Asheville's Alex Dobrenko shares Five Things He's Learned about America.
View the next in our new series of messages, ideas, and inspiration – shared directly from Americans we admire.
Five Things I’ve Learned began with the aim of learning directly from people we long admired. Find out what they think most important to share, we believed, and we’d learn and be inspired by their example.
This summer, we’re doing something more: soliciting and sharing written pieces, short videos, and other bursts of ideas and inspiration from people whose ideas and experiences give shape to the issues that continue to shape America and November’s upcoming national election.
Today, from Asheville, North Carolina, writer, comedian and actor Alex Dobrenko shares Five Things He’s Learned About America.
In addition to his other accomplishments, Alex might be best known for his wonderful (and poplular!) comedic Substack newsletter Both Are True, where he writes absurd, honest, and deeply vulnerable personal essays.
If you don’t subscribe just yet, do check it out: You’ll be glad you did!
Five Things I’ve Learned about America
“I am a writer, actor, comedian, guy. I moved to America when I was 7, from Ukraine. I was born in the USSR, and then it switched to Ukraine. We left in 1994 and came to America as refugees, as Jewish refugees.”
Sleepovers are completely normal.
“My parents did not understand them, and they could not comprehend why I would want to go sleep on someone else’s floor when we had a bed at our apartment. They actually thought that me doing that indicated that we didn’t have a bed for me at home.”
We take a lot for granted.
“By moving here, my parents gave me the gift of not being able to understand them, and I think that is a gift that all Americans have, mostly. We have the gift of not knowing what it’s like in other places.”
America is not perfect.
“There is a lot of darkness, there is a lot of issues, for sure. But, I don’t think it’s as bad as in Russia, as in other places, many other places… Even if this is all a lie, I think it’s a better lie to believe in than any other.”
We are more similar than we think.
“I also think that we focus a lot on how different we are here, where actually we’re all very much the same, more or less.”
America is a land of opportunity.
“There is so much opportunity here to disappoint your parents. My parents wanted me to be a lawyer or doctor, they would have settled for a professor. But I decided to go be an entertainer in LA, a writer, and I got paid to write the weirdest stuff. That’s not possible in other countries the way it is here.”
- Alex Dobrenko
ABOUT ALEX
Alex Dobrenko was born in Odesa, Ukraine and moved to America when he was 7 years old. He’s a writer, comedian and actor but mostly he’s just a lil guy.
These days, Alex is best known for his popular comedic newsletter Both Are True, where he writes absurd, honest, and deeply vulnerable personal essays. He also works as the Head of Creative at Sublime, a startup working towards building a calmer, more human internet.
You can catch Alex in the films KIMI from Steven Soderbergh and BABYLON from Damien Chazelle. He’s also made a few sort of viral comedy videos if you’re into that sort of thing.
MORE ABOUT FIVE THINGS I’VE LEARNED ABOUT AMERICA
Five Things I’ve Learned about America presents live, personal conversations with leading thinkers, organizers, and advocates for our democracy. In tandem, we’re soliciting and sharing written pieces, short videos, and other bursts of ideas and inspiration from people whose ideas and experiences are equally inspiring and instructive.
If you’ve just recently discovered us, please check out recent reflections about America from people we admire including including Tony Alcaraz, Yvette Benavides, Matthew Chamberlin, David Martin Davies, Sarah Fay, Lilly Gonzalez, Francisco Guajardo, Hal Harper, Tina Hedin, Marya Hornbacher, Megan Matson, Jeannine Ouellette, Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, Greg Sandow, Brooke Warner, Oliver Wasow, and Jamie Whalen.
And check out our free conversation series presented in partnership with Resolute Square, featuring 90-minute sessions with Americans we admire including Alan Light, Jennifer Mercieca, Beto O'Rourke, Trygve Olson, and Stuart Stevens.