On Monday, January 27, 2009, Chinese New Year, we went to see the L.A. Clippers play the Portland Trail Blazers.  My wife got free tickets from the American Red Cross when she last gave blood.  She had a choice of a few games during January through March.  We picked the Blazers game because I hadn’t seen the Blazers in a while.  I’ve also been rather focused on Portland, OR during January.  Earlier I ordered a CD from the band Hockey who are from Portland (see earlier review) and I ordered the CD from CD Baby who are also based in Portland.  I’ve been reading the book The Breaks of the Game by David Halberstam that he wrote after spending a season with the Portland Trailblazers during 1979-1980.  So it made sense to see the Clippers play the Blazers.

I hadn’t been to a Blazer game in nearly 13 years.  The last time was when I was attending Willamette University as an undergrad.  I saw the Blazers play against Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and the Chicago Bulls.  The Blazers nearly won that game and it was very exciting.  Next I saw them play the Seattle Supersonics (now the Oklahoma City Thunder) and that game was also exciting because it was close and there were lots of Seattle fans in attendance.  The third time wasn’t as exciting but I did get to see them play against Charles Barkley, Kevin Johnson, and the Phoenix Suns.

After work we met up at the disc for the 1963 Grammy Awards on the sidewalk of the Grammy Walk of Fame in L.A. Live.  On it was listed the Record of the Year “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” sung by Tony Bennett.  We decided to meet there since it was Chinese New Year and San Francisco has a prominent Chinatown.  The 1963 disc is between the ESPN Zone bar/restaurant and the Lucky Strike bowling alley.  It was a good place to meet because there were benches nearby and some warm air coming from the ESPN Zone building.

From the 1963 disc we walked to that same ESPN Zone building to have lunch at Lawry’s Carvery.  It’s a casual version of the finer Lawry’s The Prime Rib.  The Carvery serves made-to-order sandwiches and salads along with a few platter meals.  We entered and ordered at the counter.  Their menu isn’t very large with four Platter Meals, five Salads, five Signature Sides, and four Hand-Carved Sandwiches.  The sandwiches come with Lawry’s Potato Chips and for bread we could choose French Baguette, Ciabatta Square Roll, or Onion Roll.  We could also choose from many different hot or cold sauces for “dipping area”.

It wasn’t very crowded at all and they made our sandwiches, cutting the meat and slicing them right there in front of us.  The put them on square white plates.  We then picked our table.  The seating area is small to medium sized and triangular-shaped.  Along the long hypotenuse of the triangle is a large flatscreen TV and this evening they were broadcasting a college basketball game.  After five minutes a server came by and took our drink orders.  I ordered the roast beef sandwich on a square Ciabatta roll with Lawry’s crispy onions as an additional topping.  It was very good.  The amount of meat was substantial but not excessive.  It had the right consistency and taste and was especially good with the Au Jus I ordered for “dipping area”.  The crispy onions were sweet and crunchy.  The Lawry’s potato chips were crispy and numerous and not very salty at all.  My wife enjoyed her Prime Rib sandwich on an onion roll and also with Au Jus for dipping area.  Our meal was adequate and left room for dessert.  As we ate more people came in and sat down with their orders.  We saw a couple other Clipper fans.  One couple we would later see on the Jumbotron at the game.  

After dinner we walked one door down to New Zealand Natural Premium Ice Cream for dessert.  They had many different interesting flavors of ice cream and four flavors of sorbet.  The staff allowed us to try a small amount of the flavors before we ordered.  Orders come in three sizes, small or one scoop, medium or two scoops, and large or three scoops.  They also served it in various cones and they have several different toppings.  I ordered the passionfruit sorbet because I hadn’t had that flavor before.  It was pretty good with a flavor that tasted like real fruit.  My wife had the Kiwi ice cream.  We both enjoyed our desserts despite the cold weather.

After dessert we walked over to Staples Center and a staffer directed us to the northwest end of the building outside of which was the Red Cross table where we picked up our free tickets.   We enjoyed our time at the game even though our seats were very high up in section 333 and most of the Clipper Stars (Baron Davis, Chris Kaman, Marcus Canby, and Zach Randolph) did not play due to injury.  Before the game we saw someone who looked like Baron Davis shooting the ball with some kids on the court.  Maybe he was putting on the Clippers clinic?  Over the PA system they played the song “Are You Ready” by AC/DC that I hadn’t heard in so long.  This season is the Clippers’ 25th since they moved from San Diego to Los Angeles.  The Clipper Spirit Dance Team performed during time outs and breaks between quarters.  They also played their version of “Deal or No Deal” where the fan was lucky and actually chose the suitcase with the maximum $1,000 prize.  At another break they had a fan shoot from half court to win a car.  Before he shot the ball, one of the Dance Team, Recee, threw it behind her back and it very nearly went in.  The fan also missed, though his shot did hit the rim.  At halftime they had Indian (as in from India) dancers.

Also in attendance at the game was Jessica Alba.  Later they showed a fan on the Jumbotron with a sign that said, “Jessica Alba.  Marry Me?”  She had to turn him down since she’s already married.  Her husband actually went to high school with Baron Davis.  As we have at previous Clipper games, we got some swag.  This time staffers threw a t-shirt that landed between my wife and I.  Another fan snatched it but returned it to us in sympathy.  It was bound up in a rubber “Clipper Nation” bracelet.  The staffer also gave us a Clipper keychain right after the fan snatched the t-shirt.

As for the Clippers, they actually kept the game close through the first three quarters.  Starters Al Thornton and Fred Jones and bench player Steve Novak played well.  Novak scored 21 points, made 5-8 three pointers and was named the Clipper player of the game.  This is appropriate because on the website to sign up for the blood drive-Clippers promotion, Steve Novak and his wife Christina broadcast a short video urging people to sign up.  They were up by 1 after a quarter, down by 1 at the half and down by 4 after 3 quarters and then they just faded away.  We left about halfway through the 4th quarter.  By then they were down by 16.  Portland had just worn them down especially Brandon Roy who seemed to be everywhere and scored 33 points.  The Clippers would go on to lose 88-113 and were outscored by 21 points in the 4th quarter.  I think we left at the right time.  Many other fans left when we did.  But it was still a fun way to spend New Year’s.

Hockey’s CD, Mind Chaos, is probably the first one I’ve purchased based on seeing a group as an opening act.  Hockey opened for the Kaiser Chiefs at the Music Box at the Fonda on Veterans’ Day, November 11, 2008.  We enjoyed their performance.  They have a fast and funky sound with lyrics sung quickly and sometimes spoken.  The lead singer energetically moved around the stage.  He didn’t play any instruments except for occasionally helping out on drums.  Their rhythmic sound and poetic lyrics stuck in my head, especially their song “Work”.  Afterward I enjoyed listening to their songs on their MySpace page and from there followed a link CD Baby where I could order their album.

CD Baby were very kind about fulfilling my order.  Their confirmation e-mail had the from line: “CD Baby Loves David”.  A subsequent e-mail described how their “packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.”  They said they had a celebration afterwards and “the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved "Bon Voyage!" to (my) package, on its way to (me), in (their) private CD Baby jet.”  My CD did arrive fairly quickly.  I noticed that CD Baby is based in Portland, OR, just like Hockey.

The CD starts with a bang.  “Too Fake” has a quick rhythm and an explosive chorus.  Like most songs on the CD, the lyrics are poetic and profound (in my opinion): “Look out, cause I’m just too fake for the world.”  The main beat of the rhythm sounds electronic.  The song seems to be dissing fame.  The next song, “3 AM Spanish”, is just as fast, but more vocal and uneven, though that suits its style.  The vocals are fast and sound like rap in some parts.  There are more profound lyrics: “I made the money but the money made me.”  It seems to be telling a story about going out, meeting someone, getting rejected, in Spain?  Whatever it’s about it sounds fun.

They slow down just a bit for the next song, “Curse this City”.  It seems to be a reaction to a bad big-city experience.  There’s more profundity:  “Before it even knew me, it forgot me!”  The city in question seems to be New York since they mention “From the Hudson to the Rhine” and they “Manhattan Skybridge”.  The sound is hard, almost bluesy, but at the end the sound softens and it sounds almost like a fast folk song or even a spiritual.  It’s a little more positive: “I’m gonna love this city if it only helps me shine.”  The next song is also not as fast as the first two and has a prominent funky beat.  It’s the song I find most relatable: “Work”.  The chorus goes “Work work work, too much work for me”.  The repeating of the word “work” three times makes the work seem even harder.  Well, it is more work to say it three times.  Now that’s how many times we say it when we have too much work work work.

If “Work” is a gripe song, the next one seems to say, “don’t worry about it because tomorrow’s just a ‘Song Away’.”  The vocals say early on “I can’t get too full of myself, I can’t afford to be.”  There are more profound questions: “What has your man done to the world?  What has the world done to your man?”  The song has a fast but easygoing rhythm with a strong drum beat replaced by clapping towards the end.  There’s also a playful keyboard sound.  The lyrics area also playful: “I stole my personality from an anonymous source.”  In my opinion, “Work” and “Song Away” tie for the best songs on the album.  The first five tracks are all very good with their medium to fast rhythms.  I remember they performed all of them in their opening band set.

The next song, “Preacher”, initially seems slower but quickly speeds up.  It seems to be a light rant about organized religion that references both Islam and Christianity.  It’s another fun song though it lacks the profundity and catchy rhythms of the first five songs.  I don’t remember them performing this one live.  They definitely get slower for the next song, “What’s Up Now, Man?”  I’m not sure what it’s about, possibly a friendship ending.  It’s another song they didn’t perform live.

They remain subdued for the next song, “Mercenary Days”, though the rhythm speeds up a bit.  It has some near-rapping and an interesting chorus line: “I love that you sold me out to your ideas.”  At the end they get very loud and fast with the singing seeming to echo itself.  They reference New York again and only mention the song title once as part of some quick singing.  Again, I don’t remember them performing this song.  Though the last song is the slowest and quietest of them all, I seem to remember them performing it.  “Everyone’s the Same Age” is a reflective lament about aging?  I’m not sure.  It has some interesting, if not profound, statements: “I only feel three times a year” and “I want to play in the NBA.”

Mind Chaos is short and sweet without any extras or bonus tracks.  It doesn’t need any.  It’s worth it for the first five songs alone, though the others reveal a quieter, more reflective side.  When we saw them live it seemed like all their songs were loud and fast.  They performed some songs that weren’t on the album such as “Matthew McConaughey” and “I Want to be Black”.  They have a varied, chaotic, but still very catchy sound.  I’m surprised they’re not more widely known.  Maybe people think they’re “Too Fake” or they don’t want to be reminded of “Work work work, too much work for me.”  Perhaps New Yorkers were offended that they “Curse this City” or Latinos slept through “3 AM Spanish.”  Or maybe it’s just that they don’t want to get too full of themselves because they can’t afford to be.  Whatever the case, I enjoy this old form, new form, small town, big town music.  I’m hoping they’ll love Azusa because it makes them shine, at least this resident.

I’ve heard of the band Live since I was in College.  Though I never got any of their CD’s or seen them live I enjoyed hearing them on the radio when they were played.  My wife had purchased some of their CD’s and once seen them live.  A couple of weeks ago I was listening to 100.3 FM The Sound and they played “Forever”, a new studio track included on their new live album.  I enjoyed the new track and since I didn’t mind having some Live music I decided to get the CD.

We downloaded the CD from Napster and had some trouble downloading the song, “Forever”.  After sending Napster an e-mail and receiving their response we got it to work.  The CD consists of 14 live tracks recorded at shows in the Netherlands on June 30 and July 3, 2008 and two new studio tracks.  Most of their live tracks are their well known hits such as “Selling the Drama”, “I Alone”, and “Overcome”.  Some weren’t so well known to me such as “Simple Creed” and “Operation Spirit”.  One live track is a cover of “I Walk the Line” though I think Live’s arrangement of it is original.  The audience at the Paradiso Amsterdam is featured prominently.  They sing many of the main chorus lines and they sound good.  They are especially featured on “Lightening Crashes” and “Dance with You”.  The crowd and live recording make songs sound differently from the studio recordings but still good.

The studio tracks come at the end: #15 and #16.  The last one, “Purifier” is a playful song that seems to be about cleansing sins.  Live’s songs often seem to contain quasi-religious and Medieval or Ancient World references.  This one also mentions “Vegas Baby Vegas.”  The instrument sounds seem to include a prominent harmonica.  It sounds different from the other songs, less epic and serious.  It’s a fun track, but the track that really makes the CD for me is the one before it, the other studio track, the one that caused me to get the CD.  “Forever” also seems different from the live tracks.  It has a faster rhythm, involves less shouting, and builds up slowly.  Its sound is minimal, almost acoustic, but it’s no less passionate.  I can relate to the lyrics especially lines such as “Keep holding my hand tonight as we face this furnace”, “we can run from this place or we can stand together in vain”, “I stay here with you ‘til the end of the storm”, and “trouble times, they will come.”  When I listen to this song I can’t focus on anything else.  This morning (Jan. 6) on the way to work, I was stressed and frustrated.  I missed the 7:20 am train because the parking machine wouldn’t take my money.  After paying with my credit card and catching the 7:40 am train, I listened to “Forever” and felt better.

I’ve known many songs that spoke to me at times in my life, times of transition or stress.  The Cure’s “Doing the Unstuck” and U2’s “Walk On” come to mind.  I think the songs of late 2008 and early 2009 are Hockey’s “Work” and Live’s “Forever”.  With all the “Lightning Crashes” “Selling the Drama” as we “Walk the Line”, Live gives us a “Simple Creed” to help us “Overcome.”

As a Christmas present my wife downloaded songs from the CD “La Vida es Un Ratico en Vivo” by the Colombian rock musician Juanes.  In late October 2007, Juanes released his studio album “La Vida es Un Ratico” (LVEUR) that translates to “Life is Short” or “Life is a Moment.”  We purchased it and continue to enjoy it very much.  This latest album “LVEUR en Vivo” consists of that latter album plus three bonus tracks and seven live tracks.  My wife burned a CD of just those bonus and live tracks since we already had the original LVEUR album.

I’ve been listening to Juanes since 2002 when my brother got me his second album, “Un Dia Normal”, a very pop sounding album and his first to get multiple Latin Grammy nominations.  I subsequently purchased his first album from 2000, “Fijate Bien” that has a more rockin’ and less polished sound.  In late 2004 I purchased his third album, “Mi Sangre” that has a more eclectic sound including the traditional-sounding but also rockin’ song “La Camisa Negra,” the tempo-changing “Nada Valgo Sin tu Amor” and the softer but still pop sounding “Volverte a Ver.”  We saw him live at the Gibson Amphitheater at Universal Citywalk in May 2005.  I learned that he’s quite the heartthrob for young women and that surprised me because his more rockin’ songs can have a slightly abrasive edge, though he also records some soft romantic songs such as “Fotographia,” a duet with Nelly Furtado on “Un Dia Normal.”  Before he went solo, Juanes was part of a Colombian metal band called Ekhymosis.

His latest studio album, “La Vida es un Ratico” has more traditional-sounding upbeat songs.  The first two on “La Vida es un Ratico en Vivo”, both new studio tracks, continue this style.  The first is the reflective and slightly sad “Odio por Amor” or “Hate for Love”.  It’s a slightly political song about making the world better by trading our hate for love.  Juanes sings the refrain “It’s time to change” in English.  This is only the second time I’ve heard him sing in English.  The first was his duet with Tony Bennett, “The Shadow of your Smile”.  The next song on “. . . en Vivo”, “Falsas Palabras” is louder with an even more traditional rhythm and more accusatory tone.  Its title translates to “false words” and it’s about catching a lover lying and the subsequent pain caused by it.

The third song, “Hoy me Voy” is from LVEUR but this version is a duet with female singer Colbie Caillart.  She sings lines from the chorus in English.  The duet works even though both are singing the same part as someone leaving someone else who doesn’t love them.  The next seven songs are live tracks.  “Clase de Amor” from LVEUR has a 5-beat rhythm similar to “Falsas Palabras”.  It’s also an accusatory song by a hurt lover.  Juanes seems to know this role well.  Partway through the song, Juanes shouts, “Puerto Rico!” indicating where he’s performing.

The next song, “Bandera de Manos” has a faster 4-beat rhythm.  It’s about pride in one’s origins with the title translating to “Flag of Hands.”  This one is performed in L.A. as Juanes shouts, “Ya son las manos mias, Los Angeles!”  He did perform at the Nokia Theater in 2008.  The next song comes from the 2004 album “Mi Sangre” and is the first song off it, “Nada Valgo Sin Tu Amor”.  The title translates to “I am worthless without your love.”  It has medium speed verses and fast choruses.  I remember when he performed it during his encore when we saw him live.  It was amazing.  This time he asks the audience in “Miami” to sing a line and they oblige.  The next song, “Me Enamora” is also sung in Miami.  It’s a celebratory love song with a traditional rhythm from LVEUR.  He shouts “Miami” many times and they really get into it.  The Miami show continues with “Bailala”, a faster song urging everyone to “dance it” to cure the heart.  He then does a live performance of “Hoy me Voy” and this time it’s not a duet except perhaps with the crowd.  I think the song works better as a duet in English and Spanish with Colbie Caillart.  He doesn’t should out where he’s performing during the song.

The last song on the CD is the live version of a song I hadn’t heard before called “Rebellion.”  At the beginning Juanes says something like, “Dejeme mano la cuento un parasito de la historia negra, de la historia nuestra, caballero!” that I’m guessing translates to something like “help me tell the story of our dark history (or black as in African-American history).”  I’m not sure why the word “parasito” is in there.  I may have heard it wrong.  The song has the 4-beat rhythm of what almost sounds like a Mambo.  The first words sung are, “en los anos mil seisientos” (“in the 1600’s”), “cuando el tirano mato” (when the tyrant killed), “en las calles de Cartagena aquella historia vivio” (“that other history occurred on the streets of Cartagena”).  He goes on to sing about people being enslaved and sings the repeated line, “No le pegue la negra” that I think means the blacks (Africans) did not give up.  During a long rhythmic piano solo he shouts “Descargame, descarga!” that literally translates to “Unload me, unload!” but in this context probably means “Set me free!”  It’s a long song that pays tribute to a defiance of long ago.  It’s about injustices of the past similar to “Cherokee” by Europe and “Beds are Burning” by Midnight Oil.  Again, Juanes doesn’t shout out where he’s performing perhaps because he’s caught up in telling the story.

Overall, “La Vida es un Ratico” is an excellent CD.  It offers some new songs, a new version of a song, a hit from over four years ago and many spirited live tracks that celebrate where he’s performing and involved the crowd.  It is not a greatest hits CD but still a great record that showcases many facets of Juanes’ music.

On Monday, December 29 my wife and I had dinner with our friend that originally introduced us.  She had attended high school with my wife and college (undergraduate) with me.  She’s from Los Angeles but is now living in the Boston area and was visiting for the holidays.  She actually used to work in Azusa and had been to this restaurant previously along with many others in the area.  Soon after she arrived at our home we drove north on Citrus Avenue and turned right on Alosta Avenue, also known as Route 66.  It is one of several restaurant buildings on the right (south) side of Route 66 just east of Citrus and also across the street from Azusa Pacific University.  There’s also a Sizzler, an Acapulco, and others so we had to keep an eye out for the chicken & ribs place.  It’s after the Sizzler but before the Acapulco.  We had heard about it from one of Mom’s (my mother-in-law’s) friends, the same friend that got us free admission to Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure back in October.  We pulled into the drive and parked very close by.

Country Bar-B-Que Chicken & Ribs is a medium-sized eatery that occupies its own one-story building and is surrounded by parking.  Most of the tables are wooden booths.  Customers order at the counter just inside the door and they only accept cash, though they have an ATM.  Also inside the door are some retro video games such as Mortal Kombat.  Above and behind the counter is the menu.  As their name indicates, most of their meals consist of either chicken or ribs of different sizes and combinations.  Customers can choose between beef and pork ribs and pay just a little extra for all-dark meat chicken.  Most meals come with a dinner role and a choice of cole slaw, rice, or fries on the side.  They also have a soup and salad bar and a few non-chicken & ribs meals such as the fish dinner with breaded cod fillet.  The prices start at $5.99 for a 2-piece BBQ chicken dinner and $11.33 for a 2-piece rib dinner and go up to $56.47 for 9 pieces of chicken and 9 ribs.  We ordered our meals and chose to sit in a booth near the east window.

They soon brought us our orders that amounted to a lot of food.  My 2-rib dinner had two small but still substantial racks of pork ribs with a scoop or rice covered in gravy all on one plate.  My fries came on a separate plate.  I chose pork ribs because I had beef ribs from Phillip’s Barbecue earlier in the month.  The ribs were covered in a shiny reddish-brown barbecue sauce.  They were good with lots of meat between the bones all fully cooked but still juicy.  The sauce was sweet and tangy but not as spicy as other barbecue sauces I’ve had (e.g. Phillip’s).  They put on just enough to flavor it so it wasn’t very messy at all.  The rice and gravy were also very good and went well with the meat.  The fries were thick and crispy and kept their warmth throughout.  My wife’s meal was identical to mine except she had chicken in place of ribs.  She had ordered the two-piece chicken dinner with all dark meat but they gave her three pieces of chicken, all leg-thighs.  She enjoyed all of it.

It was great talking to our friend who we only see around the holidays since she moved to Boston.  There weren’t many other customers so the place was fairly quiet.  This is the second time I’ve had a meal with a Willamette Alumnus at a restaurant near Citrus and Alosta.  This time the food was better and the conversation even more fun and interesting.

After striking out with the last audiobook I chose, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, I still needed something to listen to while doing some tedious chores.  From the limited selected at the Covina Library I picked Face the Nation by Bob Schieffer because I figured a book about the news couldn’t be too boring or strange.  The book is subtitled “My Favorite Stories from the First 50 Years of the Award-Winning News Broadcast.”  I knew of Bob Schieffer as the anchor of the CBS Evening News between Dan Rather and Katie Couric.  He also moderated the last of the three debates between the presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain.  I learned from the book that he also hosts the Sunday morning interview show on CBS called “Face the Nation” where he interviews key players from the biggest news stories of the week.  The name of the show sounded familiar.  Its main competitor is “Meet the Press” on NBC that I had heard of.  The book is about the most interesting stories and behind-the-scenes occurrences during the first 50 years of “Face the Nation” that was first broadcast in 1954.

The book provides an excellent history of television news from the 1950’s to the present.  Much has changed and not just the technological advances in communications.  The players have also had to work out issues of where television news crews were allowed to bring their cameras and whether the people being interviewed could get their questions in advance.  Airways are regulated by the government and they had to work out how much control they had over the news going over them.  These were issues that did not surface in print journalism, the primary news media prior to television.  Later in the book, Schieffer also gives an interesting discussion of how the news from different sources has become more specialized.  An example is Fox News being more popular with conservatives.  As news programs target specific audiences rather than one general audience, it’s questionable whether anyone gets an accurate picture of what’s going on.

Most of the chapters summarize various news stories and the corresponding interviews on “Face the Nation.”  Some stories such as the interview with Fidel Castro are interesting while others such as the Monica Lewinsky affair are rather dry.  Schieffer does try to describe aspects or parts of the stories that weren’t necessarily the focus when the events were originally covered.  He writes each chapter as if he’s doing a newscast.  He starts with a catchy summary and then goes into detail.  He offers his opinion on events and even suggests ways that the news coverage affected the course of events.  A promising presidential candidate appeared on “Face the Nation” and didn’t do well.  He soon dropped out of the race.  Schieffer believes another interview around the time of the Pentagon Papers may have affected the events of the Watergate scandal.  Some of these theories seem farfetched though they’re still interesting to consider.  I found the chapter on the coverage of the Iraq War interesting because it described how close reporters were to the action, and how, for the first time, they had real time or nearly real time reports.  The military agreed to allow the coverage in order to counteract the propaganda reports from Iraq’s state-controlled media.

The last chapters consist of some of Schieffer’s commentaries that he has given at the end of “Face the Nation” broadcasts and his thought process in writing them.  He describes how it is difficult to keep the commentaries short, how a famous speaker once said, “I didn’t have time to prepare a short speech so I’m giving a long one.”  I can relate to that.  He also mentions some of the behind-the-scenes people: the producers and the researchers and their roles in the broadcasts.  One producer was held at gunpoint during the interview with Fidel Castro.  Schieffer describes how he gets a lot of mail and e-mail from viewers both positive and negative.  He makes an interesting point that since the advent of e-mail he has received more scathing negative messages.  His theory is that when people wrote snail-mail letters that had a little bit of time to rethink them before sending them but with e-mail, they just hit “send”.

The book is an extended plug for “Face the Nation” and maybe I’ll check it out sometime when I’m not busy on a Sunday morning.  Schieffer writes it and reads it as his side of the story but doesn’t assert that he’s always right.  He just seeks to provoke thought and discussion.  The move from print to TV as the primary news source has caused people to be overloaded with lots of shallow information without giving it much thought or exploring it in depth.  “Face the Nation” seeks to put the thought and depth back into the news.

Spoiler Alert

My mom recommended Three Cups of Tea that she read in one of her book groups.  It’s about a former mountaineer, Greg Mortenson, an American who builds schools in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan.  The premise seems like a fairly straightforward story about goodwill, but it’s actually so much more than that.  The story has so many different facets: Mortenson’s life before and while he starts building schools, the people of Central Asia, their history, and how current events such as 9/11 and the war in Afghanistan fit in with the story.  Mortenson and journalist David Oliver Relin wrote Three Cups of Tea to tell the full story and further galvanize their mission.  It’s an adventure story, a thriller, an inspiring story, an intriguing biography, and a cultural history all in one book.

Three Cups of Tea is the story of Greg Mortenson whose background, childhood, and early life are all far from typical.  They make his current vocation seem less surprising, though that doesn’t make the story any less remarkable.  He’s definitely “just not one of us” and “his own species” as his mother-in-law describes.  Still, he faces his challenges as I believe just about anyone would, making mistakes along the way and learning from them.  What really sets him apart is his desire to do good, his willingness to get to know and understand the people he helps, and his commitment to keeping his promises no matter how long it takes or how much is required.  He initially struggles to raise funds for the first school but eventually finds enough donors.  As his efforts grow, his organization, the Central Asian Institute (CAI) has some financial problems but they also get some breaks.  Mortenson also has a chaotic personal life in the beginning.  But the real story is about how he gets the schools built, especially the first school, how he gets to know the people, and the cultural, political, financial, and even geographical obstacles he and the other CAI staff face.  Then there are the high points, the good fortuitous events, the understandings and promises met that make all the efforts worth it.

What Mortenson has accomplished and continues to accomplish is remarkable, but, as he acknowledges, he didn’t do it all alone.  Assistance has come from the CAI’s benefactors and, what I believe is more crucial, from the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan that directly and indirectly benefit from the help.  Mortenson learns that finding the right people, and building and committing to relations with them is just as important as raising funds, buying materials, and the construction work.  His friends in Pakistan and Afghanistan are numerous and all interesting.  The later nurmadhar or head man of the first village where they built a school, Korphe, serves as his mentor and gives him lessons that guide his efforts.  There’s Faisal Baig who serves as his bodyguard.  At least one of his friends is a former Taliban.  Mortenson works to learn their languages and cultures.  He adopts their style of dress and even learns to pray like a Muslim even though he isn’t one.

The stories of the people in rural Pakistan and, later in the book, Afghanistan, are arguably just as compelling as Mortenson’s story.  They live in very harsh, mountainous climates.  They’re poor but definitely not ignorant.  They have the kindest hospitality that motivates Mortenson to build his first school.  They know the mountains and how to survive in them better than anyone.  One of my favorite parts of the book is when Mortenson goes hunting for ibex with some villagers.  They make a distinction between those who live “upside” in the mountain villages and “downside” in the lower elevation cities such as Skardu.  They have a rich culture where religion and their labors on farms and the land are important.  Yet they also know that education is needed for their children, especially the girls.  As a horseman, a Kirghiz nomad from the Wakhan region in northeast Afghanistan says, “For me, hard life is no problem, but for children no good.”

The people of rural Pakistan and Afghanistan are actually comprised of many cultures.  The Balti live in the Baltistan region in northeastern Pakistan.  The Wazir live in Waziristan in western Pakistan.  In Afghanistan there are people in the southern plains and the mountainous north.  The different peoples speak different languages including Balti, Urdu, Pashto, and Dari, a form of Farsi.  Mortenson learns some of these languages and is helped by translators with others.  The people also teach him valuable lessons.  Haji Ali teachings him to build relations and a female principal in Kabul teaches that it’s more important for girls to be educated than to stop wearing burkhas.   Something all the people seem to have in common is that they all drink tea.  The three cups mentioned in the title have important cultural significance that embodies the central message of the book:  the first time you share a cup of tea you’re a stranger, the second time you’re a friend, and the third time you’re family.

Mortenson and the CAI’s work in Central Asia began in 1993.  Since then there have been many changes and major news events in that region.  There was the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, 9/11 and the anti-American sentiments, and the war in Afghanistan that goes on to this day.  The book offers a more honest perspective of what’s going on:  most of the people do not hate Americans.  The Fundamentalist Islam movement is supported more by rich Saudis.  The war in Afghanistan was necessary to remove the Taliban from power but helping the people rebuild is even more necessary to ensure peace.  The events of the past 10-15 years have underscored the importance of the CAI’s work.  Building schools doesn’t just help the people of rural central Asia.  It promotes peace.

One part of the book mentions Mortenson convinces a high-ranking officer in the U.S. Military that building schools will help national security.  The officer offers him 2.2 million dollars to build schools but Mortenson turns him down even when they say they could make it look like the money didn’t come from the military.  I’m not 100% sure why they turned them down.  Perhaps he was afraid that accepting it would make people question the CAI’s motives especially if they found the true source of the funding.

The book mentions a few things I know about before reading.  To better accomplish the goals of the CAI, Mortenson seeks to learn about similar projects in other countries.  He visits Cavite that’s an hour south of Manila in the Philippines where the Institute of Rural Reconstruction helps the rural poor set up tiny businesses such as bicycle taxis.  I’ve seen a film called Cavite, a thriller that takes place in that area made by Filipino-American filmmakers.  At the official inauguration of the school in the village of Kuardu, the supreme leader of Pakistan’s Shia gives a speech.  He begins by saying, “Bismillah ir-Rahman in-Rahim” that means “In the name of Allah Almighty, the Beneficent, the Merciful.”  The word Bismillah is also in the lyrics of the song “Bohemian Rapsody” by Queen, the part that goes “Bismillah no, we will not let you go. Let him go! Bismillah.”  It kind of makes sense that this word is in the song since Queen’s late lead singer who wrote the song, Freddy Mercury, is of Persian descent.  I wonder if Muslims find the song sacrilegious.  Three Cups of Tea also mentions Jon Krakauer hosting a fundraiser for Mortenson.  Both Mortenson and Krakauer have climbed mountains.  I read Krakauer’s books Into the Wild and Into Thin Air many years ago and I listened to the audio version of Into the Wild more recently.  Interesting that Krakauer didn’t help write Mortenson’s story.  But then again, Krakauer doesn’t usually write inspiring stories.

The story of Greg Mortenson and the people of rural Pakistan and Afghanistan is exciting, thrilling, informative, eye opening, and truly inspiring.  And the story continues.  You can get updates on the CAI’s progress on their website www.ikate.com.  There are also websites for Three Cups of Tea (www.threecupsoftea.com), Greg Mortenson (www.gregmortenson.com), and Pennies for Peace (www.penniesforpeace.org), a fundraiser for schoolchildren to donate pennies and change to build schools.  Many predict Mortenson will win the Nobel Peace Prize.  He has received offers to make a move of his story but he has turned them down, fearing they may offend or adversely affect the people he’s trying to help.  I’m not sure if a film could do his story justice.  But I’m glad Mortenson and the journalist Relin made the effect to tell his story to many through Three Cups of Tea.  With so many bad forces in the world I’m glad Mortenson, the CAI, and many people or rural Central Asia are doing some good.