1. For years, I thought war was like a baseball game. To opponents representing different places battle each other and, in the end, one side wins, the other loses, and the conflict is over -- the losing side submits to the power and wishes of the winning side. I watched American Experience: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln today. Even though it wasn't really the point of the program, I came away from it with a deeper understanding than I've ever had that with Lee's surrender at Appomattox, the physical warring between the Union and Confederate forces ended, but not the philosophical and political conflict. John Wilkes Booth, in fact, embodied Confederate bitterness and represented, in one man, the resentments of many.
For years, I've understood history as the study of continuation, not a study of the past. History doesn't repeat itself so much as ideas, conflicts, institutions, human impulses, and our stories about the past endure or continue. The idea that experiences like a war or slavery or the Great Depression or the standoff at Ruby Ridge or the destruction of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers in 2001, to name a few, are over with, are events or experiences we need to put behind us, is antithetical to how we experience things in life. As when I watched the Vietnam War series, when I saw the battlefield images from the Civil War, I thought a lot about how the Vietnam War did not end Communism and how the Civil War did not end the conflicts that divided the USA in the 19th century and that endure on into the 21st. That I see things this way means I live with many questions I cannot answer.
2. In the same way that Anthony Bourdain was a thoughtful, open-minded, adventurous guy who became famous because of his television show, so the chef Marcus Samuelsson has made a name for himself as a successful restaurateur and television celebrity. He is using his fame, charisma, intelligence, and goodwill to bring immigrant neighborhoods from across the USA into our homes through his PBS show No Passport Needed. A few days ago I watched his episode focused on Mexicans in Chicago. Today I watched his episode exploring immigrants in Queens, NY from Guyana where the influences of India, China, Africa, and the Caribbean intersect in the customs, religious practices, recreation, and food of the Guyanese. Samuelsson visited a handful of Guyanese eateries and visited the home of a family where he cooked alongside a family's grandmother and mother. Until today, I had never given one moment of thought to Guyanese cuisine or to the cultural vitality of people from Guyana and now I would love to try to cook something like Guyanese food and, if I ever have the chance to roam around Queens, I'd love to eat at one or two of the places Marcus Samuelsson featured in this program.
3. Today, I once again watched about 80 percent of a baseball game. MLB.TV's free offering today was a matchup between Tampa Bay Rays and the Los Angeles Angels. I didn't really care who won the game. I thought maybe the Angel stars, Mike Trout and Albert Pujois, might do something special, but neither did. My favorite moment in the game came late when Rays rookie Jake Bauers hit a home run. The home run merely padded the Rays' lead -- they beat the Angels 7-2 --, but Bauers' swing was sweet, pure, fluid. I love watching left handed hitters, maybe because I hit left handed when I played ball forty-six years ago, and Bauers' home run swing from the left side of the plate last night gave me the same kind of pleasure I feel when I see an Ansel Adams photograph or a painting by Monet. As any number of sportscasters might say, it was picture perfect. (And I'll be keeping an eye on this kid Jake Bauers.)
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