I saw it the day after I not-unironically wrote to you about my first-world problems. With no bitterness or sanctimony, the play laid first-world miracles as well as absurdities in stark contrast to third-world problems. I use that term deliberately, though some of you may prefer 'developing world,' but let's be honest: would you sooner describe North Korea as developing or third world? Point is, it could have been easy for either the writer or director to fall into the sanctimony trap, but they resisted, and the play is stronger for it.
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Evan Osnos is always worth reading, and his piece on high-speed rail in China is revelatory and shocking, without being all that surprising. This is not the most important excerpt, but I share it because it's striking:
The Minister’s brother had arranged for himself such a healthy piece of ticket sales that he accumulated the equivalent of fifty million dollars in cash, real estate, jewelry, and art. When investigators caught him, he was living among mountains of money so large and unruly that the bills had begun to molder. (Storing cash is one of the most vexing challenges confronting corrupt Chinese officials, because the largest bill in circulation is a hundred-yuan note, worth about fifteen dollars.)More to the point,
In China, as in the United States, corruption and growth flourished together. In the nineteen-eighties, a carton of Double Happiness cigarettes was enough to secure a job transfer or the ration coupon for a washing machine. But in 1992 China began to free up the distribution of land and factories for private use, and the corruption boom was under way. According to the sinologist Andrew Wedeman, in a single year the average sum recovered in corruption cases more than tripled, to six thousand dollars. Cartons of Double Happiness gave way to Hermès bags, sports cars, and tuition for children studying abroad. The larger the deal, the higher the cadre needed to approve it, and bribes moved straight up the ranks.***
The influence of big donors and superPACs on the election was not commensurate with their spending.
Colbert on demographics and porous borders, or, er, women.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Nontraditional Non-White America | ||||
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California disappointed, but a movement emerged.
How green is your pot?
Every vote counts. A number of DC residents were saying at work that their vote wasn't important, but it was: without their votes, there would be a different electoral landscape. Also, the popular vote matters. Still, I applaud Dana Milbank for his protest vote.
There's something to be said for November-is-National-Novel-Writing-Month, but it is emphatically not that one should try to publish one's crap; it's that most things start out as crap and that it's okay, perhaps necessary, to let the crap flow. But then you have to revise.
I only skimmed this piece on singlism, but it made me think about how it's not reflective of anyone I know, apart from my mother.
David Sedaris is hilarious.
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Yesterday, I had an early-morning doctor's appointment, worked a full day, went to the gym for lunch, and got my hair cut before going to the play. Not complaining; the other stuff 'broke up' what would have otherwise just been a long day at the office, and the work that's kept me there for very long days is starting to settle. But two things: (1) it's days like that when you're so glad the play you've hung around for after a long day, delivers; and (2) is it okay that I'm too tired to bike to work?
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