Transcendent

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU9wf0qGddk&index=2&list=RDkJk2bj51j_g

On Rick Steves and his "Europe Through the Back Door"

Judging from conversations I have had with his employees--more harried than happy--, I suspect that Rick Steves may not be the easiest man in the world to work for, appearances on PBS and elsewhere notwithstanding.
-Lily H.

http://www.yelp.com/review_share/soTsxbVI0efrJcasIRRAZA/review/5lREorRH6W-ETxG0oXDq8Q?fsid=PCYN044QZjAOTF7NbKsRMw

Double standards, President Obama: Where was the outrage in 2009?

I am a liberal.

But...

Beyond the terrible trageda of the killings in the church in South Carolina is another tragedy that never received days and weeks of national attention, debate, and mourning.

What troubles me as an American is how President Obama, his Attorney General, and the White House made no public comment about the murder of four white Lakewood policeman by a black man six years ago.  The four persons were not part of a congregation but were carrying out public duties that safeguard the lives of citizens in thier community.

This occured practically in our "backyard," as Lakewood is just south of Tacoma.

I don't know of anyone in the mainstream media that has pointed that it could be argued convincingly that President Obama, because he is African-American, only feels a "national" outrage when the victim of a mass murder is black and the killer white but the reverse.

I wonder even if the victims had been racial minorities but not black if the news would have made such national attention, particularly in the New York Times, where it made the top headlines for several days.  (The recently appointed chief editor of the NYT is an African-American).

In fact, doing a Google search just to find images of the four murdered policeman comes up with one or two stock ones.

Were their lives not as important as any other American lives lost?

This blatently unequal treatment does not bode well, in my opinion, for equality and justice in this country.

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/4-lakewood-officers-slain-ex-con-sought-for-questioning/

A review on Yelp of The Parisienne French Bakery

Don't put an American in here.

A cafe is not just a place to flatter one's appetite or to chat.  It is also an atmosphere that may or make others comfortable, a place where one can divulge, intentionally or otherwise, personal details of one's life.

Unfortunately--in my experience of Seattle cafes and restaurants--it becomes a golden opportunity for many people to yak, yammer (as much on their smartphone as with the person seated opposite them), talk over the din of those who couldn't care less how their boisterous behavior makes it unpleasant for others to dine and have a civilized conversation, and to display one's social self-importance.




I try to avoid the herd, not join it.

I am happy to report that this cafe is close as possible to a cafe in Paris,  even though the clientele is mostly American.  

Very good baked goods (including the pizza), passible coffee.   Low-key, located on a shaded street in Belltown, without the overblown tourist cachet of Le Pichet or the obvious "in" hoopola of Cafe Presse, the People magazine version of a French cafe.

I love Americans, for their friendliness in particular.  But I do exception with a few other cultural markers,

Let me explain.

One of the effects of the Americanization of the world I witnessed in Sienna in April, where a young Italian woman, dressed like in a rather typical, casual American manner,  came up to and stood next to our tour guide and started talking very loudly, practically shrieking.  I dawned on me what we do in our culture to get attention. no matter how boorish and obvious.

The Americans who come to this establishment presumably are capable of behaving differently.  (As are the Germans who speak loudly in public and are disliked for that reason as well, but they don't live or come to Seattle in droves).

And they are obviously of a different genus from the ones who love to hear themselves talk--each person in the conversation, respectively, enjoying herself in this way--as much as love to incessantly take "selfies" or some version thereof.



I am half-amused, half-saddened listening to Americans who have been to France come back and say, "Well, they w-h-i-s-p-er in cafes!"  Which, if an American could try to put himself or herself in another's shoes, would mean that "in public Americans shout, shriek, but do anything but speak."  

Unfortunately it is becomingly increasingly difficult, at home or abroad. , to avoid Americans of this stripe--the bull in the china shop.  Hopefully the buffalo and cows won't here often to trample things.

Let them be content, as they are, with the ersatz Boulangerie in Wallingford or friendly but very loud and voluble Le Reve--more in the way of a daytime nightmare in my view--on Queen Anne.  

The the faux-nouveau-riche in Seattle will have their way.

I am so awesome.

A stereotype that Americans are loud?  Not in my experience.

You couldn't pay some Americans to not talk loudly, much less keep their mouths shut for two minutes.

I think that it is difficult for many Americans to accept that another country, church, museum, city hall, bar, restaurant, health club, library, department store, university, etc. are not the same as one's home (screaming children, ESPN television, and all).  It is true, however, that the door stops at the bedroom.  Everything else, well, the attitude is to just let it all hang out, others be damned.

No, I don't think it's such a good idea for people--anyone--to talk loudly in public, bray, shriek, and otherwise call attention to oneself, which to me is a thinly diguised, embarassing, narcissistic, inconsiderate cry for attention.*

It is a shame that the younger generation of Brits resembles so closely its American counterparts, having mostly shed the predisposition towards discretion and understatement of the elder generation(s).

One thing I have never (or at least very rarely) witnessed in the United States is French people, and Francophones in general (with the exception of the Quebecois) carry on and talk loudly, shriek, and/or bray in this country, which I think is a sterling quality for a visitor away from home.

The penchant for shameless self-promotion is in the cultural DNA of the United States (and to a lesser extent Canada and wherever American culture finds a foothold).




* The ascension, domination of African-Americans (music, lingo, sports, movies, politics, etc.) does not help matters, for whom belly-aching in public is so often a source of self-pride, has cultural implications that I am deeply ambivalent about.

王丹网站 Wang Dan's Page

June 4  this year went by quickly.   I found the following by happenstance on the Web:


永 不 忘  记     永 不 放弃

https://www.facebook.com/pages/%E7%8E%8B%E4%B8%B9%E7%BD%91%E7%AB%99-Wang-Dans-Page/105759983026

I'm calling the shots, not you

And you want to know why?

Contrary to popular opinion, Equality does not mean African-Americans to the front of the line, everyone else behind them (if not to the back of the bus).

It means that the rules apply equally to everyone, big or small; rich or poor; "historically oppressed" or not; white, yellow, brown, or black...



But you ain't tell me what equality is, you don't got the right, seein' as you is white and I am...

Intidimation as a modus operandi.

I'm going to get very very angry and direct the laser of hatred in my eyes towards you
if you disagree with me.

Rage is the first strike...the hidden weapon of maintaining superiority over the other.

Yeah, he's not kidding, he's going to really kick your ass good.

Private confessions

I mean, like,  just who is going to argue with a take-no-shit 6'2" African-American a foot taller and 100 lbs. heavier than you?

...who's as likely to flatten you, fly into a rage, or to become extremely hostile as s/he is to play the race card, i.e., decry being the victim of racism and ignite street protests?

Racial overtones of everyday life in America 2015

"No, You are WRONG.  And I'm just lettin' you know it.  Get it?"

As a person of color, I have to be aware of all the racial overtones and nuances of everyday life.

One thing I have observed in my personal interactions with African-Americans--strangers, for the most part--that is not true of other racial/ethnic groups is how easy it is for blacks born and raised in the United States to make others feel bad.

By dominating, reprimanding, undercutting, etc., no matter what their social-economic-educational level is, many African-Americans talk down to non-African-Americans--whites, Asian-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, etc., as if the latter were stupid and wrong.

This seems to a way of dealing with their deep-seated feelings of "badness," i.e., a projection onto others of their own complexes.

Not all African-Americans behave this way, but many do.

For few people will  address this issue ("call them on it").

I think that over the past half century, on the tails of the civil rights movement, African-Americans have obtained "the upper hand" over all other groups.  So it is no wonder they feel morally in a superior position because of the history of slavery and racial discrimination (mostly in the Deep South) as well as their presumed biological superiority (in terms of physical stature, machismo, music, sexuality...).

It makes it difficult to engage in a debate or serious discussion when the other party automatically feels they can do no wrong ("Black and proud").




I don't think this is my imagination.
Others may not admit to having these "queer thoughts."   I do.

People are so afraid in this city, county, state, and country

of being shouted at and labelled "racist" for speaking their truth (of their everyday experiences).

Surprisingly, this includes other racial minorities who are constantly the object of derision, disrespect, and psychological or even physical attack by African-Americans.


It takes either a lot of courage, or foolishness (or both) to speak out against the racism directed by many African-Americans against other racial or ethnic groups.