The residents of Florida are as vibrant as ever.
I was down there from Sunday through last night, visiting the family. Although it rained for 90% of the trip (I’ve had bad weather luck with visiting Florida) we had a good time. Monday we ate at Pazzo, where I was carded before drinking a glass of wine, despite being older than the waitress.
Despite me admittedly looking young, most people I met seemed to assume I was in college, because in their minds, all young people are their college-aged grand kids. I was not offended on the hopes that someone would randomly give me a greeting card with $5 in it, but no such luck.
At Pazzo, a ~70-year-old man at the table next to us began to pontificate on the vile nature of taxation, Obama, socialism, untrustworthy black people, etc (ed. note – these were all separate topics). As I attempted to eat my sourdough bread, this man ranted and raved as much as possible. Quite humorously, he got up to go to the bathroom, and 4 of the 6 people at the table quickly left the restaurant. This was apparently the change they believed in.
With some down time, I got to read two great books. The first was Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs : A Low Culture Manifesto, by Chuck Klosterman. He writes about all kinds of topics, but my favorite was his essay on the media. Worth a read.
The other book was American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House. American Lion was written by Jon Meacham, who is also the editor of Newsweek. This was a terrific book. Meacham does an amazing job of telling the story of Jackson’s presidency while weaving in a great deal about his personal life. He attempts to reconcile the two sides of a man who was at once the first President of the masses, who valued popular freedom more than any of his predecessors, and a hard fighting, Indian-removing man viewed as a tyrant.
The most interesting thing about the book was how much it parallels the climate today. Jackson ran on a platform of helping the masses and removing the influence of elite institutions. He was the first President to run a national campaign where he spoke directly to the people (which his contemporaries found scandalous). I highly recommend the book, and it seems like a nice preview for Team of Rivals, which I can no longer avoid. Having Doris Kearns Goodwin staring from your bookshelf menacingly every day is unsettling, to say the least.
When not immersed in 19th century history, it was nice to get away. While at the gym on Monday, one guy walked over to another and said, “So, I’m getting a new shoulder on Friday!” These are not the kinds of things you typically hear at NYSC.
Upon arriving back at JFK last night, I was immediately reminded that I was home, as is JFK’s style. As I stood at the baggage claim, a woman in her 50′s, with a teenage son, was running around in circles frantically. I turned to watch, thinking they had lost a child or were in need of some kind of help.
The woman ran over to a security guard, grabbed him by the arm, and screamed, “Will someone tell me where the G*d damn bathroom is?!?” As the amused guard pointed, she ran to her left, knocked over someone else’s luggage, and disappeared into the recesses of the ladies room, 14-year-old behind her.
Ah, home.
