Behind Stanford in the area known as The Dish, every winter, somebody brings in cows to graze. I have read in the local paper that the last people to graze their cows said It is impossible to make money
grazing. and quit – or, atleast threatened to quit. But, the cows are back. Usually, there are only trees, parallel cow trails along the steep hills and impossibly green grass.
But once again, there are seemingly very happy cows.
Now, General Ray Odierno, the commanding general of the U.S. forces in Iraq, says that he is OK with gays serving in the military. (Seeing here giving Stephen Colbert a haircut.)
It is like the Chinese water torture (enhanced interrogation?) – only in reverse – every week some new commander comes out saying that they are OK with gays serving in the military.
A couple of days ago, I put up a post on Immigration and Citizenship. I know I did because it showed up on my Facebook page; but, now, it is gone. I have no idea how it happened, or, even, what exactly happened. The post just disappeared. Maybe it is hiding somewhere in cyberspace, maybe it it just gone. But I do know it once existed because the shadow is still there on Facebook.
Anyway, now that it is gone, I can safely saw that it was a great post. Accompanied by one of my favorite pictures.
One of the themes that seems to be emerging in this blog is that the greatness of the United States of America (hereafter known as America) is our openness to immigration and our acceptance and assimilation of immigrants. Not just in the past, but today.
About a month ago, there was an article in the Economist that started: A Ponzi scheme that works.…The greatest strength of America is that people want to live there. The article went on to talk about how quickly foreigners become Americans.
Yesterday, I saw an article in the Atlantic entitled How America Can Rise Again and, sort of in passing, it said The day before the dinner, three U.S. citizens
had been named the winners of the Nobel Prize for physiology or
medicine. The day after, three more would be named winners of the Nobel
Prize for physics. All the more impressive for America’s attractive
power, four of the six winners had been born outside the country—in
China, Canada, Australia, England—and had taken U.S. citizenship.
Yesterday, on the way to a class, Michele and I stopped for dinner. The choice was between Mexican, Vietnamese, or Chinese because they were the most convenient restaurants on the way. Since Michele had had Chinese for lunch and we had last gone to the Mexican place, we went to the Vietnamese restaurant. Not Nobel caliber, but very tasty. (Although I did not care for the "very American" Thomas Kincaid pictures on the walls.)
Long live the new America.
In their own ways, Jon Steward and Stephen Colbert represent two main American archetypes: the humble man and the braggart. When I was growing up, the humble man was the ideal we all aspired to (would you be happier with "to which we all aspired"?). The shy, reticent Gary Cooper playing Sgt. York or the sheriff in High Noon was the ideal American hero. The French with their fancy clothes and braggadocio manner were one thing, but real Americans were quiet, even taciturn. Think John Wayne. Think the great Baltimore Colt quarterback Johnny Unitas.
While not taciturn, Jon Stewart is in this tradition. Often his humor is based on him being wrong, the reasonable but humble everyman.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Beck – Not So Mellow Gold | ||||
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In my memory, the first of the braggarts was Mohammad Ali but, really, the braggart archetype is older. George Washington went to the Continental Congress hoping to be appointed Commander in Chief of the American revolutionary forces and to accomplish that end, he had a natty powder blue General's uniform made so he would look very generalish. Nothing reticent there. All the Civil War generals before Grant enjoyed their displays of splendor (when Grant first arrived at General Meade's Headquarters, he snarkingly said that this must be Caesar's Army with all the flags and pomp). Now, it is pretty much universally considered manly to put on a display: think almost any NFL football player after making a touchdown. And nobody does it better than Stephen Colbert.
| Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | ||||
| Prescott Financial Sells Gold, Women & Sheep | ||||
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In case you weren’t paying attention during your Civil War history class, the picture above in not Grant, it is Confederate General Robert E. Lee. It was take in 1863 and was pretty typical of a portrait of a Civil War general. He stands tall in his battle uniform, with resolute eyes, beautiful shinny boots (you can be sure he didn’t shine them), and a sword. Every inch the patrician. He was the son of Major General Henry Lee III “light Horse Harry” who later became the governor of Virgina.
Grant, like Lincoln, was a mid-westerner. A common man. At West Point, Lee was Captain of Cadets while Grant muddled along near the bottom of his class. Grant was quiet, shy, self-effacing. When Grant met Lee during the Mexican-American War, he was thrilled; Lee later said he didn’t remember the meeting. The next time they met was at Appomattox – after Grant’s army had pounded the shit out of Lee. Lee was still resplendent in his beautiful uniform, Grant was wearing a muddy privates uniform with his three stars pined on the shoulders.
Grant had come to do a job and he did it. The picture below shows just that.
It is a new kind of portrait. It was probably taken during the Overland Campaign just after the battle of Cold Harbor. Grant is not the patrician hero: he looks tired, his eyes are sad, his boots are muddy. Unlike Lee, war is not a great adventure for Grant. It is a dirty job to be done.
Grant was the new American hero. The quiet man just doing his job. John Wayne. Gary Cooper in High Noon. No braggadocio flourishes, just quietly getting the job done.
This is probably Mathew Bradley’s most famous photo. Not only because of it’s informality, but because it is so penetrating. I have read that a good portrait is a artifact of a relationship. This is a portrait of a man, the picture of Lee, in contrast, is generic. The pictures, together, are emblematic of the Civil War. Up until then, portraits were formal affairs but this portrait was informal. Lee is shown as the patrician, and by extension, the south as feudal. They are formal portraits reflecting a formal society: ridged, stratified, looking back. This portrait of Grant, the dynamic new kind of American from the West, and by extension, the new and dynamic North: the new America.
An America that is open to the common man. Open to change, at ease with its new frenzy and energy and looking forward. In about a hundred years, from 1800 to 1900, we went from being the equivalent of a third world country to being the world’s industrial powerhouse. And the cleavage point was the Civil War: before it, we were mostly an agrarian society; after it we (the North, at least) were an industrial, urban society.