Good news, mostly: Am back on campus!
Good news, definitely: I think the grad school interview went well, knock wood -- at any rate, the program feels like the right one for me, and I can only hope that the faculty agrees.
Less good news: The internet is not working in my apartment. wryyyyy.
Amusing news: really there were many amusing things
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As for the rest of the BDSM spectrum -- my America does not like to be tied up and doesn't view discipline as terribly sexual or as something to be sought after, and while he's capable of a lot of behavior that could be construed as D/s, there's a difference between doing that unconsciously and doing it with intention, and my America has issues with the deliberateness more than anything else. America has a very specific image of himself as The Hero, and engaging in D/s calls that identity into question, and that makes him really uncomfortable. So while America's more than capable of dominant behavior, as history and Hetalia can both attest, he's not a Dom because it's not conscious and he's deeply uncomfortable with the idea of exerting that kind of conscious power over someone else. (America's style of control is a lot more insidious, and a lot of times he doesn't even realize he's engaging in it.) He doesn't want to think of himself as the kind of person who wants that kind of power, regardless of whether or not he is that kind of person. His issues with submission are similar, because there's a lot of cultural baggage associated with the idea of submission and America's uncomfortable with being perceived of as weak, to say the least. Not that submission is a sign of weakness! But it's construed that way a lot, and while I definitely think America has a submissive streak, I think you'd have to construct the idea of submission as a "proving how much you can take and how strong you are" kind of thing if you wanted him to intentionally go for it. (I mean, I think the BIGGEST draw for submission for him would actually be the "being cared for and cherished and loved" bit, but I don't think you could get him to admit as much.)
I think he might be able to work around all this eventually, but it's going to take time and effort, emphasis on time. I have also read very good takes on America where he doesn't fail at BDSM, and I've completely believed those, but the version of America in my head works the way I've described.
I would hope there's not a Why Americans Aren't Kinky strip! Many Americans are, regardless of their country's Issues With Sex. O Alfred.
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