A History Lesson from a Fellow Berkeley Alum

With a bit of unintended irony, last night, we dined at Le Cheval, a popular and bustling Vietnamese bistro in downtown Oakland; and afterwards, we watched a documentary that I had been meaning to see for some time now, The Fog of War, an abridged interview with former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in which he discusses the lessons he took away from the Vietnam War. As the principal architect behind the American policy in Vietnam during both the Kennedy and Johnson Presidencies, McNamara has always been a controversial figure. But what was unknown to me was his other brushes with history including his very close involvement in the strategy behind the fire bombings of Tokyo and other largely civilian targets in Japan during WWII (McNamara admits during the interview that if the U.S. had lost the war with Japan, he would have been rightfully convicted of committing war crimes); his presidency of the Ford Motor Company (the first by a person outside of the Ford family) where he pushed for the development of safety devices like the seatbelt; his lengthy tenure as the head of the World Bank; and his wife's founding of the children's literacy organization, Reading is Fundamental. His anecdotes range from the amusing (Ford Motor's early method of "notifying" managers that they were fired, i.e., by having them discover on a Monday morning that all of their office furniture was now a heap of splintered wood on the floor of their office), to the absurd (swapping a pair of khakis for a Quonset hut to expand General Le May's south Pacific island headquarters), to the bone-chilling (the admission that the U.S. government was privately on the very brink of nuclear war on three separate occasions). During my college years at Berkeley, I remember often seeing McNamara's name whenever there was an occasion to tout a list of Berkeley's many illustrious alums. Strange that one of the primary implementers of the Vietnam War graduated from the one university that was best remembered as the focal point of dissent against the war. But then again, Edward Teller and Robert Oppenheimer, the two scientific minds behind the development of the atomic bomb, both taught at my dear alma mater as well. I would definitely recommend The Fog of War to anyone even remotely interested in American history and especially to those wary of our current involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Family Theme or Family Scheme?

"It seems to me that upbringings have themes. The parents set the theme, either explicitly or implicitly, and the children pick it up, sometimes accurately and sometimes not so accurately.... The theme may be 'Our family has a distinguished heritage that you must live up to' or 'No matter what happens, we are fortunate to be together in this lovely corner of the earth' or 'We have worked hard so that you can have the opportunities we didn’t have.'" (Calvin Trillin, "Messages from My Father", The New Yorker, June 20, 1994) While most second generation Korean Americans are all too familiar with the third refrain, I'm beginning to suspect that my particular family theme is something closer to "We made the sacrifice of immigrating to this country to improve the educational opportunities for you and your sister and the golfing opportunities for me and your mother." And I would hasten to add, "not necessarily in that order."

One More on the Growing Reading List

Just purchased Calvin Trillin's Feeding a Yen. Trillin, a longtime contributing writer to The New Yorker, has written a number of books, most combining elements of humor, travel, and occasionally political and/or social commentary. Having been born and raised in Kansas City, Trillin writes about Manhattan life through the prism of his folksy Midwestern sensibility... and more often than not, hilarity ensues. Myself having been raised in Kansas City (albeit at a very early age) and also having lived and experienced daily life in the heart of Manhattan, I can relate to the very source of his humor. His Too Soon to Tell had me rolling on the floor. This new book should be even better as it combines three elements of personal interest, i.e., food, travel, and humor. Already a third of the way through and Trillin is true to form.

The Continuing Adventures of Wagamama Boy: From Banana Split to Banana Republic

We spent a leisurely Saturday with Jonathan, aka Wagamama Boy. After feasting on some seafood dimsum at Yet Wah on Clement in the city, we headed out to Ghiradelli to top it off with ice cream sundaes. The terms "diet" and "restraint" took the day off from our vocabulary on Saturday; sad to report, "calories" and "gluttony" both received promotions. Jonathan had a soupy banana split which he polished off in less than fifteen minutes. We consumed our rocky road sundae in ten. After our short walk of guilt and contrition to the Warming Hut Cafe at the edge of Crissy Field, we headed back to the East Bay, stopping at Bay Street in Emeryville for a look around. The high point was the Korean sales clerk at Banana Republic flirting with Wagamama Boy. What a sight.

A Classical Night of Italian and Greek (Suburban Translation: Pizza and Troy)

Last night, T and I made the trek out to far away Dublin in the Tri-Valley. Our friends, who had purchased a large home there not too long ago, had arranged babysitting for their young son, so it was one of the few opportunities for them to enjoy an evening out as an "untethered" couple. We made it simple, pizza and a movie. This particular evening, we tore into a couple of piping hot Amici's pies and sunk into the plush theater seats at the local IMAX as we transported ourselves to the cinematic recreation of Homer's classic "The Iliad", i.e., Troy. Initially, I was a bit skeptical. For some inexplicable reason, actors with heavy Scottish brogues were cast in many of the important roles. Not very convincing as Greeks and Trojans in the least. In fact, the Scottish actor cast as King Agamemnon had played William Wallace's uncle, Argyle in the movie Braveheart; and the Scottish actor cast as Agamemnon's brother, the slighted King Menelaus of Sparta, had played Wallace's best friend in the very same Braveheart! Can't they find actors who look and sound more Hellenic? And don't get me started on Brad Pitt as Achilles, or Peter O'Toole as the Trojan King Priam. The only notable exception to the misguided casting of Troy was Eric Bana as the Trojan Prince Hector. He rocked! Then there were the battle scenes. Many of them were too reminiscent of prior war movies including scenes that were derivative of Braveheart, Gladiator, The Patriot, ad infinitem.; this includes the bloody beachfront invasion by the Greeks of the sandy Trojan shore which was eerily similar to the Omaha Beach D-Day invasion segment in Saving Private Ryan. Fortunately for all parties involved, the movie was saved by the drama inherent in the underlying Iliad narrative. Cinematic distractions aside, the script stayed true to the spirit of the Homer epic and because of that, I actually enjoyed the movie overall by the time the credits began rolling. Look forward to a sequel, a movie version of Homer's "The Odyssey"... just please don't recast Sean Bean as Odysseus.