In The Spectator this week, a review of a new biography of D.H. Lawrence quotes the great writer from his Studies in Classic American Literature:
“America is the land of the free! Why, if I say anything that displeases them, the free mob will lynch me, and that’s my freedom. Free? Why, I have never been in a country where the individual has such an abject fear of his fellow countrymen.”
Say what you want about Boomers but nobody gave us free tickets or cocktails for getting our vaccinations. We waited in line for hours and then, unheralded, made our way home.
To me, the attacks on Asian Americans are as puzzling as they are deplorable, taking place in cities – New York, San Francisco – that are not only sophisticated, ethnically diverse, and famously tolerant but that have large, long-established Asian communities (the most visible and, one thought, the most accepted being the Chinese). I wonder if the prejudice toward them is new, or if it’s always been there among a small population that now feels emboldened to make it public. Either way, it suggests that as a nation we are regressing.
Yesterday, for the first time in over a year, we went to the movies: Savor Cinema to see the live action shorts that were nominated for an Academy Award. There was no problem with social distancing as there was only one other person in the theater. The films were mostly depressing: a Palestinian man who goes shopping and is thwarted by soldiers at checkpoints, a young Black man who has a recurring dream he’s being shot by a policeman, a corrections officer in a high security prison. The highlight was the coming attractions, as one of the trailers was for The Truffle Hunters.
Needing relief, we went to Las Olas for dinner. It was not our lucky day. As soon as we sat down at a table near the window we saw shuffling down the sidewalk, with a covey of the curious, Dennis Rodman.
Monday morning, instead of sitting here at my desk, I will be in Miami having a small tumor removed from my throat. The surgery will be followed by a few days in the hospital, so I'm going to take a break from blogging. I'll be back here as soon as I feel well enough, surely with some new material.