LA en vie

Restaurant behavior: L.A. vs Ohio

"I went back to Ohio last week and went out to dinner with my sister," said a woman I started talking to at the hairdressers. "When someone new came into the restaurant, people just kept on talking and didn't look. It suddenly hit me that in L.A., the entire restaurant always turns around whenever the door opens, to see who it is."

Virginia Tech shootings: Guns and freedom

The students and teachers killed at Virginia Tech were from every race and religion. The U.S. is still a melting pot.

This tragedy is inevitably seen as inevitable by Americans, and as American by foreigners. The South Korean shooter would not have been able to buy guns so easily in his own country. People kill people-- but guns kill more of them.

People in other countries do not understand the American affection for the Second Amendment.

The second student killed by the gunman was Ryan Clark, known as "Stack," a 4.0 double major in biology and English (i.e. an excellent student). He was an R.A. (resident assistant) in the dorm where the first student who was shot, and was killed going to her aid. A friend put up this photo of him, above.

Another was Reema Samaha, who was 18.

And Ross Alameddine, who "could make anyone laugh":

 

And Maxine Turner

And Professor Liviu Librescu. According to CNN, "Dr. Liviu Librescu was credited with saving many students' lives by blocking the door as the shooter was trying to enter. Dr. Liviu Librescu was a Holocaust survivor and one of the most published professors at Virginia Tech.”

Emily Hilscher loved horses

Henry Lee was a freshman from Roanoke, Virginia.

Erin Peterson, as reported by her father

Dan O'Neil

  Caitlin Hammaren was studying French

Why do you want my telephone number?

"Why do you want my telephone number? I'm paying cash," I said.

"It's for our inventory," said the clerk, looking puzzled that I would ask. (I didn't give it.)

This new American obsession with telephone-number-collecting gives me the creeps. It must have something to do with the junk phone calls I have been getting several times a day since I moved back to the U.S.. But I can't help wondering who else is collecting this information, and what they are doing with it.

Parrots take over

"Those huge nests belong to parrots," said my guide. "They have lived in Chicago for years and don't even go south for the winter."

When I got back to L.A. I was telling this story to a new acquaintance and he said, "You have parrots right outside your house. Hear that screeching noise-- there? That's parrots who have escaped. They're all over L.A."

The Maori house

The plane from Los Angeles to Chicago was full of Maoris from the North Island of New Zealand, who had been traveling nonstop for more than 24 hours already. They were mostly large, tattooed and cheerful. The group included some older men and women, and I stopped and asked one of them whether they were a choir. She said that they were all from a large family, going to perform a dance and ceremony at an ancestral house that now belongs to the Field Museum in Chicago. "At nine o'clock, there will be a welcome ceremony before the public enters. Why don't you come?"

The woman next to me-- she herself was half Maori and half pakeha, or non-Maori--was doing a documentary on the house for Maori television. "Of course we only get half as much money as the English channels would get to do their documentary," she said. "But at least there's a station now where Maori kids can see people who speak their language."

She explained that the whole culture of the Maoris revolves around these family houses, where huge family gatherings are held and everyone brings food. "Some people practically spend their whole lives there, and use their own homes just to sleep. So you see the house is very important to them." But she said that the family was not angry that the Field Museum had this house. It had fallen into disrepair and would have been destroyed, and the museum bought and saved it, and can afford to keep it in good repair.

I asked about the tattoos and she said that men traditionally got full-face tattoos,  and women tattooed their eyebrows, lips and chin. "It's coming back. A lot of younger women are doing them now. People have more pride in their culture than before. No one ever gave us anything," she said. "But we have our treaty; we have rights."

I thought of the American Indians and the numberless, worthless treaties they signed with the white man. What made the difference? Were the New Zealanders more decent, or the Maoris fiercer? Was the land too far away from the British Empire? Another kind of invasion is happening now. "Everyone has discovered how beautiful New Zealand is now," said my neighbor. "Foreigners are buying up the entire coast. Local people can't afford land there any more."

It was snowing and 35° F (1.6° C) when we arrived in the Windy City.

Sea World sunset

Yesterday we went to Sea World in San Diego. During the entire drive there was only one short stretch of about five miles that was not completely urban. I remember when there was land between the two cities....

We passed San Juan Capistrano, where the famous old mission is, and I decided to go take a look at it on the way back, in the evening when the tourists would be gone.

At Sea World, the entire province of Baja California seemed to have come up for a visit. The other people there were either Asian or extremely blond. Everyone was in bathing suits and shorts. I felt very overdressed in a long-sleeved shirt and jeans. There were also a few stunningly obese Middle Americans. You don't see that much in Los Angeles.

The highlight of a Sea World visit is the killer whales (orcas), of course. The top predator of the ocean hurtles through the water and air right in front of you. I know there are people who think it is wrong to keep whales and dolphins in captivity. Maybe they are right but probably more people are touched by the animals this way, and want to help them afterwards.

At the end of the day we made our way to "Shipwreck Rapids," a whitewater-raft experience that is a clone of the River Styx at the Parc Astérix outside Paris. Having gone on a lot of raft trips, I think these rides do give you a good feel for the real thing.

One very American touch was that people watching the rafts can pay 25 cents and aim at you with a big water cannon as you pass. Somehow I don't think that would go over in France.

It was only 6:30 p.m., but the sun was going down! Oh no! We were still in our soaking wet clothes. Now I saw why everyone else was in bathing suits and shorts. It would be a long drive home, our backs steaming on the slightly heated seats.

When we passed San Juan Capistrano it was pitch black outside. I keep forgetting that the days are so much shorter here.

The assiduous doctor

A member of my family went to the doctor for something else yesterday and mentioned some recent headaches. A French doctor would have said, "Anything serious?" and prescribed aspirin. This doctor gave us a neurologist's name and advised a CAT scan.

Quote of the evening

"Milk chocolate is to dark chocolate as bestiality is to true love."

Anomalies of American life: Early dinners

Tonight I am going to my first dinner party here. The host neglected to say what time it started, so I foolishly assumed it would be at the Usual Time-- which in Paris is inevitably 20h30/ 8:30 p.m.-- and it's polite to show up slightly later than that, so that someone always arrives around nine.

But the email this afternoon said, "We are asking people to come at 6:30." I was horrified. There is no way to be on time now!

What an early town. Last night we got out of a movie and tried to have dinner at 10 p.m. and almost all the restaurants were closed.

Atheists United adopt a highway

Many things that in other countries are done by the government are private in the U.S..  This leads to a proliferation of ads (as in the Coca-Cola Olympics of 1996).

Like other states, California has an adopt-a-highway program. I was amused to see this highway sign the other day. The atheists have to keep this section of the road clean in order to keep their ad up.

The requirement leads to some funny signs. Here is one plaintive road abandoned by its erstwhile benefactor.