All posts by Steve Stern

A thought on the Olympics and Patricia Schroeder

Americana, Politics, Sports


I am not a big fan of women’s gymnastics. I think I was soured when I first saw  Nadia Comăneci. She was just  a child, dressed like an seductive adult and looking at her gave me a JonBenét Ramsey feeling: sort of a cross between feeling slightly perverted and dirty and feeling slightly superior for not feeling even more than slightly perverted. The movie Little Miss Sunshine captures it as well as anything I can think of. It is not that the seductive look is an accident, it is the point.

So, while Michele sat down to watch the  women’s gymnastics, I washed the dishes. Then Michele would say something like Wow, you have to see this, it is incredible. And it was and after a couple of trips back and forth – and the dishes were finished – that I sat down to watch the Women’s Team Gymnastics. To my eye, Gabby Douglas was the best but they were all superhuman. They all did tricks that, if Batman had done them in The Dark Knight Rises, it would have made the movie seem less realistic (I am 95%  sure that there were no Computer-generated imagery [CGI] during the actual Olympic  event).

Gabby Douglas seems older, more womanly, less child-like, than Nadia Comăneci did in 1976. Or, maybe I am just older. Eeither way, it didn’t seem as prurient. In seeing a picture of the awards ceremony, I was struck by how our gymnastics team looked liked what I want to believe America wants to be. It reminded me of a speech I once heard by Representative Patricia Schroeder, an outspoken women’s rights and minority rights advocate.

Schroeder had gone to India on some official business, at this point, I don’t remember what the official business was but because it was official she was provided with an Air Force plane. As she told the story, as a sort of air Force RF, her ground crew was made up of all minorities (counting women in this context as minorities). After she got back from what ever she was doing with her India escort, her plane was serviced and standing tall. Her India escort took one look at the crew and said something along the lines of That is why America is the greatest country in the world, all those different people working together as Americans. No other country in the world can do that. 

I think that Indian was right, what makes us great is our diversity.

 

 

Indian Blackouts

Travel

At the beginning of this week, India had the largest electrical blackout in human history (which, in terms of electricity is not all that long, less than 150 years). 670 million people were without power, basically from the Bangladesh border to Jaisalmer near Pakistan. The cynical part of me wants to say How could they tell? When we were in India, near Jaisalmer, there were power shortages all the time. But that was 17 Indian years ago – probably over 45 USA years based on rate of growth – and India has changed.

As an aside, when we were in India, we had a driver that took us a round in an Hindustan Ambassador which was really a 1956 Morris Oxford made in India. To say that it was a primitive car is being generous. The first thing we were told was to memorize our license number  because all Ambassadors were the same color – an off creamy white – and at popular places, there could be dozens and dozens of them lined up. End aside.

What India seemed very good at was working around the power outages. Like Scotland – or England, I guess – the Indian impoverished aristocrats rent out their castles, or forts, or palaces, as hotels to make ends meet.  That way they can still cling to their social status. One night we were sitting on a previously royal balcony having a drink and waiting for diner with several other tourist when the power went out. It was pretty magical, the balcony overlooking the city below glowing in the moonlight. The hotel staff immediately showed up and lit all sorts of candles which didn’t significantly reduce our view.

We spent the cocktail hour telling horror stories – the kind of horror stories when it is pretty hard to tell if the story teller is complaining or bragging (mostly bragging as I remember) – and laughing about our travels around India. When it was time for dinner we were led into a huge dining hall with all the separate tables pushed together with a couple of huge candelabras lighting the banquet. It was a great save and one of my most memorable travel moments.

The next morning we took some portraits of some of the locals.

 

Batman

Film

I saw The Dark Knight Rises on Monday and it was terrific. The best super-hero movie I have ever seen, probably the best movie in a year of good movies. Dark, but then Batman has always been dark, Bruce Wayne wouldn’t have become Batman without the pain, Batman wouldn’t have been needed without the corruption of  Gotham City. This is a giant, summer, blockbuster, about people, not special effects. Check it out.

A rant on uniforms

Americana, Psychological Musings, Sports, War

Actually, not those uniforms although I find the whole Olympic rule that women Beach Volleyball players have to wear bikinis weirdly sexist (not that I am complaining, I love looking at young women in scanty clothing). The Olympics presents a squeaky clean, almost innocent image, and they put alot of effort in keeping it that way. At the same time the biggest Olympic women sports are sports that require scanty clothing, think swimming, diving, track, and – of course – gymnastics. Don’t expect to see much women’s fencing or rowing.

As an aside – an aside from uniforms that is – the Olympics are the biggest sexual free-for-all on the planet. There are 10,960 young, hyper-conditioned, attractive, athletes from around the world living together for two weeks. These Olympians are people who are very much in their bodies and, probably, very much into their bodies, all brushing up against each  other on a daily basis in tight  quarters, with lots of alcohol, other drugs, and – once their event is over – free time. Even in China, a fairly controlled place, the athletes went through their allotted 70,000 condoms. In Britain, a much freer place and more understanding host country, they are providing  150,000 condoms which is about 15 condoms per athlete. Watching Michele Jenneke run the hurdles, it is easy to believe they will be used.

End aside.

But that is not my rant, my rant is about camo clothing in the US Military. Obviously camo clothing is very helpful when Soldiers and Marines are on the ground and do not want to stand out.

But an Army general in a rear area command center, in Washington or Qatar, wearing combat fatigues just seems ridiculous. I am not one to worship the past, but I do pine for the days when the rear echelon – known in front line units as REMFs – commanders and support dressed as if they were going to the office, which, of course, they really are. But the military – and police, for that matter – has fetishized camouflaged fatigues and everybody is now in on the act, including the navy with blueish uniforms. It makes no sense at all. It doesn’t hide them on the ship and, of course, it shouldn’t and then – to make it even stupider – in the highly unlikely event that the ship did see combat and did sink, it makes it harder to find the survivors.

It seems sort of wacko that the Navy is building ten $700 million ships designed for operation in near-shore environments but – by the Navy’s own assessment – is not able to take on heavy duty shore defenses, but I understand that there is a lobby for that: I understand there is money to made.  What I don’t understand is why the crew running the ship should be dressed in pseudo- camouflaged fatigues. End of rant.

Aleppo

Current Affairs

Today, Syrian government forces have launched a ground assault against the rebels in the city of Aleppo. They are using everything they have including helicopters and jet plans as well as tanks and heavy artillery. The rebel forces have beaten off the first wave of attacks but the battle will continue. Aleppo is the largest city in Syria with a population of 2,132,100 as of 2004 (it is probably considerably less now – even with counting the dead – and will be way less in a couple of days) and the Syrian government wants it.

It is so nice here in Portola Valley, we just saw a super Jazz concert by Mads Tolling in Pacifica, on TV the Olympics are so compelling – the American women’s soccer team seems awesome –  and Hamilton is on the pole for the Hungarian Grand Prix; in the old Silk Road hub of Aleppo, people are being killed. As fast as the government can kill them. In Aleppo, the world is like Aurora times 1,000, day after day after day. How can these people, this country, not have PTSD.

Louis CK talks about white people problems – and we all have them – but compared to what is happening in Aleppo right now, they are not real problems. Today, please, take a moment – just a moment – to be glad you are not there, we are not there; take a moment to feel compassion for those poor souls who are.