Author: F C

This was my alma mater’s reunion weekend, and at my college’s luncheon we honored the “dean of travel experts”, Arthur Frommer, from the class of 1950. This coincided with the 50th anniversary of his guidebook “Europe on $5 a Day”. (To get in that law angle, after going to Yale Law School, he was a litigation associate with Paul Weiss before he left to pursue a career in travel.)

Why is he a hero? While in the U.S. Army in Germany, he figured out how not to be the Ugly American – be respectful of the people and places visited, go off of the well-worn track to obtain authentic experiences, and of course, have your money go farther and smarter. In my experience taking trips overseas starting in college, I’ve tried to take these principles to heart. Fifty years later, he still has a lot to teach us.

The Queen visits Virginia; all sorts of shock and awe ensues. What makes her third visit to the U.S. significant is the changes and interchanges between America and Britain. Not crushing domination on either part, but a gradual blending as the Mother Country’s stewing multicultural melting pot still longs for the idyllic country town featured in Hot Fuzz (seen with SSW last weekend). On the other hand, Brit humor makes a comeback via the comedy of Dave Eggers (McSweeney’s) and John Hodgman (Mr. PC in the Mac commercials). The straight-laced and stiff-upper-lipped throwbacks to 21st Century Victorian mores make a distinctly American version; what makes it not dry is the sense of discovery, wonder and ultimately charity.

Eggers started a non-profit group called 826 that seeks to teach young people the wonder of creative and expository writing. The New York branch, 826 NYC, is based in Brooklyn, hidden behind their front store, the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. (and yes this is a real storefront – I’m not making this up). Sales from their crime-fighting store help fund tutoring for Brooklyn elementary and high school students. Check them out at 372 Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn.

For the complete British experience, visit the Park Slope ChipShop across the street at 383 Fifth Avenue for their fish and chips, and fried just about everything (including Twinkies and various candy bars). Fried mac and cheese balls are awesome, and fried pizza is just something you have to try.

Sorry I’ve been OL the last few days. Hay fever got the worst of me this weekend. I stayed home from work on Monday. Here’s lots of catchup:
Happy Bday to AS and MJ!

In random order, Taste of Chinatown was on Saturday. Peking Duck House gets their act together, and we were able to snag a 5-pack of those delectable Peking Duck rolls. Checked out H2 Cards – an East-West wedding invitation card store. Found my friend’s wedding invite in the catalog. Not a bad price either.

Last weekend’s Atlantic City trip was nice. We had a group of three carshare down from the city. We passed what we thought was the accident site of NJ Gov. Corzine – the troopers were still searching for the guy in a red pickup truck, which turned out to be a casino worker. Keynote speaker NYC Council Member John Liu pointed out that Sharpton used Liu’s playbook in the Hot 97 tsunami song protest , but Sharpton was much more effective sooner in putting on the pressure on Don Imus. (Liu got to put the plan in effect again this week with another incident with CBS radio.)

Where to begin with the VT massacre? It will take years to over-analyze how this happened, from every angle (Asian/foreigner thing? no – 2 asian and 5 foreign victims; video games? no- Cho didn’t really play video games; gun control? mental health? school security? instant messaging? magnitude – do you count it as 32 or 33 victims? worse mass shooting (at a school? ever in the U.S. since the Civil War? – but this level of carnage happens in Iraq every day.)

This is today’s information version of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle: either you muddle aimlessly through the fog of war, but can divine a guiding theory that explains all, or you have access to all knowledge, but there is so much detail that it is impossible to discern or learn.

The best that we can do is remember, and try to keep our connections to those that we love.

We drove back from Atlantic City last Sunday in the middle of the nor’easter. We were in the car together, watching this other guy trying to drive a three-wheeled motorcycle encased in a plastic poncho through the wall of water. A little faith goes a long way.