esrosedotblog

It would not be Columbus' Day without the annual contribution by Salvador Dali.

The Discovery of America.

I put this up every year. A tradition.

Back East, Columbus Day is a much bigger deal than here. The Italians see to it. A little like St.Patrick's Day only a different group.

I am "german". We do not have a day.

Not that we deserve one after all the hell we have caused in the last century.

Labels: America

There are no classes in America except when there are.

The upper middle class segment of society is not the part of the middle class that is disappearing. They are alive and well.

College educated, probably professional, slightly suburban or mid western, the women are what used to be called "matrons". Slightly plump guardians of the status quo. In charge of raising the brood of a professional man or a man who is newly rich from some entrepreneurial effort.

This is why the two books that I just re-read are still so apt and have become pillars of American Twentieth Century Literature (whenever those words are capitalized like this. This, despite the relative obscurity of their author.

Mrs. Bridge (1959) and the companion novel Mr. Bridge (1969) by Evan S Connell

These people are insulated from the world, society and each other. Also their children and even their friends who are close but not too close.

I like these novels for just what they are, a good read. But also because they are a good study of couple-hood and the traps that might ensue after the initial excitement of conventional marriage.

I might add that gay men are not immune from some of the same observations.

These are two people who married for reasons a bit beyond the romantic. Convenience, class (even though there is none in America) and most of all the ability not to roil the waters. To let one partner run things and the other stand by as the help meet.

It is also a portrait of a family which is well to do because of the intensity of the breadwinner's devotion to work over any consideration of partnership or parental involvement.

It is easy at one level to mock the Bridges but Connell makes that impossible.

They are presented sympathetically and in a way that engages the reader even beyond his desire to get involved with these people. They are not mockable because they have substance and foibles and their relationship while stiff and distant most of the time is blessed with mutual respect and admiration.

Their relationship to their kids in changing times (pre WWII) is strained with the difficulty of societal change. Instability.

The eternal values the Bridges were brought up with have shifted and old expectations and mores are not very effective.

I am their kids. My time was just in time to be there for all of this post WWII stuff.

And there we have a nub of it.

Even though they are of a different class they are my mother, at least, and my father.

This alone makes the reading worthwhile. A new basis for understanding.

I was the misunderstood son. The unappreciative daughter. The rebel against what is right and wrong.

What great books!

A film was made combining the two novels in one production starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. A perfect vehicle. I do remember seeing it. But I would not bother now. The novels have it down. I do not see the Newmans when I see this Bridge couple. I see them as Connell has painted them.

Connell is an interesting guy. A late bloomer who only wrote one other popular work, something about Custer and Custer's Last Stand. Pretty far away from the Bridges.

Connell got lost as a literary hero or icon but his works remain as standards for writing about the American family or the American marriage.

Labels: America, books

Don't ever underestimate the younger generation.

They are, as always, in every decade of my life, a great bunch, these kids, with a wonderful point of view to offer the critical old farts about life in America.

Looking at Our Hometowns

In this project by the NYTimes, kids all over America take and submit photos of their hometowns and their life there.

It is wonderful.

I got so involved that I forgot it was time to go to the store and was waylaid over half an hour.

I resist this kind of intense accidental involvement especially on the internet, the great time wasters, but this caught me completely off guard.

Very touching and enjoyable.

Labels: America, photography

I posted an article by an Indian student about how America looked to him, now, another view.

Australian Living in the USA

I loved the Indian view because, for once, it was not some bizarre mishmash of political haranguing and the usual march of American stereotypes across the page.

It was a thoughtful compendium of someone's genuine impression which gibed with my own.

Now, a similar article from the view of an Australian.

As someone who has a dear departed family member now living there I am hilariously reminded that a lot of my worries about Australia are echoed by the warped view some "furriners" have of the US.

That is not what this article is about but in the process he manages to untie some incorrect beliefs I might have had about his country and the country in which my loved one is now residing. Starting with the dangerous wild animals one. I have been to Australia. I have to admit that I saw no wild animals except the gentle almost somnolent koala, a few kangaroos who seemed strange to see but not in any way dangerous.

I found the Australian lingo charming and not nearly as impenetrable as one would imagine. Once explained it all made some sense.

I found the people to be friendly and exuberant. Full of life.

As an American I was treated so well and so kindly even when I was a sort of ignorant tourist looking for all the wrong things.

I am glad this guy is doing the same.

Labels: America, Australia, international

I normally do not give a shit what "foreigners" think of the United States.

But this is really good.

The Weirdest Things About America

It is written by a young Indian male who spent the time to acculturate and not do a flyover.

It is also about every day life and not some bullshit national statistic or political nonsense.

I won't rant about "foreigner's" perception. It does piss me off but I am used to it at a personal and general level. I trained overseas for many years and every once in awhile I would hit an Americaphobe and I would just take a pass.

This kid is fun to read, well spoken and on the nose.

I knew some of these things but I found it all interesting and easy to swallow.

I do not, after all, have a knee jerk defensive response to comments which seem adverse. This is all kind of acceptable.

There is also an article linked in to this one which has a similar list about India.

My ignorance is rather complete.

I have to admit to a long term adverse bias about India and Indians, particularly the well educated male variety. This guy is cut from a different cloth. Broke the moldoo for me.

Labels: America

Unknown facts about Independence Day.

As you may know, we live right under, almost, the Palm Springs fireworks.

Not good.

For Booker it is a feakout and so he will climb into the Volvo and take a ride about 9PM.

We will go west, away from the sound, against the heavy traffic heading for our neighborhood.

Then we will take a right and travel north. Far enough to get on a good rise on Indian Canyon, out where the windmills are.

We will park looking south and see the show from a safe, silent distance.

Then, after about 15 minutes, we will drive back home against the traffic leaving our neighborhood.

We will be safe in bed by about 945 PM which is too late for me.

I will not go to the gym in the morning but I am prepared for this.

I started working ahead on my routines on Monday and now, according to my exercise book, I am done for the week.

Minus one morning half hour of bike.

OH.

When we get back home, we will pray that some asshole who has bought illegal fireworks doesn't set them off within Airedale hearing range. But we won't count on it.

That is why we have the "thunder shirt".

Did I mention that there is no trash pickup today? No mail?

No. I will keep still. Have fun on your day off.

Labels: America, holiday

WE THE PEEPS

There is a petition on the White House' "We The People" to have R. Kelly's Ignition Remix as the national anthem.

I had to go watch and listen. Mostly it is listen.

I like the white guy geek coming in to help finish it off.

Labels: America

CLIFFHANGER

Grand Deals Give Way to Legislative Quick Fixes

I haven't written about the "fiscal cliff" because there wasn't any. Or if there was one we wouldn't go over it.

Actually, I did write that there was no real threat.

I know that the wonks on the left think this process is horrible. They want what they want. They blame their own president for giving things away.

They ignore the fact that this is a democracy. Yeh. I know, a republic. This is how things work. We voted the two parties in there. It is the result. Trial and error.

The NYTimes laments the absence of a "big bargain".

Fuck.

We don't need that. We have fixes and working along the close line that can be found between parties and beliefs.

It isn't supposed to be clean and easy.

Clean and easy is Putin saying that there will be no more American adoptions. Bang. The russkies are back to one man rule.

The Brits parliamentary system? Even messier.

I am an American. I breathe the same air as you and them. We make mistakes.

Yes. I know. People get hurt when these things are thrashed out. The safety net suffers. Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes things get better before they get worse. For a long time.

At a certain age I can see the arc of it.

Right now, things are tough. But they will work out. They always do.

Weep and moan if you wish.

I am glad to be here and proud of my country and too bad for you if you think it is a mess and unworkable.

Get busy. Write a letter. Pound some pavement. Get active. That is how it works. We do it. There is no them. Just us.

Labels: America, democracy, politics

WHAT A TRIP

We have been at or right near almost all of these places.

Full screen, please.

Labels: America, United Sates of America

FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA

Have a happy one.

Labels: America, United Sates of America

GREATNESS?

The Newsroom kinda got panned. But I did see this Jeff Daniel speech.

Pretty good I would say.

Labels: America, United Sates of America

BRITISH FRYED

There is a wonderful series of YouTube videos made by the British actor and wit Stephen Fry.

In these videos, Fry travels the United States with warm and generous humor and comment.

If you watch this you will land in the YouTube empire of Stephen Fry.

There are trips to North Dakota, Chicago, a wonderful ballon trip in North Carolina. Watch out. You might not be able to stop watching. I had to pull out with a loud pop.

Labels: America, fun

WALMART

I have only been in Walmart once.

I was in some suburban place. Illinois. And I needed cigarettes.

I drove out and the first place I came to was a WalMart.

I went in and was accosted by a greeter.

it so freaked me out that I left without the cigarettes and never, ever returned to the place.

This from The Daily What where I found this.

Alex Day (of Alex Reads Twilight fame) and his buddy/bandmate Liam Dryden hop across the pond to Los Angeles, California, where they decide to visit a Walmart.

Culture shockilarity ensues.

I feel that I have now seen the interior of a WalMart.

And at least half of Alex reading Twilight.

Labels: America, culture, fun

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE!

Independence Day. A big deal. Although I have to admit we aren't doing a whole lot about it.

When I was a kid there were picnics. We couldn't buy fireworks so we bought caps--gun powder in paper strips--and hit the large rolls with a hammer. It was a pretty big bang.

Then off to Skytop Lodge where the rich had a private resort and golf club. We could park along the road next to the links and see the show that they put on every year. Small by today's standards but big for us. We had nothing to compare it to.

No picnics this year. No caps. No fireworks.

We managed to move very close to ground zero for Palm Springs fireworks show and last year, without thinking, nearly drove Booker nuts with the "show" that went on. He and I spent the time in the inner bathroom, door closed, in and out of the bathtub.

This year we will bundle ourselves into the Volvo about 845, crank up the classical music and drive away from the fireworks into the desert mountains so we miss the whole thing. Hopefully.

I am sure there will be some stray bangs. He is OK with those if he doesn't have to be outside. Maybe we will be up some in the night to pet and comfort.

It is a small price to pay. He is a great guy.

And we have seen a lot of fireworks.

But how about the day?

It is a time to reflect. I have been all over the world and there is no place like this country. At its best, there is no comparison that is apt. It is America.

At its worst, it is a reflection of our plurality and the struggle to maintain the balances necessary to keep the Republic vibrant and alive.

I am a flag waver. Unashamed.

Labels: America, Booker, holidays, patriotism

FUCK YOU NEWSWEEK

Grand Rapids, Michigan responds to Newsweek article calling it a "dying city" with a massive, record-breaking lip dub: Via TowleRoad

Labels: America, fun. music

DONE

For the, what, 60th time, I have sent in my IRS stuff.

I started working and had income reported when I was 14.

It took some effort to work through the whole thing this time and I am as late as I have ever been sending it in.

It gives me the willies to be so close.

They, the Feds and the State, owe me money. Too bad about the State. I will probably not get it back and will just use it for future returns.

I am waiting to actually mail them because my accountant has some new thing he heard about that can expedite certain reports.

Why I would want to do this I have no idea but I trust him with the work and will wait although I did use the extreme epithets with him on the phone today. Not at him. More at the situation. It is OK. He will get his fee and we will continue to be friends.

I not only feel obligated to pay taxes but I am honored to pay for the expenses of operating my country. I was even happy to do it when W was in there. It is beyond politics as far as I am concerned.

I have been out there and seen the rest of the world and I am more than happy to have our wonderful country over any other, anywhere. Period. End of sentence. No more paragraphs.

Labels: America, government

TOUR AMERICA

see more The Daily What

Labels: America

SENTIMENTALLY PATRIOTIC

Stories like this bring tears to my eyes.

In Love With Each Other, and With a New Country

Not only is it a story of bravery and escape but it is also a story of our own country and why people who come here want to stay and become a part of it.

I so totally take my citizenship for granted.

Read about these people and how long they waited for this.

Some have been through some serious shit.

I am proud of my country and what it has to offer as well as the fact that we will take refugees in and help them become Americans just like us.

My great grandparents came on the boat. That isn't too far back.

When we get all stirred up over the immigrant "problem", we should remember that most of us are only a few steps from the water ourselves. Our feet are a little damp.

Labels: America

MODEL CITIZENS

The models for Grant Wood's "American Gothic".

In 1930, Grant Wood, an American painter with European training, noticed a small white house built in the Carpenter Gothic architectural style in Eldon, Iowa. Wood decided to paint the house along with "the kind of people I fancied should live in that house."[2] He recruited his sister Nan (1900–1990) to model the woman, dressing her in a colonial print apron mimicking 19th century Americana. The man is modeled on Wood's dentist, Dr. Byron McKeeby (1867–1950) from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The three-pronged hay fork is echoed in the stitching of the man's overalls, the Gothic window of the house and the structure of the man's face. Each element was painted separately; the models sat separately and never stood in front of the house.

Labels: America, art

OBJECT LESSON

With all the cynicism in the world on the 'net and teevee, there is still a glimmer that some people think that America does some good things and support its image as a role model for other societies.

Me, for example!

As a booster of the good old and new USA, I am proud of Hillary Clinton for her living spirit of the American ideal.

Here she is telling Bosnians about her experience and urging them to follow suit.

In Sarajevo, Clinton reflects on 2008

I’m often asked how could I go to work for President Obama after trying to defeat him.” ,p.“And the answer is simple,” she said. “We both love our country. And at some point, that has to be the mindset that develops here. And it comes from small steps, not just big ones but small, many hundreds of thousands of small steps. And I hope that you will think about this and I hope you will let our ambassador know how we can help you, because we have lots of ideas from our own experience in our own country.”

And a good person.

Labels: Administration Obama, America, Hillary Clinton