Friedrich --

As a fan of stereotypes, I often find life hard these days, what with all the stereotype-bashing that goes on. Wouldn't life be a pleasingly looser thing if we could only take occasional note (within decent limits) of what caricatures-of-ourselves we all are?

Still, I sometimes stumble across ethnic news (so to speak) that's heartening. Mexican-Americans, for instance, loved that TV ad with the talking chihuahua. A majority of Native Americans don't mind the way sports teams are sometimes named "Indians" or "Chiefs." An Italian-American friend of mine loves "The Sopranos" and says he'll "whack" anyone who disses the show.

More such news this morning, via Tom King in the Wall Street Journal, who reports that, while a small number of Greek-Americans were offended by the way Greek-Americans were portrayed in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," the movie has not only been a big hit with Greek-Americans generally, it's now #2 at the box-office in Greece itself.

Cheerily,

Michael