Jan 14, 2011

It's gonna be a great year.

Vegas

Wow, it looks like 2010 was my least blogged year ever. And looking at the links on the right column, it seems like personal blogging has pretty much died, replaced by pithy updates on facebook or twitter.

Every so often, something crosses my mind that deserves a bit more thought, a bit more organization, and maybe some time to pen it down. It seems like that time never comes though. Today I heard a bit on KPFA 94.1, the ultra-leftist talk radio station in Berkeley, about how this generation of Americans can expect to have a lower standard of living than their parents. A film major called in, talking about pursuing her dream, and how, since all careers were longshots, she'd rather pick one that she was passionate about. This is probably the kind of kid who'd get smacked silly by a Chinese mother. It's interesting to compare the vastly different mindsets out there between America, Europe and Asia. I could probably devote an entire essay to the topic, but my two main thoughts from this are:

1) Regardless of your opinion of Amy Chua's mothering methodology, she's a genius. The purpose of her article was really to promote her book, and it's been a while since I've seen any one article get so much publicity. It's probably got a vastly larger mindshare than any 15 second internet ad.
2) I bet in two generations time, children of refugees from the Iraqi or Afghan wars will be the new model minority. That might seem like a non-sequitur, but it ties directly to the personal drive for success that immigrant parents pass on as values to their children. There are probably few greater motivators than knowing war and destruction and having to struggle to build a better life for your children.

On a completely different note, I had one of those moments at the gym - when they play one of those older songs that you know you know... but you just can't place it. Hanging by a rope, I couldn't quite Shazam it. Anyways, later when I got home, I thought maybe I could find it again... it had a guy and girl singing. Maybe it was The XX? Nope, but the YouTube search revealed that The XX has a song called Stars, which finally triggered the memory that the song was by the Stars. Anyways, here's the old music plus some music for this month.