Through a glass, darkly

Why do we condemn the Bill Clintons, the John Edwards, the Tiger Woods of the world? Why do we Americans (prudish so) hold our celebrities so lofty in moral expectation?

For princes are the glass, the school, the book,
Where subjects' eyes do learn, do read, do look,

Velocius et citius nos
Corrumpunt vitiorum exempla domestica, magnis
Cum subeant animos auctoribus.
[Domestic examples of vice corrupt us more swiftly
and sooner, when in stirring our passions they
are backed by the example of the great.]

-Antigonus

Examples of the great
Are great enablers.

Semantics in the Sino-American Relationship

"Watch yer mouth, son!"

Next week, when President Obama arrives in Beijing, he will represent a nation that maintains "positive, cooperative and comprehensive" ties with the Middle Kingdom (the official jointly-agreed-upon characterization in Beijing and the Beltway).

This is in marked difference to the Nixon-era "tacit allies [against the Soviet Union]" and the George W. Bush-era "strategic competitors." Bush had also described the relationship as "candid," but Beijing has shied away from suggestions that the two powers might criticize each other publicly.

Don't rush to cynicism—this Confucian-inspired attitude reflects the existential importance of face-saving and respect between two mutually-dependent behemoths. He is recorded in the Analects 2,500 years ago as explaining the importance of language to statecraft:

There must be no arbitrariness in what is said. This matters above all things. If names are not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things. If language is not in accordance with the truth of things, affairs cannot be carried to success.

What words will President Obama, known above all things for his rhetorical flourishes, use next week? Town hall-style meetings have presented the administration with some of its toughest domestic criticism over fiscal policy and health care reform. What happens 7,000 miles away, when he faces a hot seat in a heavily mediated town hall with students in Shanghai? And what of his steps through the ancient tradition of Forbidden City diplomacy in Beijing, where slight breaches of nuanced ritual have lost many a foreign emissary life and limb?

Perhaps Obama was a little too candid with his words as a young senator in Illinois:

They're neither our enemy, nor our friend. They're competitors.

Ouch.

According to Orville Schell, China specialist with the Asia Society's Center on U.S.-China Relations, "We Americans don't do ritual very well. We don't take it seriously. For the Chinese, it is all-important."

Perhaps it would be indeed be prudent to parse our words toward a "strategic competitor" which holds $1 trillion in American debt; which is our most important trading partner; which maintains a nuclear stockpile of hundreds and the world's largest army; which maintains intimate ties with trouble spots North Korea, Pakistan, Iran and Sudan; which has held crucial veto power on the U.N. Security Council since 1979; and which may likely eclipse us in economic and geostrategic power within our lifetimes.


The Gossip, by Norman Rockwell

Little known fact: It is official U.S. policy since President Nixon signed the Shanghai Communique in 1972 that Taiwan is actually part of the People's Republic of China. There are only 22 (mostly tiny) countries that diplomatically recognize Taiwan as a separate nation—the United States is not one of them. The "Taiwanese Embassy" in the United States is officially known as the "Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States," even though its web domain is "www.taiwanembassy.org/US." Taiwan, which self-identifies as the "Republic of China," is known widely as "Chinese Taipei" in international sporting events (like the 2008 Beijing Olympics) and some international organizations, per People's Republic of China pressure.

From Wikipedia:

Both sides agree to use the English name "Chinese Taipei". This is possible because of the ambiguity of the English word "Chinese". In 1979, the International Olympic Committee passed a resolution in Nagoya, Japan, restoring the rights of the Chinese Olympic Committee within the IOC, meanwhile renaming the Taipei-based Olympic Committee "Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee". Since then, and until 1989 the PRC translated "Chinese Taipei" as "Zhongguo Taipei" (simplified Chinese: 中国台北, traditional Chinese: 中國臺北, hanyu pinyin: Zhōngguó Táiběi), connoting that Taipei is a part of the Chinese state. By contrast, the Republic of China government translated it as "Zhonghua Taipei" (traditional Chinese: 中華台北 or 中華臺北, Hanyu Pinyin: Zhōnghuá Táiběi) in Chinese, which references the term "China" as the cultural or ethnic entity, rather than the state.

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"If names are not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things..."

Last Words from Death Penalty Inmates

John Allen Muhammad, AKA "The DC Sniper," who was put to death today in Virginia by lethal injection. He declined a last statement. I remember ducking behind the pumps while gassing my car during his three-week-long 2002 shooting spree—I was legitimately afraid. We all were. The murders were so random, disembodied violence aimed at the most normal moments in our daily routines. Family members of the ten victims crammed into a small viewing room in the execution chamber of Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Virginia...

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This post expresses no opinion about the death penalty—because I have none. It merely tries to humanize one of the many heavy and complex matters that have become mere "issues" in the 24-hour news cycle.

These last statements from death row inmates, on the verge of execution, are posted on the Texas Department of Criminal Justice website here.

Yes I do. I know ya'lls pain, believe me I shed plenty of tears behind Carlos. Carlos was my friend. I didn't murder him. This what is happening right now is an injustice. This doesn't solve anything. This will not bring back Carlos. Ya'll fought real hard here to prove my innocence. This is only the beginning. I love each and everyone dearly. Dre My queen. I love you. Yaws, Junie I love yall. Stay strong, continue to fight. They are fixing to pump my veins with a lethal drug the American Veterinary Association won't even allow to be used on dogs. I say I am worse off than a dog. They want to kill me for this; I am not the man that did this. Fight on. I will see ya'll again. That's all I can say. -Reginald Blanton, Executed October 27, 2009

On 4/13/2000 in San Antonio, Blanton and one co-defendant shot and killed a 20 year old Hispanic male in his apartment. Blanton took jewelry from the victim which was later pawned for $79. He was 18. He was executed 10 years later, at the age of 28.

The Polunsky dungeon should be compared with the Death Row Community as existing not living. Why do I say this, the Death Row is full of isolated hearts and suppressed minds. We are filled with love looking for affection and a way to understand. I am a Death Row resident of the Polunsky dungeon. Why does my heart ache. We want pleasure love and satisfaction. It. The walls of darkness crushed in on me. Life without meaning is life without purpose. But the solace within the Polunsky dungeon, the unforgivesness within society, the church Pastors and Christians. It is terrifying. Does anyone care or who I am. Can you feel me people. The Polunsky dungeon is what I call the pit of hopelessness. The terrfying thing is the US is the only place, country that is the only civilized country that is free that says it will stop murder and enable justice. I ask each of you to lift up your voices to demand an end to the Death Penalty. If we live, we live to the Lord. If we die we die to the Lord. Christ rose again, in Jesus name. Bye Aunt Helen, Luise, Joanna and to all the rest of yall. You may proceed Warden. [began singing] -Johnny Johnson, Executed February 2, 2009

What did he do? Here's the report. (Hint: He's a less-than-ideal voice for the anti-death penalty lobby).

Is the mic on? My only statement is that no cases have ever tried have been error free. Those are my words. No cases are error free. You may proceed Warden. -Dale Devon Scheanette, Executed February 10, 2009

On 12/24/1996, in Arlington, Texas, Scheanette sexually assaulted and strangled a 22 year old black female, resulting in her death.

Yes, nothing I can say can change the past. I am asking for forgiveness. Saying sorry is not going to change anything. I hope one day you can find peace. I am sorry for all of the pain that I have caused you for all those years. There is nothing else I can say, that can help you.

Mija, I love you. Sis, Cynthia, and Sandy, keep on going and it will be O.K. I am sorry to put you through this as well. I can't change the past. I hope you find peace and know that I love you. I am sorry. I am sorry and I can't change it. -David Martinez, Executed February 10, 2009

Mr. Martinez was charged with beating his wife and their 14-year-old son to death with a baseball bat.

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...led into the chamber in denim and flip-flops, John Allen Muhammad was injected with a series of lethal drugs beginning at 9:06 p.m. and he was pronounced dead at 9:11 p.m. Bob Meyers, whose brother, Dean H. Meyers, 53, was gunned down Oct. 9 at a Prince William County gas station said, "There are no winners here. We are not celebrating. It was a sad day for everyone."

Love as a Verb

On the Dao, "Loving" over "Love," and the Gerundal Nature of Happiness...

The entire venerable canon of 5,000 years worth of Chinese religious philosophy could be reduced to a single syllable—

Dao (道)

Translators have had trouble with this word. They usually translate 道 into English as "the Way."

The confusion stems from the fact that in Mandarin Chinese there is no distinction between nouns, verbs, adverbs, etc. as there are in most Indo-European languages. The same word often means a ____ (noun), to ____ (verb), ____-ing (gerund), ____-ingly (adverb), etc.


The same written character 道, for example, means variously:

direction / way / road / path / principle / truth / morality / reason / skill / method / Dao (of Daoism) / to say / to speak / to talk / classifier for long thin stretches, rivers, roads etc / province of Korea (do 도)/ former province of Japan (dō)

The Daoist concept of Dao is neither noun, nor verb, nor adjective--but something that both encompasses and transcends grammatical category. Translating it into English as the abstract noun "the Way," however, tends to give precedence of the noun over the active verb aspects of 道. A more accurate, but ungainly, translation might be "Way-ing." The verbification of nouns in a gerundal "-ing" is the closest that English gets to this "active noun" state.

OK, so what?

Consider the following cliche:

"Love conquers all."

Everyone who reads this with the jaundiced eye of the early 21st Century (half-)knows it's a farce. With divorce rates pushing 60%, financial disaster and unemployment putting strains on relationships, and a Millennial Generation putting off marriage later and later, love clearly doesn't conquer all.

In the phrase "Love conquers all," the word "Love" serves as a subject noun. "Conquers" is the verb, and "all" the direct object of the verb. "Love" is an abstract noun, meaning it's meaning is already elusive, yet universalized. There is only one Love, and yet we are all expected to approach it from individual, subjective angles in the messy realm of romantic reality.

The abstract noun "Love" has been written about endlessly over the eons, and yet who can really explain it to the uninitiated? Like most abstract nouns ("courage," "integrity," "good," "evil," "hope," "change"), "Love" is impossible to codify. We approach the Platonic Form of Love from very divergent angles, all the while unsure whether such an objective and eternal Platonic Form of Love exists. Does Evil exist? Does Good exist? We wonder.

Furthermore, our contemporary ideas of Love and romantic marriage are actually quite new. It was only in the last two centuries that young Western people set out on the journey of finding "the One." You would look for a perfect match, for "compatibility," and then enter a long courtship (designed to reveal or disprove said compatibility), before sealing the deal with marriage. Keep in mind that this approach was compatible with the dominant 18th and 19th Century zeitgeist of rational progress, of the perfectibility of human life through applied reason. Dating/courtship was/is as a "scientific trial," with Love as the "hypothesis," and having weathered the double-blind trials of dating, Love would transition through Theory to Law (marriage).


"Cindy, we've been 'hooking up' for some months now. I'd like to take it to the next level—and ask you out on a date."

Since then, we've been a bit disappointed by this naive faith in the transcendental potential of pure, scientific reason. As well, we've had a rather severe hangover from the 19th Century iteration of romantic marriage. High divorce rates, rampant adultery, and a multibillion-dollar marriage therapy and self-help industry portend this restiveness.

We now "shop" to "purchase" the perfect mate, just as we'd compare the labels of cereal boxes in the supermarket. Just as the salesmen in an electronic store assures us that we'll get years of bliss out of our "state-of-the-art" flatscreen television (which is immediately woefully obsolete the minute it exists the showroom), so too does the modern Romance Establishment assure us that with enough (expensive) dating, an (expensive) extravagant enough wedding, further consumer purchases of (expensive) gifts for holidays, and (expensive) couples therapy sessions, we'll be happy perpetually. If it doesn't work out, it's because you purchased a lemon. Divorce—despite its heavy emotional and financial toll—is the answer. Don't worry though, there are (expensive) lawyers for that.



Now, there's even talk of the "starter marriage," with planned obsolescence contained in its very design. Laboring under the rusted illusion of "till death do we part," we instead lease-to-buy. Nobody has ever achieved eternal bliss from a consumer purchase at the mall, and we're all quite accustomed to "shopper's guilt." Why then, do we think applying the same logic to Love will assure eternal romantic bliss? Why do we so quickly ignore the other (true) cliche that "marriage takes work"? Why do we believe in the shocking improbable notion that "the perfect match" exists, that we will find that match out of 6.96 billion people in a romantically active window of 5-15 years (despite limits of time and geographic distance), and that initial match will effortlessly weather the seasons of one's life without any maintenance?

Even the man who loves his vintage 1970 Dodge Charger has to (and loves to) spend hours maintaining it in the garage every weekend. This is known in the common parlance as a "labor of love." This vintage auto enthusiast loves his car, labors out of love to maintain it, and remains ever-in-love with its well-oiled engine. Let us not disregard this man's sincere affection for this object. His is the same love a gardener feels for his garden or an artist for his canvas. His relationship to his car is categorically different to the recent-purchaser-of-the-top-of-the-line-flatscreen's. And, in his approach, we get closer to the idea of the Dao of Loving.


Loving—hard!

Let's consider that we've asked the wrong question about Love. We may never know what "Love" is (if it exists as such), but most of us are quite familiar with what "loving" is, what it is "to love." We know it when we experience it.

So, let us amend the aforementioned cliche to this:

"Loving conquers all."

Again, we return to that magic "-ing"—the gerund. The gerund is both abstract noun and verb. It is both active and static. It is both existent and emerging. The gerund is a process. Dare we say the gerund is the true nature of "the Way?"

If "Love" fails more often than not to overcome the more mundane challenges of personal finance, career, day-to-day dispute, cultural difference, friends and extended family, perhaps it is "loving" that is really the panacea for our ills of loneliness and strife?

The dictionary defines "loving" as the following:

feeling or showing love / warmly affectionate / fond [ex: loving glances]

"Loving" is both a adjectival result ("warmly affectionate" and "fond") and a verbal means ("feeling or showing love"). When you are "loving," therefore, you become "loving." What paradoxical magic!

For a concrete example of what Loving looks like day-to-day, consult this excellent piece in The New York Times Magazine on the Obamas's marriage.
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I hope you've loved this post, readers, because I've loved writing it.

Living With SAUCE!

"The Sauce." This is what I call it. But the idea of it has always existed...

And perhaps the best explication for it was penned over two millenia ago, from a man far wiser than I. Known as "Laozi" (literally "the old master"), the identity of this anonymous sage remains clouded in mystery. Even so, his work, the Dao De Jing, continues to be the most beloved export of Chinese thought, having been translated into forty versions in English alone. I will therefore lean on him heavily for this little Sauce-themed essay.

So what is this Sauce? And what is its usefulness for successful (saucy) living?

Closely related to Luke Skywalker's Force, Austin Power's Mojo, Rhonda Byrne's Secret or Laozi's Dao--the Sauce is a source, the soil from which all else grows. Till and cultivate the Sauce, and allow fields to spring from it. Succeeding with the Sauce means succeeding effortlessly.



Success with Sauce means not aiming directly for the reward. There is no victory in sport without practice. There is no practice without the love of the game. The love of the game, therefore, is what brings victory. In Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, he talks of excellence in anything as taking 10,000 hours of practice. Anyone who's endured music lessons against their will knows that the far-off specter of concert pianist-dom is not enough to carry you through 10,000 grueling and repetitive sessions with a dictatorial tutor. Having the Sauce means loving the 10,000 hours you spend on your passion, without thought of ambition—and then reaping success anyway. You can't fake it, either. A hack simply won't last those 10,000 hours.

Therefore the sage accomplishes things by doing nothing.

(Laozi, Dao De Jing, 2:11)

Friendship with Sauce means investing in your companions—as an investment in yourself. Friendship as competition is a race to the bottom. Friendship without cooperation is a wretched scramble over the scraps of life. Your friends and family are your assets, and the more you consider them and treat them that way, the more valuable assets they become.

The sage does not hoard,
The more he uses on behalf of others,
The more he has himself.
And the more he gives to others,
The more comes back to him.

(Laozi, Dao De Jing, 81:7-11)

Loving with Sauce means not aiming to get the girl/boy. The object of your desire is best seduced, rather than pursued. And what is the most attractive quality in another person? Passion—someone who's doing something. True love is two sets of eyes on the same star.

In being acted upon, it is harmed;
And in being grasped, it is lost.

(Laozi, Dao De Jing, 29:5-6)

Leading with Sauce means a soft touch. It means standing aside and allowing the potential energies of your team to become kinetic. It means applying just as much force as is needed—no more, no less. The leader neither neglects, nor burdens his team.

This man of wisdom
Concerns himself with under-acting
And applies the lesson
Of the word unspoken,
That all the ten thousand things may come forth
Without his direction,
Live through their lives
Without his possession,
And act of themselves
Unbeholden to him.
To the work he completes
He lays down no claim.
And this has everything to do
With why his claim always holds true.

(Laozi, Dao De Jing, 2:12-25)

Leadership with Sauce is also humble. It can afford to be, because credit comes readily when it is neither demanded nor yearned for. When the leader gives credit easily, the led loose nothing in praising.

Possess little so as to acquire;
To possess much is to be perplexed.
Therefore the sage, by embracing the One,
Becomes a model for the world.
By not showing himself,
He becomes illustrious.
By not being self-important,
He becomes prominent.
By not being given to self-praise,
He is given credit.
By not promoting himself,
He endures for long.
If one wants to be ahead of the people,
One must, in using one's person, remain behind them.
Therefore the world finds joy in praising him, without wearying of it.
And because he contends with no one,
There is no one in the world who can contend with him.

(Laozi, Dao De Jing, 22:5-13; 66:12-15)

Entrepreneurship with Sauce means allowing oneself to be empty. What substance does the entrepreneur add? Nothing! The entrepreneur merely provides the crux where things meet. The entrepreneur invites things together, so that they are rendered greater than the sum of their parts. He is the host, not the party. The entrepreneur finds that everything that is needed already exists. He merely provides a setting for them to fill.

Thirty spokes conjoin in one hub,
there being nothing in between,
the cart is useful.
Clay is molded to form a vessel;
there being nothing inside,
the vessel is useful.
Doors and windows are carved out to make a room:
there being nothing within,
the room is useful.
Thus, with something one gets advantage,
While in nothing one gets usefulness.

(Laozi, Dao De Jing, 11:1-11)

Society with Sauce means nurturing a community. Before a community exists, its members have existed. The social entrepreneur merely unites and nurtures them. He does not interfere. He is the catalyst, but allows the reaction to occur as it will.

Give life to things, rear them,
Give them life but without possessing them,
Perform without obligating,
Preside without controlling:
Such is the meaning of "hidden power."

(Laozi, Dao De Jing, 10:13-17)

Vision with Sauce means standing back to see what's in front of you. The finest artist merely recreates what is there. Preconceived notions stymie creativity, blind you to new opportunities and prevent vital retooling of ideas once implemented. Having vision means listening to different perspectives from different people.

For your vision to reach all quarters
Must you not be unknowing?

(Laozi, Dao De Jing, 10:11-12)

Sustainability with Sauce means prioritizing endurance over power. A bicep trained only in anaerobic exercise with have greater strength, but will exhaust itself completely within minutes. The marathon runner's sinewy musculature, on the other hand, can hold enough metabolic fuel for over 20 miles. The 1990s witnessed countless flash-in-the-pan dot-coms—initially impressive, but ephemeral. Those that survived found that persistence was far more important than intelligence. The social ills of our time are deep and profound, and cannot be cured by band-aid solutions. Thomas Edison's cliche "Success is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration” still holds.

Hence the strong and true keep commitment,
Stay with the kernel that's real,
And shun flowery adornment.

(Laozi, Dao De Jing, 38:28-31)

How can it be that the Sauce is the secret to happiness, friendship, love, success, innovation, sustainability and societal betterment? The Sauce is itself the inexhaustible source of all positive outcomes. Positivity breeds positivity. Trust breeds trust. Love breeds love. Success breeds success. There is no limit to the iterative power of this dynamic, once it is set into motion. You can Pay it Forward forever...

Aim for the common Means—not the End—and you too with be Living with Sauce.

The Dao is empty.
It may be used without every being exhausted.
Fathomless, it seems to be the ancestor of all things.

(Laozi, Dao De Jing, 10:1-11)

On Pineapples and Philosophy

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Of Busboys and Poets

From the continuing series, Articles My Editor Eviscerates Beyond All Reasonable Limits, or Else Won't Print At All...

Derrick Weston Brown pulls back his shoulder-length dreadlocks, clears his throat and introduces the U Street Poetry Jam: “Attention attention, the mic is now, and ever shall be open…Next up to the mic is you and you and you…” Freestylers, classical pianists, and artists heed his summons. A hushed audience of diverse faces follows the stage, overlooked by sepia portraits of Gandhi, Duke Ellington, and Ralph Nader. This is the Langston Room, the soul of the massive restaurant, bar, coffee shop and events space known as Busboys and Poets.

* * *

In 2005, Anas "Andy" Shallal, an Iraqi-American “artist, activist and restaurateur,” opened Busboys and Poets, hoping to establish a meeting place that would conjure the unique legacy of Washington, DC's U Street corridor, once known as “Black Broadway.”

A haven to haven to black musicians, entertainers and entrepreneurs in the 1950’s, U Street was immolated by the violent race riots following Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination. For an entire generation, the community was a ruin, and King’s legacy seemed burned to ashes with it.

“In the 1980s, this community was devastated by Reaganomics and crack cocaine,” said Law, “the transformation since has been incredible.” Like many other native residents, he experienced firsthand the double-edged effect of gentrification: “We had to move out to Maryland because it got so expensive, but I can still feel something special when I walk around this neighborhood.”

“Andy rooted this place in societal justice,” Maurice Chase, a Busboys manager, said of it’s founder. There are no titles among the management, and everything is decided by consensus. The staff files through the sofas and comfy chairs of the “community space,” displaying tattoos and piercings. After explaining the “biodynamic wine” and vegan desert selections featured on the menu, my Mohawked server Akon pointed to a series of murals he’d painted on the wall behind us. Between courses, I pursued the socially aware books in the in-house library run by the non-profit Teaching for Change.

And what of the name? It is in tribute to Langston Hughes, who was working as a busboy at the Wardman Park Hotel in the 1930s, when he slipped three of his poems to a patron. The guest was famous wordsmith Vachel Lindsay, who proclaimed in the papers the next day his discovery of a “Negro busboy poet.” The rest is history.

My own Salvadorian busboy Juan demurred on offering me any of his creative wares. However, Derrick Weston Brown, Busboys’ “poet-in-residence,” can be found in a corner of the library, scribbling prose, travel plans, and booking schedules in three Moleskin notebooks.

“Busboys is a community space for events that just happens to have food,” said Brown, “It’s like everybody’s living room.” Indeed, patrons come to find their muse, not for outstanding dining. Heavy in social awareness, the food and drink is regrettably rather light on quality.

You don’t find yourself minding, though—you’re steeped in a truly a magical space. The neighborhood’s recent flowering may draw upon a segregated past, but it looks forward to an idealistic future. Perhaps nowhere else can you find such an easy mingling of the many tribes of the District. “On election day, this place was packed every different type of person you can imagine—homeless people, professionals, college students—all silently watching the TV,” said Chase, “They were all unified.”

And whither the politicians whom they watched? “Politicians try to stay away from political spaces,” said Law. Though the president famously favors Ben’s Chili Bowl up the street, you’d be hard-pressed to spot any lawmakers or their staff here. “I can only think of one time I saw many conservatives here,” said Chase, adding, “This is a big spot for gays and lesbians.”

Busboys demonstrates too that a truly communal space is a promise, not a guarantee. “Last Saturday, the Beltway Atheists came in just as the Washington Catholic Archdiocese was hosting an event on atheism in the Langston Room,” said Law, “I tried so hard to get them together, but it didn’t work out.”

Here, Martin Luther King’s dream resonates still. On inauguration day, the streets outside erupted with an outpouring of hope. A pillar of the neighborhood for four years now, Busboys and Poets is holding an Obama-age America to its word—can you make your hope a reality over the next four?

* * *

It’s Thursday night again, and Brown smiles widely behind a microphone: “Calling all virgins to the mic. No sacrifices on this here stage. It’s all about gentleness and we will be gentle. The mic is now open…”