JACK BERNARD'S TRAVELS

This past week was Presidents Week for me. It started on Wednesday night when I heard Jon Meacham, the Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of Andrew Jackson, American Lion and Franklin and Winston, talk about his new biography of Thomas Jefferson at Town Hall in Seattle .

I’ve seen Meacham interviewed by Charlie Rose and as a panelist on the Sunday morning talk shows, but seeing and hearing him in person was an unexpected treat. He was funny, irreverent, erudite, and consummately in charge of his subject matter. On television he always seemed a bit wonk-ish and stiff, but up close he was confident, relaxed, and very engaged with his audience. He obviously liked and admired Jefferson but was equally clear that this was a deeply flawed individual. As the author of the Declaration of Independence he wrote that “all men are created equal,” but in his private life he was a slave owner who fathered several children by his slave, Sally Hemmings. For various reasons he could not summon the courage to advocate for their freedom and equality.

It is an interesting coincidence that Meacham’s biography appears at nearly the same time as another controversial biography of Jefferson by Henry Wiencek entitled Master of the Mountain: Thomas Jefferson and his Slaves. I haven’t read Wiencek’s book. Its scholarship is serious and acknowledged, but the New York Times reviewer and others have suggested that it is a hatchet job by “a man so blinded by his loathing of Thomas Jefferson that he can’t see contrary evidence right before his eyes.” Mr. Wiencek focuses on the obvious character flaw and lack of courage while failing to acknowledge the brilliant thinker and founder of the republic. Jefferson knew the difference between right and wrong. In the end he chose not to stand and fight to bring an end to the national disgrace.

Lincoln, on the other hand, was willing to risk his Presidency during the height of the Civil War to issue the Emancipation Proclamation and secure passage of the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution in order to bring an end to slavery. It was a remarkable act of courage and Steven Spielberg’s film, Lincoln, based on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals tells the story as if it were a fictional thriller. Daniel Day-Lewis will undoubtedly win an Oscar for his portrayal of Lincoln, but the rest of the cast, Tommy Lee Jones, David Strathairn, and Sally Fields as Lincoln’s tortured wife are also Oscar-worthy. I saw the film on Friday night and was immediately drawn into the complexity and differences between Lincoln and Jefferson.

It was an interesting juxtaposition that allowed me to encounter both Jefferson and Lincoln in the same week – Jefferson, whose principles and vision created the republic and Lincoln, whose principles and vision held it together when it was tested. Both were great men. There is an argument, and I accept it, that Jefferson could not have facilitated the end of slavery. He addressed the problem in the Virginia House of Burgesses but was not taken seriously, and one of the early drafts of the Declaration of Independence contained language about the end of slavery but it was stricken. His last mention of ending slavery was in the Ordinance of 1784 in which he proposed the abolition of slavery in the states created after 1800, but that provision was defeated by one vote when the Ordinance was approved. After 1784 there is no record of his support or advocacy for abolition. Had he tried it would probably have ended the American experiment before it had a chance to come together.

I love both books and movies, and this week has given me hope that serious art and literature is alive and well – in Seattle and across the US. At a time when Congress and the President seem to be fiddling while the country burns, Meacham assured me that in other even more trying times the republic endured. Keep the faith. We will get through this.

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Garrison Keillor has a great sketch about a teenage boy who believes that his parents picked up the wrong baby when they left the hospital. His parents are dull mid-Westerners with no interest in culture while he is a thwarted artist living in their stifling prison of normalcy.

I live a variation of that story but mine is climate related. Neither my parents nor my children love hot weather the way I do. If I could have my way I would live someplace where the temperature stayed between 80-90⁰ day in and day out. Seasons are overrated in my estimation. The last three years in Saigon were nearly ideal – sometimes a little too hot and sometimes a little too humid – but I’d rather be hot and sticky in flip flops and shorts than shivering in a down parka.

What’s this weather riff about? It’s about Surviving Seattle. I don’t do cold and wet very well. For half the year here I have to hesitate before I open the door. Even when it’s not raining the chill gets to me. I need relief. I’m not Seattle person by temperament, but I’ve made peace with it. Real Seattleites don’t mind the cold and wet. They don’t know the value of a good umbrella. I don’t think I ever saw one when I was growing up, and after a 40 year break I still don’t see many but every day I see commuters riding their bikes in the driving rain as if it were perfectly normal. I still get out to ride on sunny days this time of year but I’m swathed in fleece and ready to fly home or duck into a Starbucks at the hint of rain.

The good news is that there is life (for me) when the weather shifts to cold, dark, and wet. I belong to a full service gym with a pool, covered tennis and squash courts, state of the art exercise machines and classes from spinning and yoga to Pilates. And, when the body is satisfied there is always the life of the mind. I read the NY Times every morning by the fire and I buy way too many books because I love the way they feel and the worlds they transport me to. And, I go to the theater.

Seattle has a vibrant theater scene with both depth and variety. Minneapolis has the Guthrie and Chicago has Second City and Steppenwolf, but I think Seattle theater can go toe to toe with any city in America except New York.

In the last two months Marilynn and I have seen four plays in four different theaters. We’ve seen a virtuoso solo performance, Uncle Sam to Uncle Ho, about one man’s Vietnamese immigrant experience, a polished but troubling musical about the Pullman Company’s porters called Pullman Porter Blues, an ambitious telling of the Asian myth of Ramayana, and Superior Donuts, a play by Tracy Letts, the author of the Tony Award winning August: Osage County and one of the leads in Broadway’s current remake of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Pretty good stuff for soggy old Seattle. And, it’s good value.

Marilynn and I are going to New York in a couple of weeks. We’re all amped up to see the museums, Christmas decorations, some live theater, and to chow down on a real Reuben and some real bagels. But, there’s definitely a price difference. I just spent $1100 online for tickets to a musical, The Book of Mormon, a play, The Anarchist, and an opera at the Met, Don Giovanni. The four Seattle plays came to roughly $300.

I’m not a theater critic, but I was knocked out by the quality of the Seattle performances, especially Superior Donuts. I like small independent films and plays with a handful of actors who tell a story that holds my attention for two hours. In those two hours I get taken to another place by people and situations that are not part of my daily life. The story and the characters talk to me about universal themes and situations. I aspire to that in my own writing but I have a long way to go and much to learn. I’m hoping for a short winter but there are consolations in learning to survive Seattle. I might even learn something new.

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What do baseball and opera have in common? They are both better viewed in HD than at the ballpark or in the opera house.

I grew up on baseball and loved going to games as a kid, but that was before flat screens and High Definition TV. Now if I go to a game it is really to be part of the ritual not to “see” it. If I want to “see” the game I do it in front of my 42″ flat screen where I can see the pimples on the pitcher’s nose. But, truth to tell, I hardly watch baseball anymore. I might if Seattle had a decent team but it doesn’t, and I’ve totally lost interest.

So why do I suddenly like opera? Is it that the Mariners suckage is so devastating that I would rather see an opera? Is it that the pain associated is so much less than watching the Mariners flounder? It’s not really that simple, although I think I’d rather eat a plate full of brussel sprouts than watch the home team stumble around Safeco Field in their current incarnation. I know it sounds goofy. I know almost nothing about opera. I can name a few famous singers and I know the names of a dozen or so operas. Ignorance alone has stood in the way of my spending nearly $100 to pay for a live performance. It’s not that I haven’t liked the operas I’ve seen, but those performances were primarily lucky happenstance. When I was flying for Pan Am I managed to see Tosca performed on a lovely summer night at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome and La Boheme in the wonderfully baroque opera house in Rome. I was lucky enough to hear Pavarotti in Aida at Covent Garden and later Marilynn and I saw Carmen on the Boston Commons. Still, I didn’t really know enough about opera to appreciate these opportunities. BUT NOW – I’m hooked. It’s all about High Definition broadcasts of live performances from the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. They are sensational.

For $22 I go to a local Cineplex on Saturday morning, sit in a comfortable seat, and watch the world’s greatest singers perform live opera with Dolby sound from the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center. Peter Gelb, the Met’s General Manager, initiated the live HD performances in 2006. It was a bold strategy in audience and revenue development, and it was far from a sure thing. It has turned out to be a huge success and has increase both audience and revenue for the Met. The American opera goer is overwhelmingly old. It’s rare, even now with the HD performances to see anyone in the theater under 50. But, I think it will happen. It is mind blowing to experience on the huge screen. Each performance involves something like 20 cameras shooting simultaneously, so there are long shots, close ups, panoramic views and shots of the orchestra.

This year, the 2012-2013 season, there are 17 live performances scheduled in theaters nationwide. I’ve seen three (photos above) – The Tempest – a modern Thomas Ades adaptation of Shakespeare’s play, Otello – Verdi’s Shakespeare adaptation with Renee Fleming and Johan Botha, and L’Elisir d’Amore – by Donizetti directed by Seattle’s Bartlett Sher with Anna Netrebko in the lead role.

I wish the Mariners good luck, but for now I’d rather watch the amazing spectacle and major league talent that is the Metropolitan Opera in HD. It’s always good to find new interests. So far I’m loving this one – maybe you will too.

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You probably can’t identify these two men but they are going to have a profound impact on your life.

On Tuesday Americans re-elected Barack Obama to the US Presidency, and on Thursday, the Chinese Communist Party Congress gets underway in Beijing to choose the new leadership that will lead China for the next ten years. It’s been twenty years since these two nations transferred power at the same time, and it will be 20 years before it happens again. Two systems, two processes, two changes in government – but the transfer couldn’t be more different.

Every ten years there is a changing of the guard in China and new leadership is designated for the coming decade. Unlike America, where 300,000,000 people have an opportunity to express their opinion and vote for the President, China’s new leadership is selected by a small committee of the Communist Party. The Politburo Standing Committee chooses the next Party Chief/President and the Prime Minister and then rules by consensus through them for the next ten years. Right now there is a not so secret power struggle going at the highest levels in the party. Factions within the party are attempting to consolidate their power and promote their own agendas and candidates. They are jockeying for positions and appointment to the Politburo Standing Committee which has historically had nine members but will likely be reduced to seven which will concentrate power even more. Most of these factions and power players are descendants of revolutionary heroes, who have over the years consolidated their power and influence. The amazing thing, to me, is that the man or woman on the street in Shanghai might find it just as hard to identify Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, the two gentlemen at the top of this post, as you do. That is how uninvolved the ordinary people of China are in this important change in government. This is a one party system ruled by insiders.

Contrast that with America – which couldn’t be messier. I, for one, am exhausted from the months of campaigning and truly glad that the election is over. Yet, it was, arguably, one of the most important US elections in the last 70 years. Six billion dollars ($6,000,000,000) was spent in the process, and it looks like the result affirms the status quo. Obama in the White House, the Democrats in control of the Senate and the Republicans in charge of the House of Representatives. Republicans began campaigning against Obama in 2009, just one year after the last Presidential election and effectively blocked all Democratic legislation after the spring of 2010. Mitt Romney began his campaign for the office seven years ago. There must be a better, cheaper, fairer way to get do this.

Is campaign finance reform out of the question? Wouldn’t a level playing field seem more in alignment with our principles than one heavily weighted toward the rich? Clearly, the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United has had a monumentally profound impact on how campaigns are financed and an extremely negative effect on the transparency of the process. I am a staunch advocate of free speech, but Citizens United is a perversion of the principle, because it undermines one man one vote and effectively turns the election over to the richest of the rich. I can blog my little ass off but the Koch brothers and other anonymous donors can give millions of dollars to Super Pacs that distort and mislead because they are “issue oriented.” We had a leg up on the process with McCain-Feingold but the Supreme’s killed the duck with one shot.

Nevertheless, our messy, lopsided, probably unfair and unbalanced process looks pretty good compared with what’s going on in China. It is now illegal in Beijing to possess balloons, pamphlets, homing pigeons, ping pong balls or anything that might carry a negative political message. Taxi drivers are reminded to check the back seats of their cabs for subversive materials that passengers may have been left behind. CNN and BBC TV feeds are now blocked, and 130 dissidents have been rounded up and will be held until after the transfer of power (NPR).

I’m personally glad Obama will remain in the White House. I don’t think Mitt Romney is a bad person; I just don’t believe he understood the people he wanted to govern or that he had the interests of ALL the people in his plan for America.

But – remember those two faces at the top of this page. The People’s Standing Committee is still haggling over the coming changes, but whoever emerges as China’s leaders may have more influence in your life than either of the two candidates in our election.

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It’s the first of November and the summer honeymoon is over. Seattleites were blessed with an extended summer and a short gloriously beautiful fall, but last week everything changed and now we’re looking at six months of drizzle with occasional drenching downpours. Suddenly we have to recalibrate and refocus. There’s a sort of climatic amnesia in Seattle that helps us keep the memory of Sunlight Affective Disorder (SAD) at bay while we spend a few months on the lake or riding our bikes on the Burke-Gilman Trail. But, every year about this time we are driven indoors and we have to develop survival strategies for the next six or seven months.

After living the last three years in Saigon I am seeing Seattle through a different lens. I miss Saigon, but when I was there I began to miss the yeasty culture of Seattle – art, theater, movies, books, restaurants, sports and even the politics. So one of the first things we did when we came home was to renew our membership in the Seattle Art Museum. and check out the first big show of the fall – Elles: Pompidou a show of women artists that ran at the Centre Pompidou in Paris for two years. The range is extraordinary and the cultural point is that these women were largely subordinate to male artists working in the same period – 1907 – 2012. The Guerilla Girls poster below says it all.

It’s an awareness raising experience to see the show. I’ve been three times so far and plan to visit again. SAM has added to the exhibit by running a concurrent exhibit of women artists from its own collection – Frankenthaler, Louise Nevelson, Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell, Laurie Anderson and the like.

It feels like I am taking the first steps in the seasonal change transition. Last night we went on the First Thursday Art Walk, a monthly event where the downtown galleries stay open and the gallery association provides a map and a written guide to what’s going on in the Seattle art scene. I didn’t see much that was new or exciting except at the Greg Kucera Gallery on 3rd Avenue South. He has a great space and enough of it to show several artists without having them interfere with each other’s individual styles. First Thursday also features live music at SAM, and I plan to make it a regular stop on the winter beat. With an umbrella and a parka I ought to be able to survive for awhile.

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