Expansion of Love Through Exploring: Cities, not The City

Cassie Kifer says it all: http://www.everintransit.com/ and http://siliconvalley.about.com/

Her blog entries are one of the best and the most trustworthy sources regarding the Bay Area (and many other places across the world) in California. How lucky I am to know her in person and share her space! Although I do not have much to add to what she has already written and recommended, I have a few impressions to share regarding my time in San Jose: The punk-rock-musical Green Day’s American Idiot (http://cltc.org/), some very inspiring projects at the Tech Museum, and founding fathers of the National Parks of America.

The musical tells you the story of three lifelong friends (and their circles), who are forced to choose between their dreams and the safety of suburbia, while searching for  meaning in a post-9/11 world. I remember the time when the album came out and how we blasted the stereo in the car (2004). Turning into thirty definitely did not subside my rage especially after being denied entry to the country on the Canadian-U.S border due to the unlimited authority that the average border officer was provided then. They were collectively emboldened and paranoid more than ever thanks to the Bush J.R. government at the time.  The album American Idiot vividly expresses not just the band's but my own disillusionment with America (luckily, it’s been changing since 2014 and on). It recounts the dissent of a generation which came of age in a period shaped by events like the Iraq war. I remember in the glamorous suburbia that we used to live (Naperville, IL) there were several welcome-home flags and bumper stickers ("support our troops") which severely bothered me. How could anyone possibly believe that it was for sake of "bringing democracy" to Iraq and  destroying WMD that the troops were fighting for? Just open the world map and look at the distance: Why are American soldiers in Iraq!? It is the Middle East, man, not Mexico or Canada! 

(For an amazing real story of a brave activist Iraqi woman peacemaker and to learn firsthand what the American troops actually did in Iraq, see: http://catcher.sandiego.edu/items/peacestudies/Rashad-Zaydan-Iraq.pdf )

Before you ever send troops to "the end of the world" (from the American perspective) be it Vietnam, Afghanistan or Iraq, please make sure to provide some basic language, cultural and religious-sensitive knowledge to each and every soldier (I am not talking about teaching stereotypes by rote).  We know that both sides will end up at "The Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" otherwise. 

I knew about the show "G.D's American Idiot" since its premier but never thought that I would actually see it one day (from the very first row of the theater where the heat waves from the actors' bodies and sometimes their spits nicely shower you. There is nothing like a live show! The sound quality wasn't perfect but the acting was. I loved it!

The Museum of Innovation: I don’t like to go out on the weekends when everyone else is out (mostly with kids and elderly parents) if I can help it. This habit was developed over time from living in a mega-city for many years, fighting hours-long traffic and extreme noise among other things. I was going to apply it to San Jose as well when I went online to check the opening hours of the Tech Museum: "maintenance closure!" I will be gone by the time they reopen so I had to go on a Sunday. It was okay, in fact, much better than I expected. My favorite sections were the innovations in health care, which included exploring how a dog's sense of smell might help detect cancer, how doctors can remotely diagnose medical problems without expensive equipment across the world, new ways to filter water in developing nations, experiments with different materials to keep pre-mature infants warm, easy and safe vaccination through new nanopatch technology and contemplate how 3D printing may change health care by creating skin and organs. In short, really fascination stuff which I pray that it gets widespread as soon as possible and not sabotaged by some big companies whose profits would be affected by these inexpensive lifesaving technologies.

For the 3D IMAX dome theater, without much thinking I opted for the U.S. National Parks Adventure: breathtaking, soothing, mesmerizing  and humbling…  What a big contrast to "the Jesus of Suburbia". Jesus, Moses, Muhammed and all the other prophets received God's messages and experienced Its mysteries in the heart of Nature, didn't they? Caves, rivers, seas, mountains...  I will include John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt in my prayers tonight for creating the concept of the national parks in the early 1900s. After all, I have always felt belonging to the Nature. Not to a family or a nation but nature. One of the most surreal and spiritual experiences that I can ever remember is visiting the Red Woods and touching  sequoias.  It was  coming back home (and I leave it there for now). 

I have begun to wonder whether my unrequited love for San Francisco is fading away or rather spreading towards a larger area and thus becoming stronger as I explore the nearby cities and towns. How could I know that SJSU has this very unique and beautiful library, the only one in the country which joined forces with the city so it serves both as a public and a university library (Thanks to Cassie Kifer, I checked out two very timely and useful resources)?  I did not know that SJSU is the oldest public institution of higher education on the West Coast (1857) either. Its student population is one of the most ethnically diverse in the nation, with large Asian and Hispanic enrollments, as well as the highest foreign student enrollment of all master's institutions in the U.S.

Dear San Francisco, I still truly love you and I always will. I only feel an expansion of love. You are cool and pretty but also spoiled and very expensive! After spending a few weeks in the North Berkeley and coming across fawns at sunset while walking in a residential area through parked cars along the narrow asphalt road...  That was it, Eros had its arrow for me right there! The Wheels of Fortune: A visiting scholar position at CAL.  One reason I accepted it was to be able to see another fawn -this time- at dawn.