan’s West Side.

Immediately after graduating from college, I packed everything I owned into a Ryder truck and drove with one of my best friends from Minnesota to New York. After finding an apartment, I took a job with a non-profit, teaching non-credit classes over the phone to homebound adults. My area of specialty was film and television studies. And over the typical four-week term, my students and I would do everything from debate the merits of Norman Lehrer to discuss who, among us, was widowed, blind, or lonely.

After my first course wrapped up in late December, a student named Anne called me at my office.

In honor of July 4th next week we’ll be kicking off a new series called “My America.”  All week long, we’ll be talking with influential Americans about what patriotism and America means to them.