Last week a Beijing newspaper picked up a story from The Onion and ran it as news. Wow, some people…
Friday night Jen and I got together with Katie and Jeanine in Golden Gate Park – in lucky area 13 – for a little picnic. I drove my Scooby across the pedestrian path and onto the lawn. It was easier than hiking with an ice chest full of Corona. Besides, other people were doing it. But the rangers who came upon us — and at whom Stella barked and jumped — were not so hot on the idea. When asked how I got my car there, I said, “I drove it.” I happily complied with their request to move. They mumbled profanity about my wolf-like dog, hackles flaring, growling at them, but they were clearly more upset by the presence of my car on the lawn.
On Saturday Jen and I went to baby Maya’s first birthday party at Glenn and Amy’s Lucas Valley abode. It was a lot of fun for a little person’s party. After that, we hit the Italian Street Painting Festival in downtown San Rafael. It’s incredible what these street artists can do with a little bit of chalk and a whole lot of asphalt.
Saturday night it was off to dinner at Gordon’s House of Fine Eats with Ben and Jess, Ben’s little brother Jake, and Jess’ friend Scott from Stanford. After a yummy seafood supper, we hit the Brava Theater Center for Kate’s Chink-O-Rama, a song-and-dance comedy show that attempted to shoot down Asian stereotypes. Although it was a really funny and entertaining show, it seemed like it was more about an excuse to say the word “chink” over and over again, without much substantiation of why racial stereotyping is bad. In her opening remarks, Kate did say that we need to “deconstruct” the word chink because it lumps Chinese, Japanese, and Korean people all together without an understanding of their history, culture, etc. But that was all she really said. The rest of the show was just about Asian stereotypes and everyone singing the word chink. Here’s a review on the show from The Chronicle. And another.
I saw a TV commercial last night that absolutely disgusted me. As I watched computerized soldiers re-enact the D-Day attack at Normandy, my jaw dropped as the Sony PlayStation 2 logo appeared at the end of the TV spot. I can’t remember what the game is called, but are some things not sacred? Sixty years from now will there be a 9/11/01 video game where young gamers pretend to be terrorists who crash planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon?
