Identity and Britain - From the Economist

Is it weird to think of oneself as British-o-phile, yet not an anglophile?  No doubt it is because HK was a British colony, and not an English Colony in that way.  The empire was British, not English, though ruled by an English Monarch.

Healthcare Reform in Germany - From the Economist

I wonder if I could do that...

I'm about to start another season of intense writing and work, so this short hiatus of new blog posting will again taper.  Yet, it seemed appropriate to give a short word about the city in which I now live.

Cleveland is a post industrial city; the bones of its once great presence on the fields of N. America can be found in the down town districts.  Once Cleveland's scions were ranked amongst the wealthiest in the world, and their number exceeded that of New York's and Boston's -- that is an era now long gone.  Instead, Cleveland now is a city that pines for its past, yet is confused about how to move forward.  Each city needs its anchor tenant, some industry or idea that serves as the animus of its activity.  Today, Cleveland cannot be considered a world center for steel or heavy industry.  These facets of manufacturing have moved elsewhere, and unlikely to return, barring a removal or reduction of minimum wages.  What's left can be at times breath-taking...  But without a concerted effort to unfetter the remaining sparks of industry, it seems unlikely that Cleveland can return to its former glory.

This week, however, Cleveland nearly moved me to tears.  Sitting in Severance Hall, enjoying Pink Martini, I couldn't help but be overcome by a sense of gratitude.  This city is small, yet has many absolutely sublime edifices.  Suddenly, I have the opportunity to sit intimately in a concert hall that puts one oh-so-close to one of the greatest orchestras in the world, in one of the most beautiful and revered concert halls. 

Having such easy access to gems such as these left me with a profound sense of joy. 

Yes, living here has many-a-drawback.

But the immediacy and quality of the arts here is quite unparalleled.

This blog started on April 1st, 2005.

For whatever reason, I love April Fool's Day. I hold parties on this day, and just enjoy the idea of it.  While I don't really ever pull pranks, I do just enjoy the image of the fool.

Another reason?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foolishness_for_Christ

"We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised."
1 Cor 4:10.

Thus, I personally tend to think of this day as "April Fools for Christ" day...

Will Xanga be around in 5 years?  I don't know... but this will remain my blogging home.

Double Nuclear Survivor - From the Economist

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.  And each man, in his time, plays many parts.

Shakespeare, As you like it.

What would it be like to survive not 1, but 2 nuclear explosions?  What might it be like remembering, collectively as a nation, being the only target of two nuclear bombs?  Every country remembers times when it is a victim, the grievances and the humiliation.  For many countries in east asia, they can remember being a victim of some external invasion or oppression.  It's often easy from certain nations' perspective to forget that one of the remembered oppressors was also uniquely subjected to terrible weapons.

There is, therefore, a unique sensitivity to nuclear weapons in Japan... and it's interesting to realize that, while the US remembers Pearl Harbor readily enough, the abject terror that a nuclear bomb invokes is often forgotten.  It's similarly easy to remember Nanjing, and the number of people killed, raped and tortured -- and forget the number of non-combatants vapourized in Hiroshima and Nagasaki... or the number of secondary cancers that occurred from those bombs... also in innocent non-combatants.

The list could go on... but there are few conflicts that only one side is at fault.  There are no peoples without sin.  Condemning any people categorically for their collective sins is dangerous business.

The US should be particularly careful, as our own history of death and destruction is hardly short, despite the relative lack of longevity on the world stage.  Genocide, avarice, land grabs, financial manipulation, mass destruction - they've all been used by our government.

Humility is always in order.

 Send you an article like this:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/03/marry-him/6651/

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Comments to follow.

http://www.economist.com/business-finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15807361&source=features_box_main

The more things stay the same.  Strangely, reading this article, I feel like I'm watching a Stephen Chow film about courts.  It has long been my view that China remains intrinsically governed by an Imperial-beurocratric combine that functions similarly, no matter what name it is given.  The opaque sort of governmental movements can be found in examples in Chinese history from medieval times and before, I think.

I think one thing that observers often forget is that government is a part of culture too - it exists in relationship with people's expectations for it.  Most cultures have an idea of what the ruling class does; although there are many similarities across cultures, there are differences too.  It's very hard to break from such examples, I think.  Change Putin's name to Czar Vladimir, and I daresay that you'd have a difficult time discriminating him from a Czarist Russian monarch...

http://www.atlantacuisine.com/2010/03/update-on-peter-chang/

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/691193

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Chang_(chef)

http://www.oxfordamerican.org/articles/2010/feb/24/todd-kliman-chases-perfect-chef/

So, he's now in Charlottesville.  I have to try his food there. 

If he does open a fancy high end restaurant in Atlanta, it will definitely, finally be what I thought he needed in the first place.  I think it would be amazing to have that in Buckhead or downtown -- somewhere prime.  He's definitely good enough.

Too bad Peter Chang's might be a bit confusing for those who were expecting PF Chang's...

Don't know who Peter Chang is?

  In a word - my favourite Chinese chef in N. America...

I'm putting together some furniture -- for the outdoors.  It has 300 odd parts, and it's taking awhile.  But, fortunately, I'm listening to some Jay Chou.  I'd forgotten how much I enjoy his particular mix of the old school chinese melodies and structures and his enjoyment of a more R&B sort of sound. 

Reviewing his music here would not do him justice.  He really is very creative.  It fills me with an odd, and particular chinese flavour of melancholy.

Go Jay.

Love it.

聼這種的音樂讓我感覺已很奇怪的感覺，可能最好形容它是一個無奈的希望；還是一個有希望的無奈。我也搞不清楚。無論怎麽說也好，我就是喜歡。

Taxation without representation - From the Economist

Zainichi - Wiki entry

Once, many moons ago, I worked in a lab at the NIH.  My mentor there was a world famous HIV researcher (and still is...), and he related many a tale of his youth.  One thing that stood out was his role as a protestor for Zainichi rights.  He told me about a story where he was arrested for protesting.

It got me interested in the topic, because of the long term conflicts between a number of political entities in the region - understanding the source of the hostilities seemed interesting.  Watching movies on the topic, and gradually polling friends over the many years has proven very interesting...

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There are no doubt many people with more detailed and nuanced opinions of the issues of ethnic ghettos, ethnic minorities and integration.  It's an issue that every nation faces, from western european to eastern european nations, the Indian subcontinent, Brasil, Germany, the US, and more.  If you have a population, and there's money to be made, immigrants come, be it under force or by choice.

Growing up primarily in the US environment through the 80-90's meant that I was exposed to the US motifs of black and white politic.  The minority has to ask, "who am I?" in the context of a majority that is different in sometimes obvious ways.  Financial, cultural, physical and geographic differences can easily be compounded by stereotypes and frank prejudice and discrimination.

As children, we see in broad strokes.  I couldn't imagine that homogeneous Japan might deal with ethnic tensions.  Yet Japan was less homogeneous than I'd realised.  Moreover, the populations had a very specific and emotionally charged history.

The majority of immigrants in the US moved from places geographically removed, thus with less immediately remembered conflicts.  Imagine transplanting a group of people from a country that is in intermittent conflict with your own people and making them neighbours.  Couple that with complex and possibly hypocritical legal environments, and it makes the blame game all but impossible.

At heart, the Zainichi questions approach the questions of what it means to be a nation.  Most nations start as single ethnicity groupings.  Re-evaluating that identity is no mean task. 

What fascinates me most is the interplay of many decades of conflict and immigration in the Zainichi (在日） population... N. and S. Korea, Chinese-born Koreans, etc... as well as the social norms and expectations for that population in modern day Japan. 

I have no solutions.

But, the whole idea of being strangers in a strange land has a long literary history - and for good reason.  It's very hard.  Solutions aren't at all easy - as the paradigm for citizenship in the US differs tremendously from the paradigm in many other places.  The acceptance of foreigners as Japanese requires redefinition of what it means to be a Japanese citizen.  For some, it might feel like an identity suicide.

Conversely, not giving a population within your borders full rights of abode and determination might result in much more sustained unrest by keeping them outside the formal power structures.  That most definitely has drawbacks.  Many so-called rights in the US so enshrined in the constitution remain ideas and not ideals for many other countries.  If I've learned anything in the 3 decades of my life is that many interactions in politics are derived from the fact that different groups of people logically conclude opposing things simply because of differing perspective.  Arriving at some sort of compromise may be harrowing.

Where is Chang? - New Yorker
Tasty China - Read my first review on this place in Yelp.

Evidently, Peter Chang has been found -- and he's in Charlottesville, per the New Yorker.

I think a trip to UVA is in order to pay homage to my favourite chinese cheft in N. America.  As a side note, I'm not sure where my first review on Tasty China went.  I gave it 5 stars, and glowing comments about everything from his ballooned onion pancakes and the absolutely stunning ma po tofu.

PETER CHANG!

(Gold medal winner for cold plates in China, Silver medal for hot plates.)