The signs we saw downtown-with names like Ciccone, Lim, Murphy, Rasweiler, Singh, Morgan, Barbosa, Sofi, Vasquez, Pascual, Gambale, Draginsky, Bennett, Gjonbalaj, Vale, Alger, Holmes, and so many more-were triumphs of Plainmanism. The firemen rushing up the stairs were plain men very like the office workers rushing down. Together they

give us some sense of the depth of being out there, in people we pass by

on the street or rub up against in the subway every day. The diversity and

contrasts of the names highlight Americas most attractive quality, its

"transnational," global inclusiveness, its openness to what Sly Stone called

"everyday people" from everywhere. Some papers and television programs

carried it on, broadcasting short lives.