Author: F C

The Supreme Court reopens for business today. The major item on the docket is about sentencing guidelines this time around, but the major issue of import to me is about eminent domain. The decision may decide what happens to Brooklyn over the next 20 years. The media is interested as it had not been before in the Supreme Court, from who is going to retire, to where exactly is the highest court in the land (it’s not the velvet curtained courtroom – it’s the basketball court on the fourth floor). They even recapped how it ruled in the past that a tomato is a vegetable, not a fruit (for the purposes of an import duty).

Bush and Kerry faced off last night in their first debate. I saw a recorded version from PBS. While it was the least in your face of the networks, the were also the least likely to break the rules of the debate. That meant not seeing some of the touted split screens. Actually, where practicable, the entire thing should be split screened, so that we see everything the audience sees. What is interesting is that both men received the same speech training at Yale. Kerry was going for JFK, while Bush was trying to be folksy like Reagan. The former was more effective. Both side made serious gaffs, but only Kerry was able to capitalize. Advantage Kerry. Tuesday for the VPs.

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Oh, that I have wings like a dove
For then I would fly away
Then I would be at rest
Oh, that I have wings like a dove
For then I would wander far
and wait in the wilderness
Then I would wait in the wilderness

I turn my eyes now
forever the sky
To dwell one day
the whole way on high
To bathe my soul
in the sweet by and by
To live at last at home

So high the mountains
so wide are the sea
so far we travel
so far to be free
to toil and trial
and terror be
at peace
at last
at home

Oh, that I have wings like a dove
For then I would fly away
Then I would be at rest
Oh, that I have wings like a dove
For then I would wander far
and wait in the wilderness
Then I would wander far
and wait in the wilderness
…

– “Wings Like a Dove” from Making Tracks

P- didn’t want to go to the Second Generation‘s Making Tracks reading on Tuesday. She was feeling kind of wierd, it was wet, she hadn’t eaten, and being in a APA themed reading group she didn’t really want to see yet another repressed Asian American story. I had seen three previous versions of this show dating back to 1998. The first iteration pretty much was just that, a series of vignettes of APA history a la “Bring in the Noise, Bring in the Funk”. The second version had more of a plot, somewhat of a hybrid of “Bye Bye Birdie” with “Sunday in the Park With George”, but it was something like those educational theater groups that you had in high school. This time around, it was more a cross between Les Miserables and Miss Saigon. P- still called it a “school play”, but I thought that it was substantially better than the last time.

Most of the original songs were retained, but this time around, Act I was much more top heavy, which I think is good. The moral of the musical was that as long as we remember those that come before us, they are still alive for us today. As the players were getting accustomed to the space and there was no amplification, it was a little weak in the beginning — sometimes it was a little hard to hear over the piano.

However, as they went on, it became much stronger. By the time they get to the closing number, Wings Like a Dove, they really hit their stride. I always liked this gospel-themed song based on Psalm 55:6-7. It seemed kind of unusually matched, because the other songs were either rock ballads or Broadway show stoppers, but it was perfectly placed. It shows that praying for rescue from suffering and longing for home are universal emotions. I could not stop my eyes from welling up when the whole ensemble burst into a cappella. Powerful.

Afterwards, we went to Korean food near St. Mark’s Place. It seemed appropriate, after all it was Chusuk, the Harvest Festival, aka Mooncake day. I forgot the name of the place that we went to, but it was connected to the East group of Japanese restaurants — I think that it was called West. The food was quite tasty, and really hit the spot after all of the rain.

Then P- got a call from her sister: one of her close friends passed away from cancer that morning. We both went home in the rain with tears in our eyes that night.