Last week I received an email from an editor asking if by chance I had anything to send him. (The editor is a friend who's started a new online magazine.) The subject line read: "Submit (but in a good way)."
Yesterday I drove to Sawgrass Mills and bought the summer issue of The Hedgehog Review at Books-A-Million. (One of Martin Amis’s writing rules is to write sentences that other people don’t write.) The theme of the issue was travel and, sitting outside while Hania shopped, I turned to the essay on travel writing. It was rich in academic mind-twisters (even though the author was not identified as an academic) that state the obvious, or the dubious, in a complicated fashion that seems more intent on demonstrating the brilliance of the writer than in making a point. “Travel writing, like travel, is all about the negation of partiality,” the author proclaimed, “ – how a partial and limited perspective can expand and communicate while remaining incomplete.”
A lot has been written about travel writing over the years - some of it by me, sometimes in quarterlies - and this writer found something new to say about it. She had penned a sentence that other people wouldn't write. But it didn't give me new insight into the nature of my profession. Clearly, travel writers experience only a fraction of the places they visit, but even that small sampling can be of value. That is both the nature of travel, and part of the reason we write about it.
I went to the wrong game. Last night, in addition to stealing two bases, Shohei Ohtani hit his 49th and 50th home runs of the season - becoming the first player in major league history to steal 50 bases and hit 50 home runs in one season - and then, for good measure, hit his 51st home run. He went 6 for 6 and drove in 10 runs in the Dodgers 20-4 win over the Marlins.
I should have known Ohtani would set the record here. For it was in loanDepot Park that, last year, he struck out Mike Trout to win the World Baseball Classic for Japan. Oh yes, for those of you not into baseball, the amazing hitter is also an incredible pitcher.
My first 2024 visit to see the Marlins was prompted by the visiting Dodgers, their superstar Shohei Ohtani, and the prospect of witnessing baseball history. Ohtani came into last night's game with 48 home runs and the same number of stolen bases, on the verge of becoming the first player ever to get 50 of each.
He led off the game with a single, promptly stole second (#49), and sprinted to third on the errant throw. This I learned later, as my friend Mark and I were stuck in traffic. Never underestimate the desire of people to witness history.
In his next four at-bats, Ohtani failed to reach base, striking out twice, once while looking. This was a huge disappointment to the fans, many of whom wore Dodgers caps. But even Marlins fans, I suspect, were looking for something to celebrate in a very dismal season.
My solace came at the end of the sixth inning when, on my way to buy my beloved arepa, I spotted a new stand selling Asian food. I passed on the bao buns holding miniature hot dogs – though they looked very cute – and got bao buns stuffed with pork. They were excellent.
I love malls, not so much for shopping – I can’t remember the last time I bought anything other than food in one – but for people-watching and picture-taking. In South Florida we are blessed with two of the nation’s most successful malls: Sawgrass Mills and Aventura Mall. I rarely enter the first; I sit with a book on a bench outside and watch the parade of nations pass by. Aventura boasts one of the best food halls in the region and, since the summer, a delightfully unconventional bookstore.
Unlike Sawgrass’s Books-A-Million, Quade Books is a small, bright, extremely well-curated space. It sits next to the Apple store on the second level; you walk under the food court to get to it. And there you find books in English and Spanish, not in separate sections, but on the same wall, in the same genre. It is an interesting approach, and one perfectly reflective of our bilingual home. On one shelf you can find Leslie Jamison in English and on another Eduardo Galeano in Spanish. There are also romance novels, with their bright covers, and a large section of children’s books. It is a wonderful addition to the mall, a place where I will actually buy something.
I have begun calling my cough ‘Etna’. It lies dormant for long periods and then suddenly erupts.