The Anger of Compassion

How to Celebrate Independence Day

Just for something to post on Independence Day: Ten Things to Love About America:

(I'll try to ignore the obvious (Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Raquel Welch, Bill of Rights, jazz, Macs, universal franchise, Carl's Jr., rock and roll), and I'll try not to repeat anything I've written before)

1. Baseball -- in particular the Red Sox and the Dodgers, sure, but baseball in general. Hitting a ball with a stick is very, very hard -- so is it so surprising that baseball (and cricket) account for squillions of sports fans all over the world?

2. Bacon-wrapped hot dogs -- and Cajun cuisine and barbecue and all of American cuisine in general, whether anyone accepts the idea of "American cuisine" or not. So good they're illegal, the bacon-wrapped hot dog -- an L.A. specialty -- is http://www.laweekly.com/2008-02-07/eat-drink/the-hot-dog-so-good-it-sillegal/ illegal in L.A. But you can make them at home, as I do.

3. Bourbon -- start with Maker's Mark or Wild Turkey. But for god's sake -- and your own -- do not stop there. For that matter, go with Shiner Bock for a beer chaser.

4. Pit bulls -- Than which. I am a German shepherd chauvinist of many decades' standing, but pit bulls are awesome dogs, and I look forward to many happy years with my little girl Scottie.

5. MITOpenCourseWare -- please, people, this is just awesome. Calculus? Linear algebra? You could, literally, get lost here, and never care. Berkeley and Stanford have great stuff online, too.

6. Bogart in Casablanca and The Big Sleep

7. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Walt Whitman, T.S. Eliot, e. e. cummings, Ayn Rand, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Robert Frost.

8. Berlitz, Pimsleur, Michel Thomas -- All three language-learning methods began here -- coincidentally, all three began with French, I believe. Good stuff.

9. Diet Dr. Pepper. Need I say more?

10. Firefly.

It is in fact entirely appropriate in America to name a pit bull puppy after F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Posted by Craig Ceely at July 3, 2009 11:36 AM