Author: ssw15

Some interesting bits:

– Fascinating NY Times’ article on the joy of Passover, when Orthodox Jews find a way to enjoy the Ringling Brothers’ circus and still be kosher.

– An Easter thing: Slate.com’s Explainer explains the meaning of the Peeps and Easter. Cool. So glad those little marshmallow-like chickies are only available once a year.

– Fascinating NY Times article on a Henry Louis Gates’ project of a database on a database of African-American biographies. Gates feels that this an opportunity to fills gaps in history. Shelby Steele and other African-American conservative scholars worry that such a project only serves to put African-American stories outside the mainstream, i.e., it separates their stories under the guise of putting them on a pedestal. John McWhorter, another conservative writer, questions the impact of these stories being put out – will they really inspire people, or convince people that African-Americans are tragic – considering the many stories of sadness and injury.

– An Asian-American law school friend and I had this conversation that is sort of relevant to what I read in that article about the African-American bios and I wonder, so, what are stories telling us about others/ourselves? See, my friend was unhappy by how the American mainstream media, particularly the NY Times, seems to always cast Asians, particularly China and Chinese, in a negative way. I didn’t necessarily agree with her that the media was anti-Chinese – but then again, I tried to counter that it wouldn’t be consistently easy to cast China in a certain positive a light when the mainstream doesn’t approve of Communism (as it officially still exists in whatever guise in China, putting aside other questionable things about China, like human rights dilemmas and environmental fears, etc.). Plus, I took the view that the mainstream media in general didn’t report on international news properly anyway.

But, really – how do the stories that get told, and the manner in which they’re told, affect us? Do people perceive Chinese people in America or Chinese in China more negatively than they should be, because the media reports them negatively, if it bothers to report their stories at all? Will the African-American biographies – and by extention, African-American history in general – be seen as just tragic? I just don’t know. I’d like to be positive and say that media consumers are savvy enough to not just accept stories at face value and realize that history isn’t inevitable – nothing in history says that things must follow a tragic end. Some stories turn out to be inspirational, but we don’t that they are either sad/happy until we even look at them. History develops; it’s only in hindsight that we think/realize that there’s is a direction.

Sometimes, I think blaming the media is too easy. Sometimes, I wonder if more people can be independent thinkers and weigh what they read before they say anyone is tragic or inspiring. There’s no quick and easy either-or anyway – just a lot of grays, since no one, in contemporary times or in history, is perfect.

Well, enjoy the spring; nice weather today.

Various stuff:

“Proudly Answering to ‘Jersey Girl,'” – writer Helene Stapinski traces the origins and the definition of the true “Jersey Girl.” Being from Brooklyn, it’s not like I know what being from Jersey means, but I thought that this article was fascinating. Apparently, the Jersey Girl is not just some 1980’s invention with the Big Hair/Make-Up/Thick Accent; she is the sweet but spirited gal of the 1890’s, back to the early development of Miss America’s Atlantic City origins.

So, even NJ – the state perpetually caught between Philadelphia and NYC – has some history none of us realizes. And, speaking of the turn-of-the-century, Times Square is celebrating its 100th Anniversary. Cool. Is everything celebrating something in NYC? The subway’s 100 years old; my undergraduate alma mater is celebrating 250th anniversary. People forget that NYC is an old city, since it’s constantly re-inventing itself and seems always new.

Connecticut (one of the newspapers quoted Coach Jim Calhoun of the men’s basketball team describing his state as one trapped between NYC and Boston) – is celebrating how UConn’s men and women basketball teams are NCAA champions. How does one school do it? It’s amazing – or maybe I’m a little jealous. Seeing one’s school like that – that’s just way too cool (well, putting aside the whole rioting-burning-the-school/town-down). Hmm.

Some Asian-related reading that I thought was interesting:

NY Times’ Dining section on Vietnamese cooking; sounds very interesting.

Slate.com is celebrating poetry month; poetry editor Robert Pinsky (former Poet Laureate) selects “Reading the Poetry of Meng Chao” by the 11thCentury Chinese poet Su Tung-p’o (translated by Burton Watson), a poem about reading bad poetry. Interesting poem – one feels the frustration of Su Tung-p’o in reading a not-very-good poem – apparently, a perennial feeling, no matter the century.

Some notable stuff:

UPS commercial – the Brown/Brun/etc… ads, wherein UPS men all over the world are doing their thing. I liked the one where the Chinese guy is telling the Chinese woman (in Cantonese, I think) about a UPS guy on the other side of the world… while the American UPS guy is doing the exact same thing with the American woman – and both women look at their respective UPS guys skeptically. Meanwhile, there’s still that FedEx ad, wherein Chinese man, muttering angrily in Cantonese about his delivery thing, and the young Chinese mailroom guy saying one thing: “FedEx.” “Oh,” said older Chinese man, feeling much better. Hmm. Two delivery service ads using Cantonese. Say, I bet if I watched more tv ads in Cantonese, I mights actually learn the mother tongue. (Umm, sure, in fantasy land, maybe!) But, at least I’m entertained (although, I really hate the idea of referring UPS as merely “Brown.” I mean, that’s just stupid – why on earth do I have to call you by your – umm – color? Can you really make the word for a color your trademark? Arguably, yeah, you can, but, it just isn’t a great idea to me, that’s all).

And, then there’s the interesting Verizon ads of late – where you have this Hispanic looking family using every Verizon product possible, while their three-year old is messing around the house. My brother noted to me that the family seemed bi-racial to him – since the dad looked a little too light-skinned and, well, a shade too clueless about importing his digital pictures to his e-mail. While dropping by NY Times.com, there was the link to the Verizon’s website, for more info on (what else?) their products and how the Perez-Elliotts use their phone/DSL/etc. service. I couldn’t resist and I clicked to see more info on the family. Personally, I like the idea of this multicutural/multiracial/multiethnic thing – it’s seems like a sunny look at the 21st century America. Plus, the mom turned out to be a lawyer – great plug for the legal profession and its demographics (“Yes, a Latina woman with four kids, a techno-clueless husband, and a really big dog can do her job just fine, thank you very much”).

In honor of baseball season’s opening, here’s a link to a profile of the 1986 NY Mets and how they made us feel good.

I could link this, but I’ll resist it for now – the latest Mary Worth comic strip storyline is mondo bizarre. The new tenant in Mary Worth’s condo is apparently a male chauvinist pig, as he expresses his view that he cannot marry a woman who has an “agenda” outside the home. Uh, okay, what century is he living in? You get the bubble thought from Mrs. Cameron, the neighbor, who’s pretty confidant that the guy is not going to do well in his new advertising executive job with his view of women. And, yet, there’s a hint that the guy may have a reason for his view – maybe he was scarred for life by his – gasp – evil, hard-working mom who abandoned him for her career. Jeez, this better unfold properly. I didn’t like the way Mary Worth gang ended their previous storyline.

And, another comical comic strip note – today’s Doonesbury was hilarious take on the Condileeza Rice v. Richard Clarke spat… (link to the Slate.com, wherein you too can find the link to the 4/5/04 edition of Doonesbury).

I was actually watching “Ten Commandments” last night – or most of it, anyway (I’m too much of a channel changer to watch the whole thing properly). Stuart Klawan’s NY Times article about Cecil B. DeMille indicated that ABC aired DeMille’s “Ten Commandments” to coincide with Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of Christ” (Klawan’s otherwise interesting article specifically includes this remark: “You may catch DeMille’s ‘Ten Commandments’ (1956) tonight on ABC (evidently broadcast in response to the success of ‘The Passion’)”) – I think Klawans had it slightly wrong to allude to such ridiculous intention on ABC’s part – ABC aired “Ten Commandments” every year around Holy Week/Passover time. Mel is the one with the sense of timing to get “The Passion…” during Lent. (ABC airing a movie on Judas a couple of weeks ago, when Mel’s movie came out – yeah, _that_ was crude of ABC; but the same cannot be said about what ABC did with “Ten Commandments”). I’ll give ABC that much credit for trying to stick with some shred of tradition.

To the Jewish folks – have a nice Passover. To the Christians – have a nice Holy Week. And, may we please have some warmer temperatures in NYC?….