The recent weekend held many emotions for me...
Visiting Chicago – Caren's new home – and traveling with Julia to see my favorite band of all time, the Dave Matthews Band.
Note to self – next time I try to surprise Julia, I'll remember not to write the destination for the taxi driver in such large letters; as well as inform the driver not to shout the destination back at me while said surprisee is within earshot!
But once we were on our way, it was a non-stop fabulous weekend. Even though we had to rush the entire time (we arrived extremely late – more on that later), Julia's patience mixed with Caren and her thoughtfulness; Andre and his humor; Craig and his hospitality; Ryan and his Chevy/generosity and the Dave Matthews Band with their hypnotic spell made the 36-hour blur feel more like a long four-day weekend vacation. "Stay, stay, stay" is what kept coming to my mind.

As for getting to the concert late – I will say, one consolation for spending $117 for the taxi ride to Tinley Park, Illinois' amphitheater, is that not one dime of that money will be going to American Airlines. ahving to sit 2 hours on La Guardia's runway is what led to the rush that mentioned earlier. But expecting disappointment from things blazoned in "American" red, white and blue is becoming a regular part of life lately.
Thankfully, it was the only shadow cast on an otherwise solar experience.
Which brings me to another experience.
The photo at the beginning of this entry – a profoundly ironic image of a black man peering out at the sunset through the window of American Airlines gate H8 at O'Hare airport.
I only wonder what could have been going through his mind...
...sage reflections of a trip almost completed? Hopeful prayers for a journey ahead? Or perhaps unsatisfied echoes of the dreams he once had when he boarded an airplane for the first time, when he first arrived in this new land on the same red, white and blue metal bird? Hopes that he must accept are slipping away more and more with every retreat of the setting sun – bronze and beautiful, yet no less disappearing, going, going, going...
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It never ceases to amaze me how eloquently policymakers outside of the United States summarize American government and its dysfunction. In sharp contrast to us here in Bushworld where we deluge our broadcasts and columns with unabashed rhetoric and spin – seemingly ending each day no wiser (if not dumber) than when Matt, Al and Katie (I mean Meredith) first wished us a good morning.

As Britain warms up for Tony Blair's resignation and their 2010 general elections, party leaders are lending sage commentary on American policy with their infamous and curt wit. As evidence, this portion of a New York Times article on Britain's opposition party Conservative Leader, David Cameron...
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He assailed the messianic view of the war on terrorism expressed by Mr. Blair and Mr. Bush, saying he was “skeptical of grand schemes to remake the world” and asserting that western policy had lacked “humility and patience.”
He also attacked the notion that counterterrorism is “a single struggle between single protagonists. The danger is that by positing a single source of terrorism a global jihad and opposing it with a single global response — American-backed force — we will simply fulfill our own prophecy.”
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If only we hadn't declared complete and unconditional independence from the Crown back in 1776. If only we had included some measures of exception for unforeseen times of shallow, block-headed stupidity overtaking Captiol Hill.
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The first time I saw Andre Agassi play he was wearing long blonde-streaked hair and acid-wash denim shorts – with an electric bright racket and a severe topspin forehand to match. I knew right away that he would dethrone Jimmy Connors as my favorite tennis player of all time.
This past Sunday – 21 years later (one year short of Jimmy Connors' 22 consecutive US Opens) – Andre said good-bye to the US Open after a lost to German newcomer Benjamin Becker.
There is no replacement for the string that is now missing in history's racket.
That's all I'm going to say – there's nothing else to say. Farewell Andre.


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