A WARM DAY IN JANUARY

This day was a beautiful day. Despite the overcast I was able to see clearly. I saw both clearly outward and inwardly. I saw how bright I was when I did not recoil at givng advice, nor did I shy away from showing affection. I held my niece when she came near and did not get insulted when she told me, Uncle. Kevin, you need help. It was warmth I felt even as the temperature outside dropped so low that I dreaded the wind when it did blow.

Today was a good day when I excused the women around me for what seemed like a den full fo hormonally imbalanced lunatics running the work place. I simply carried on until the heat flashes passed and normalcy returned. I graced the customers who came before me not with a confrontational stare but a semblance of comfort for I stood like a fortress behind a wall of assurance. Nothing made me give into anger. I took pause to relieve myself when the time came and I returned to my station ready to complete my shift.

When I moved about, the cold outside did not blast my warmth away. I zipped my coat and smiled as my niece drove me home. I entered my home removed work cloths and heated a big bowl of soup. I drank it down. On the internet I learned so much about crowd sourcing that I look forward to learning more. It was a warm day and most of all I spoke my mind and laid bear truths that I knew to be without hot air.

Now I prepared for bed knowing my dreams are assured to keep me sound for warm was my soul and warm I shall be when I awaken tomorrow.   

MOVIES AND VIETNAM

What is it about Indo-China during the time the French began to loose its war against the communist? I have seen two movies THE LOVER & THE QUIET AMERICAN that while centering the subject of the movie on forbidden romances, positions those “lovers” involved in the romance to be surrounded by a foreboding presence of change. Was Vietnam once the pearl of the orient created by the French where romances bloomed. Was it some kind of lush tropical paradise where romances clashed with colonial interest at the time when Vietnam itself yearned to throw off the yoke of the French domination? Or are western movies inclined to depict it that way?

Albeit both the movies are based upon books written by European writers, both movie adaptations choose Saigon as their setting and more importantly Saigon before the French have reach a treaty with Ho Chi Men. Amid the war class stratification or darn one state a caste system, is almost as stifling at the heat index. Both movies shed light on the snobbery of all: British toward American in THE QUIET AMERICAN while in THE LOVER, its Chinese who snub the French. Indeed such a setting isolates the loves into a cocoon like existence. But this again seems more fantastical than historical.

By the time the United States began to depict Viet Nam in movies, the US had already stepped up its military presence. The domino theory had already taken hole thus like Fidel Castor or the Russian during the Cold War, American films tend to depict these places as “the enemy”. The enemy rather than mercantilism and colonialism were responsible for war-torn place that Viet Nam had become. Almost as vile as as cesspool, it was depicted not as a place of romance but merelyline of demarcation on the world map. Nothing more than the North Viet Nam posing a threat to the Southern Vietnamese people and Premier Diem. Yet this depiction as well may be the offspring of a western imagination. What then is Veit Nam?