IN A WORLD of gloomy news, CNN's annual "Hero of the Year" special gives people hope and inspiration. Last night, CNN recognized common people engaging in uncommon and extraordinary deeds: heroes from around the world who organize projects and programs for those in need. Those honored range from a woman in Afghanistan who provides educational opportunities for girls to a Montana father who has convinced thousands of youths to pledge not to drink after a drunk driver killed his 14-year-old daughter.
Editor's note: This post ran last spring. Still got the flow, the mojo. Ain't no turning back, Jack.
SWEET. BABYBOOMERS SEEKING Proustian moments may recall their folks slow-dancing in the kitchen to "Rise," Herb Alpert's huge pop-jazz hit from the late '70s. Ah, Moms and Pops. Everything is perfect in this one.
Who is the smiling, dancing woman? Herb Alpert's wife, I assume? And why is this video so entrancing? At 1:18, they're moving as one, in perfect rhythm and repose, until she breaks the beautiful stasis by suddenly leaping into his arms. The photographers and onlookers can't help but whoop and laugh in joy. That instant. Grace? Harmony? Equipoise? The "secret chord" that Leonard Cohen sings of in Hallelujah, at the precise moment of embarking:
"It goes like this / The fourth, the fifth / The minor fall, the major lift / The baffled king composing Hallelujah . . . . "
KD Lang's version of "Hallelujah" during the Winter Olympics in Vancouver may be an even more moving illustration of that near-transcendent rise, the swelling of voice and intent. Her voice is powerful, angelic, other-worldly.
So we aim for this in our real writing, to trace that still point with our clumsy little words. We always fall a tad a bit a little short, but the fun is in the trying. Happy weekend.
KILLER SKIT ON NBC's "Saturday Night Live," skewering precious tech types who whine about their new tech toys when Chinese laborers suffer to make them. Like all SNL skits, it starts out slow and goes on too long, so skip to 1:00 minute in the video to get the gist. Nice little touches, from the performers' subtle accents to the Chinese erdu playing sappy violin notes. And Fred Armisenis a comic genius.
CHRIST, AND THEN cameDave Eggers, just nominated for a National Book Award for his new novel, A Hologram for the King. Where does that transcultural dude fit? How do we define him? He's a cipher and a chameleon, beyond typecasting. Was he born that way, flying Lady Gaga-like from the loins of all global writers? He not only bashes borders, he transcends them, reshapes them.
SO JAZZED THAT American writers of more hues and cultures are winning wide recognition and critical acclaim, including Junot Diaz, Dinaw Mengestu, Krys Lee, and others who are eroding borders and shaping a new fictional language. They represent a new generation of global urban writers who speak with much flava and authenticity. They're the progeny of Sandra Cisneros and Salman Rushdie and Chinua Achebe. A polyglot, mulatto, mashed-up crew of young writers who reflect a dynamic world spirit that only will grow. No brush-painting in that cloying, annoying, colonial voice that old-school publishers loved to court. Are modern-day demographics, cultures and commerce finally converging, creating what journalist Guy Garcia has called the "new mainstream"? Will "ethnic lit" no longer be ghettoized? Are outsiders the new insiders? Is exotic the new norm? Are the "other" now us? And can we stop using the word diaspora? For those who yearn for more literature of all shades, we've been waiting a lifetime for the rise of the next-gen global literati. I have no doubt that we're at the cusp of a new cultural ethos.
LUCKY US. AS you watch the presidential debates between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, imagine getting imprisoned, sent into exile, or killed for expressing your rights to free speech and freedom of the press. The Committee to Protect Journalists just announced
that it will honor four journalists "who risked their lives and liberty to reveal abuses of power and human rights violations in China, Liberia, Kyrgyzstan, and Brazil." Receiving the annual International Press Freedom Award at a banquet in late November in New York are Mauri König, a Brazilian investigative reporter; Mae Azango, a Liberian journalist; jailed Tibetan journalist Dhondup Wangchen; and Azimjon Askarov, a reporter serving a life term in Kyrgyzstan. According to CPJ, 70 journalists have been killed worldwide so far in 2012.
FOR ASIA WATCHERS and sports lovers, there's a fascinating story in the Asia Society's blog on "China Heavyweight," a new documentary about boxing in the Sichuan province of China. The film, by acclaimed director Yung Chang, looks at young boxers Miao Yunfei and He Zongli and their coach as they train for China's national team and the Olympics. The New York Times calls the film a "remarkably tender portrait (that) positions a particularly violent sport as nothing less than a lifeline to the 21st century." Can't wait to see it. It's the real thing. No flying kung fu warriors or "Rocky" film fantasies.
