An Easy Weekend

Tracy and I are just wrapping up an easy weekend with the kids. London has been cold and blustery the past few days and we definitely kept it in low gear most of the time.

I just returned from Tokyo on Thursday night and despite my claims over rarely getting jet lag, on this occasion I was pretty knackered. No pics or anything from the Far East but I'll say (for now without further elaboration) that this trip might have finally been the one where I began to "get" that city. There's a feel and rhythm to that's hard to explain but once it begins to click, you do have a bit of an "aha" moment and see why certain people think that town is truly remarkable.

In any case, Friday was just a catch-up day at the office and it's great that our colleague/friend Lee is in from Chicago for a couple weeks. After the whistle blew, we grabbed a couple pints at the Punchbowl, the semi-famous Mayfair pub co-owned by Madge and Guy Ritchie. No sighting of either; supposedly it's going to be his in the divorce proceedings.

The kids were a blast this weekend, starting with the heartwarming site of all three of them literally jumping up and down and screaming Daddy! when I walked through the door Thursday evening. Seeing that little Sarah trying to catch some air with her brothers and then run into my arms is just awesome. Our traditional Shabbat dinner on Friday, strolling Soho and Covent Garden on Saturday (including a stop at the London Transport Museum, which I'd highly recommend to families with small kids), and the kickboxing routine on Sunday. All easy, all enjoyable.

Asian markets open in a few hours, so almost time to strap on the seat belt and see what ride we take this week. At least it ain't dull.

Free at Last

Just a quick note to express our overwhelming joy over the election of Barack Obama to be the next President of the United States. Tracy and I have been more or less obsessed with the electoral process over the last year. It wasn't as easy to follow everything from London, but especially via the internet we voraciously read as much as possible. It was also nice finding many like-minded expats here in town. Because we have the Vonage line that basically gives us a Chicago phone number here in London, Tracy was actually able to volunteer to make calls to get out the vote, which was so cool.

If you are a true patriot, if you love America both for what it is and what it could be, then you must see Tuesday November 4th 2008 as a monumental day in our history, even if you vehemently disagree with Obama's policies. As Paul Krugman wrote in the New York Times yesterday, "If the election of our first African-American president didn’t stir you, if it didn’t leave you teary-eyed and proud of your country, there’s something wrong with you." The reality that a black man can be elected President reinforces the core of the American Ideal and makes me love her that much more. America is the greatest social and political experiment in the history of mankind and Tuesday's result affirms its promise perhaps like never before. In Obama's own words:

"And to all those who wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of ideals - democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope. That's the true genius of America, that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow."

Along more partisan lines, what an impressive candidate, what an impressive man. He's so easy, so calm, so focused. The dignity with which he carried himself through this campain, toxic as his rivals made it at times, was something to behold. To make barely a misstep in two grueling years is just remarkable. His ability to demonstrate humility while still expressing the ferocity of his conviction is motivation to become our better selves. His acceptance speech in Grant Park conveyed that spirit and will long be a touchstone moment on our path to becoming a better nation. Yes we can.

The Obama administration has a total mess on its hands. The likelihood that they can satisfactorily solve each of our myriad economic, military, environmental and social problems is slim. Maybe it will be one term and out. We'll see. But I couldn't be more thirlled that President Obama will be our steward through this fight. For some of us, the past 8 years have been tortuous as the American Ideal has been under assault. Thankfully, that period is almost behind us and there is some solace, hollow though it might be, that history will not treat the outgoing adminstration kindly. Looking forward, we now have the chance to rebuild our broken polity and recapture our rightful place as a beacon of hope to other nations. We are indeed free at last.

Rothko or Bust

Cold and miserable was the weather today in London and had I not already bought tickets to the Rothko exhibit at the Tate Modern we would've surely stayed in our jammies all day. Alas, sunk costs trumped reason. Our prefered Tube line wasn't working today so pricey black cabs were en vogue as we shuttled all the way over to Southwark. Worth it? Probably yes. Rothko's one of my favorites and both Tracy and Ben enjoyed it, too. We rented the audio guides which helped navigate the big show, plus Ben liked playing with this gadget. The exhibition was geared toward Rothko's later work in the 1960s, which is subtly but notably different than the big tri-colors for which he's best known. You'd have thought from the audioguide that the shift was so profound that he had moved into photography or something. But curators have to write about something, I suppose.

The kids like the Tate Modern but were disappointing to see that the massive (and planned) crack in the ground floor concrete had been "repaired." The temporary installation there now is quite silly really - a field of yellow and blue bunk beds, a massive (like, 50-feet tall massive) spider, an oversized apple core, and some black-and-white film on a screen in the corner. None of us found it interesting in the slightest. Ben did remember the scavenger hunt we had done on previous trips, but all of the kits had been rented out, so we just strolled through the permanent collection. Unbelievably, he pointed out which of the galleries had majorly changed their displays. Clealry someone was paying attention last time. We did have a nice little conversation about Jackson Pollack's splatter painting style, which Ben thought pretty cool and judged better than the massive Monet water lilly painting on the opposite wall. Not sure if I'd agree on that one, but love that the kid is into it.

Halloween 2

Unlike last year, we got the St. John's Wood Halloween one-two punch: the big costume parade at the American School during the day and then no-holds barred trick-or-treating in the 'hood at night. There was a huge assembly at ASL, with hundreds of kids from the lower school participating, including Ben. Afterwards, it was off the races to collect as many sweets as possible. Mission accomplished.