A Life Open to the World

Nov 25, 2008
Los Angeles, Ca

The recent issue of The New Yorker has an article about Jeffery Alford and Naomi Duguid. They are cookbook authors but a more accurate description would be culinary anthropologists or culinary geographers. They have published 6 cookbooks since 1995 and I currently own "Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet" while the rest are logged into my 28 page wish list on Amazon.

The thing that really caught my attention in the profile piece about Alford and Duguid is not just the partnership that they have and how they essentially raised two child on the road but their attitude towards traveling..."they travel light, on anything headed in the right direction - a riverboat, a mountain bus...when nothing shows up, they hitchhike or rent a bike or walk....[Duguid] call this 'staying vulnerable' to the people, the place, and the possibility of a new taste where ever they get dropped off...they talk about arriving in a place and having no idea of what they'll find there. The awe that comes with that - it's always present."

This idea of staying vulnerable to possibilities is I think one of my favorite things about traveling and why I think I am always itching to get back on the road. Yet something happens once the plane hits the tarmac at LAX - somehow the mind shifts and I becomes less vulnerable. Why do we feel less safe at "home" than we do in a strange land? Is it because when we are here, we feel that we are measured by our accomplishments and if we don't have enough then we must fake it? Especially in a place like Los Angeles?

How do we stay vulnerable to possibilities and yet still protect ourselves?

Where to next is a frequent question that I get at my Q&A sections and I have been thinking of South / Central America and Africa. Yet I have had Central Asia and Mongolia stuck in my teeth for over a year now - and Burma since this summer. The article ends with Alford and Durguid writing a cookbook that is focused on Burma. Burma again - is the Universe trying to tell me something? Meanwhile, I am tentatively slated to go down to Mexico / Cuba next spring and Chile next winter. But all of this could change depending on my grant status.

As I try to define and refine the "partnership" I wish to have, I can't help but look at the Alford/Durguid model to be a measuring stick of sorts. The profile describes them to be opposites yet symbiotic. They were able to agree on all the big important life questions within days after they meet in the low oxygen city of Lhasa at 3600km.

Irrespective of what the final definition is, what I do know is that I would like a life that is open to the world, where I am vulnerable to possibilities, adventures, regardless whether I am in LA, New York or a nameless town in middle of no where.

Nov 24, 2008, The New Yorker, The Hungry Travellers by Jane Kramer

Angry Youth, the New Generation's Neocon Nationalists

August 2, 2008
Los Angeles, CA

In a recent issue of The New Yorker (July 28) there is an article about the Chinese students who rejects the West. The article starts with a discussion of this 6 minute anti-Western video posted on a Chinese website. The reporter, Evan Osnos then goes on to talk at length with the Chinese student who is the creator of this video clip. The student, Tang Jie describes how him and his friends get around the government blockage of certain western media websites in order to get a sense of the news being reported by the Western Media, he says "because we are in such a system [of media censorship], we are always asking ourselves whether we are brainwashed."

Wow! I wish American public are as this self-aware of the lies and the biased coverage that we are being fed by the media.

Then Tang Jie added, "but when you are in a so-called free system you never think about whether you are brainwashed." My thoughts exactly! He is right on the money and I am impressed with such acute level of awareness of the Media's function as a propaganda machine.

Tang Jie goes on to talk about the recent Tibet violence and how he was disappointed in the coverage by Western Media and how he felt it was inaccurate. "Tang couldn't' figure out why foreigners were so agitated about Tibet - an impoverished backwater, as he saw it, that China had tried for decades to civilized."

Wait, impoverished back water that another has tried to civilize. Is that not the standard justification for any and all acts of unjust war, occupation and conquests? We were just recently in Tibet and I am not sure that the Tibetans are feeling the benefits of China's effort of "civilization" - who is drink the cool-aid now?

The article progressed onto Tiananmen Square and its 20th Anniversary next year. "The students in 1989 were rebelling against corruption and abuses of power. Now a days, these issues haven't disappeared but have worsened...however, the current young generation turns a blind eye to it. I've never seen them respond to those major domestic issues. Rather, they take a utilitarian, opportunistic approach."

Wait - is he describing Americans? I guess Communist or Capitalist, we all suffer from apathy.

"The problem is that we didn't know what a good government would be. So we let the Chinese Communist Party stay in place. The other problem is we didn't have the power to get them out. They have the Army!"

Do we all simply suffer from the inability to dream of Utopia? Of perfection? We do not know what would be better than George W so that he has stayed. We cannot imagine exactly how to build a better society so we have done nothing as long as gas is cheap and distractions are plenty. But wait, you are afraid of the Army? I have seen the Chinese Arm and Police and I cannot say they strike fear into the heart of men. Yet again I can't say that I am afraid of Chief Wigum either, yet American military is still feared around the globe.

The article ends with Tang and Evan Osnos waiting along the Olympic torch route, "the crowd's enthusiasm seemed to brighten Tang's view of things, reminding him that China's future belongs to him and to those around him. When I stand here, I can feel deeply, the common emotion of Chinese youth, we are self-confident."

Are we self-confident? Do we feel like the future belongs to us? Or are we simply too cynical and opportunistic to rally any kind of nationalism and care enough to act on behalf of our future? Communist or Capitalists, the problems of our future seems strikingly similar.