1.) I have a loving, incredibly supportive family, in spite of my many faults and foibles.
2). I have had the support - whether financial, familial, or personal - to do most of what I want, unlike so many others in the world.
3). I have had access to a top-notch education, interacting with too many people to mention who have inspired me - in pre-school, elementary school, middle school, high school, college, and in graduate school. I have made so many friends through my opportunities in so many cultures and in so many places. For this, I thank you all.
4.). I, unlike so many others, have the opportunity to live in the place that I want, with all of the Western accoutrements that I want.
5). I have two wonderful dogs, who make my life so much richer. Even if they drive me nuts at times.
6). I have had the access to a top-tier education, without (over)-burdening my family, friends, or my country.
7). That I live in a country where I am free to live my own life within reason, and that I have access to a viable democratic process, without the threat of a dictatorship. In the United States, we really do take our government, for all its numerous faults, for granted.
8). That I have a wonderful group of friends, centered in the United States but branching to South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, Mozambique, France, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Canada, Guatemala, Cuba, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Australia, New Zealand, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Korean Peninsula, and in many other places throughout the world.
9). EC. Thanks to your tutelage and your influence, you showed me things in the world that I never could have known existed. You took a young, immature student under your wing (whether you liked it or not) and truly made me a citizen of the world. You took me to places I never would have had the opportunity to visit otherwise. And now, you are one of my greatest and dearest friends.
10). CS. You also took me under your wing in a hectic time of my life. I don't know what I would have done without the tutelage and friendship of you, DG, BC, CA, AD, LF, and so many others. You and RI took a young, rather immature student and helped form him into a viable member of society. Thank you so much for that.
11). LW. Even though at times, I have absolutely hated you, you really made me think about the world in a different and more enriching way. You made me question the world, and the written word, in a way that I never had before.
12). Personally, I am indebted to my ancestors, who braved struggles I cannot even begin to imagine in order to make the lives of their descendants better; my family, especially my parents and grandparents, for things too numerous to list; my brothers, for kicking my ass when I really deserved it, and for inspiring me more than they'll ever know; and for my friends, for sticking with me when I know I didn't deserve it.
I am the luckiest guy in the world. I can't begin to thank all of the people who have influenced my life to be what it is today, but this is my feeble attempt. Bless you all, all that you do, all in your families and all you care about, and all that you hold dear.
Cheers,
SM
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Fall TV and other random ruminations...
Since most of my day is spent corralling two very active (but sweet as can be) dogs, one of my guilty pleasures at night it premium cable. There are three shows in particular that I adore at the moment: Dexter and Homeland from Showtime, and Boardwalk Empire from HBO.
1). Dexter is a great show simply because the premise is so bizarre. The writers have managed over the course of prior seasons to make you cheer lustily for a serial killer vigilante. This season they have moved the focus a bit to religion, to show how the message of religion can simultaneously be completely cleansing and completely corrupted. In a world with suicide bombers, hateful right-wing zealots, generous and selfless believers, and dedicated religious communities, I really have found strong resonance in the season's message (to date).
2). Homeland is great on a few different levels - one the one hand, it's a great redux of the Manchurian Candidate style of film from the Cold War era. You certainly feel for the main character, Brody - he was imprisoned by Al-Qaeda for eight years and when he finally returns home, his wife has moved on to his best friend (who subsequently took care of his children in the wake of Brody's apparent death) and he is pulled in dozens of directions all at once. The CIA operative - the other main character - believes he is a cloaked Al-Qaeda agent. The CIA agent, Carrie Matheson (portrayed brilliantly by Claire Danes), is supposed to be on anti-psychotics and always seems about one disaster away from completely coming unglued. That being said, she really is a very refreshing female character for the state of TV these days - she is fiercely independent (as much as is possible in the CIA), isn't afraid nor morally conflicted to use her sexuality to get what she wants, and is as tough as they come. It's really a great break from the usual treatment of women on television as sex objects, empty characters, or worse, empty heads. Danes played Matheson as a woman just on the brink of coming completely unglued, and it's fascinating to watch. I love Damien Lewis in just about anything (especially Band of Brothers), and he is great as Brody as well.
3). Boardwalk Empire's second season has really had me rethinking what the series was all about. At first, I thought it to be a rather simplistic bit of retrograde film-noir for an audience unschooled in the classics of the 20s, 30s, and 40s. Furthermore, as is also true, I thought it was at times violent for violence's sake (imagine that, coming from Scorsese). However, I feel the writers have really found their feet in the second season. Instead of a parochial focus on Atlantic City and how Prohibition initiated the processes that led directly to the rise of modern organized crime in the U.S., the writers have moved to a broader focus on class and class mobility. In my mind - although admittedly, I am a trained Marxist historian and scholar, so I see class struggle in everything - the second season has become the story of class struggle in early 20th century America. It has as neatly as possible tied in the many divergent stories of immigration and the proletariat in early modern American capitalism. Irish and Jewish immigrants, the violence and hatred towards African-Americans struggling for workers' rights, women slowly asserting their place in early modern America (and, importantly, not men giving it to them: in Boardwalk Empire women are fiercely independent and active agents, more so than any recent period piece in memory). The writers even get the processes correct: how crime served as a vehicle of class mobility for those not afforded the privilege of being born white and male in early 20th century America. That really struck me because that was precisely what my M.A. thesis was about, although my M.A. thesis concerned criminal gangs in a later period in South Africa.
However, the show has always had undertones of simplistic philosophy that panders to the lowest common viewer. The last episode (aired 4 December) once again pushed the Oedipus Rex tale to the front, eschewing the brilliant story of class warfare for the tired tale of Oedipus (Jimmy) killing his father (first Nucky, symbolically; and now the Commodore, literally) and continuing the portrayal of Jimmy's skin-crawling relationship with his mother. I'm not sure where the writers are going with that, and I must wait until the finale to pass judgement, but in the wake of the scandals at Syracuse and Penn State it is once again upsetting to see these issues pushed to the fore. (However, one must remember that the writers no doubt wrote these episodes long before the scandals at Syracuse and Penn State were reported, so please don't mistake my dictate for condemnation: merely an observation)
I cannot wait for next Sunday, as all the shows wrap up their seasons. It has been truly enlightening and rewarding viewing. Carry on, writers!
1). Dexter is a great show simply because the premise is so bizarre. The writers have managed over the course of prior seasons to make you cheer lustily for a serial killer vigilante. This season they have moved the focus a bit to religion, to show how the message of religion can simultaneously be completely cleansing and completely corrupted. In a world with suicide bombers, hateful right-wing zealots, generous and selfless believers, and dedicated religious communities, I really have found strong resonance in the season's message (to date).
2). Homeland is great on a few different levels - one the one hand, it's a great redux of the Manchurian Candidate style of film from the Cold War era. You certainly feel for the main character, Brody - he was imprisoned by Al-Qaeda for eight years and when he finally returns home, his wife has moved on to his best friend (who subsequently took care of his children in the wake of Brody's apparent death) and he is pulled in dozens of directions all at once. The CIA operative - the other main character - believes he is a cloaked Al-Qaeda agent. The CIA agent, Carrie Matheson (portrayed brilliantly by Claire Danes), is supposed to be on anti-psychotics and always seems about one disaster away from completely coming unglued. That being said, she really is a very refreshing female character for the state of TV these days - she is fiercely independent (as much as is possible in the CIA), isn't afraid nor morally conflicted to use her sexuality to get what she wants, and is as tough as they come. It's really a great break from the usual treatment of women on television as sex objects, empty characters, or worse, empty heads. Danes played Matheson as a woman just on the brink of coming completely unglued, and it's fascinating to watch. I love Damien Lewis in just about anything (especially Band of Brothers), and he is great as Brody as well.
3). Boardwalk Empire's second season has really had me rethinking what the series was all about. At first, I thought it to be a rather simplistic bit of retrograde film-noir for an audience unschooled in the classics of the 20s, 30s, and 40s. Furthermore, as is also true, I thought it was at times violent for violence's sake (imagine that, coming from Scorsese). However, I feel the writers have really found their feet in the second season. Instead of a parochial focus on Atlantic City and how Prohibition initiated the processes that led directly to the rise of modern organized crime in the U.S., the writers have moved to a broader focus on class and class mobility. In my mind - although admittedly, I am a trained Marxist historian and scholar, so I see class struggle in everything - the second season has become the story of class struggle in early 20th century America. It has as neatly as possible tied in the many divergent stories of immigration and the proletariat in early modern American capitalism. Irish and Jewish immigrants, the violence and hatred towards African-Americans struggling for workers' rights, women slowly asserting their place in early modern America (and, importantly, not men giving it to them: in Boardwalk Empire women are fiercely independent and active agents, more so than any recent period piece in memory). The writers even get the processes correct: how crime served as a vehicle of class mobility for those not afforded the privilege of being born white and male in early 20th century America. That really struck me because that was precisely what my M.A. thesis was about, although my M.A. thesis concerned criminal gangs in a later period in South Africa.
However, the show has always had undertones of simplistic philosophy that panders to the lowest common viewer. The last episode (aired 4 December) once again pushed the Oedipus Rex tale to the front, eschewing the brilliant story of class warfare for the tired tale of Oedipus (Jimmy) killing his father (first Nucky, symbolically; and now the Commodore, literally) and continuing the portrayal of Jimmy's skin-crawling relationship with his mother. I'm not sure where the writers are going with that, and I must wait until the finale to pass judgement, but in the wake of the scandals at Syracuse and Penn State it is once again upsetting to see these issues pushed to the fore. (However, one must remember that the writers no doubt wrote these episodes long before the scandals at Syracuse and Penn State were reported, so please don't mistake my dictate for condemnation: merely an observation)
I cannot wait for next Sunday, as all the shows wrap up their seasons. It has been truly enlightening and rewarding viewing. Carry on, writers!
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