'Silence is Death'

Thanks to my friend Elizabeth I found out about an amazing project called City of Asylum that tries to help writers around the world who are persecuted or endangered, so that "they can continue to write and their voices are not silenced."

It's an international network, but there are three American contributing centres: Las Vegas, Pittsburgh and Ithaca, NY. They help authors gain visas that allow them to live and work in the USA, and even provide stipends and short term help with housing. The Pittsburgh iteration currently supports exiled writers-in-residence from Burma, China, El Salvador and Venezuela.

It's a brilliant idea, one that deserves more resources and a greater profile. Amongst the best of America are the ideals of freedom of expression and freedom from fear - this project pursues both for the good of all of us.

Outsiders

Today I learned that I didn't actually know anything about the Unabomber. It's a word I heard a lot on the radio here during the last week. It rang a bell, in a mid-90s, America-is-all-the-way-over-there sort of a way, but it wasn't until I looked it up just now that I discovered that this case was entirely new to me. Not only that, but it is a staggering story.

Living in a foreign country brings lots of problems and differences to navigate although, being British, the USA is a deceptively easy place to be. But there's no substitute for growing up somewhere and acquiring the instinctive understanding of how past events are woven in to the national fabric. I just don't have that here, probably never will, and so comparatively recent stories like that of Ted Kaczynski or the Tylenol Murders (which are, quite rightly, referenced by US media without further explanation) will always jar. And discovering them becomes an unlooked-for reminder of my own alien status.

The History of Rap

Today I learned that I really do like Jimmy Fallon.

I don't watch much US television. Although there are individual shows that I love to bits (West Wing, 30 Rock, Mad Men, just off the top of my head), and plenty of others that I'll happily sit through, I still don't know my way around the vast landscape of channels, networks and suppliers. To me, calibrated from my earliest years by the beautiful monolith of the BBC, US telly is a big ol' confusing mess. Watching a programme live, in real time, hardly ever happens.

But occasionally I do catch something by chance, and that thing is usually late night comedy chat shows. Partly I'm drawn to it because I can appreciate the lineage: whether it's Leno or Letterman,  this is a tradition that reaches back through Johnny Carson into the bedrock of American TV - to me, raised on Blue Peter, Doctor Who, Panorama and Match of the Day, this is a good thing. But partly, it's because at a certain time of day these shows become ubiquitous.

There are countless iterations of these shows, all sharing the same format, differentiated only by the presenter, the band and some minor tweaks. But as I've dipped in and out - the most casual of viewers - I've slowly come to realise that Jimmy Fallon is the best of them all. He's funny and likeable, luminescent with energy, and his rapport with his guests feels winningly genuine. Best of all, his show is ridiculously, joyously silly.  

This is from last night's show (albeit a repeat from March):

E Pluribus Unum

Today I learned more about an ongoing dynamic in America, the tension between the individual and the collective. We see it all the time, throughout this country's history. Sometimes it's in national consequences that arise from an individual's actions, sometimes it's in a conflict between the rights of a citizen and the requirements of a shared society, or the ancient arguments between States and Union. It's even expressed on the Presidential Seal.

Right now, as I type, the full powers of the government are being brought to bear in order to find one man who, so far, eludes capture. Now's not the time to write more about that. We won't know for a long time where these events have come from, let alone where they are heading. But today, and the events earlier in the week, have shown us a more positive relationship between individual and country.

Take the people who, in Boston and West, TX, ran towards the flames in order to help those around them.

It is a good thing to be reminded that each of us is one of the many.