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For almost 60 years, the British journalist and New York resident, Alistair Cooke, recorded a weekly, 15-minute radio commentary entitled\xa0Letter from America.\xa0As a teenager, I would listen to it, late at night, on the BBC World Service. Cooke had a beautiful speaking voice and a remarkable way with words, as he painted landscapes of American culture and portraits of America\u2019s personalities.\xa0Letter from America\xa0made me feel well-acquainted with this country long before I arrived here. Cooke, of course, had strong opinions based on his own observations. However, he also had a quality of balance \u2013 he was not one to be swept up in the latest national obsession but, rather, spoke of his world in a measured way.