Central Heating on a Snowy Day
And Other Observations from Virginia, USA

Most people don't know what it's like to practically go without cheese for 14 months (Asia...) and then suddenly be immersed in the cheese-loaded environment of the West. With free reign over my father's dairy-packed refrigerator, I overindulged, that American hallmark. I had returned to my old friend Gluttony's doughy embrace!

This was my first visit to Virginia since I almost moved here in 7th grade, and I got a taste of what my life would have been like. My father still worked for the same company he always has, his house was impecably clean like it always was, and he still liked cars, green energy, and conservative economics.

A Night With the Guys

A group of his colleagues from Michigan were in town. An interesting mix of carnivors--worldly locals--these guys had d grown up in the same small community as me and had branched out through the multinational corporation that tied them together. They were on the management "side" of things, but were not the type that easily reached that station. They were all very down-to-earth. One was a self-described redneck. All excited to flex their expense account muscles by gobbling as much red meat as their guts would hold.

As when I first went to Shanghai in the fall of 2004 and met my father on a business trip there, talk at dinner time centered on the global auto industry, specifically the parts supply aspects, more specifically still the production and changes of the last few years, the immediate problems, and the future. This was also a night of "Larry the Cable Guy" jokes and other forms of what my West Coast friends called "lower-chakra" humor and entertainment.

When we first arrived at the "Texas Roadhouse" beef show of an eatery, I wished I had used more foresight. As usual, I acquiesed at the first suggestion, even though I knew this roadhouse was the sort of place where the only thing I would eat were boiled vegetables and buttered mashed potatoes. Then I realized I was glad I went, if only to connect with that strange breed of men who were living the sort of "by the book" Horacio Alger stories that one doesn't usually see any more. Plus, I laughed more than I had in what felt like years. The humor was slightly red-state (though they were blue-staters), (for foreigners, red staters vote Republican, ie Bush and blue staters vote for the "left". For a nice exploration of this politico-cultural war, try reading "What's the Matter with Kansas?" by Thomas Frank)), but jokes like getting the waitstaff to give a "Texas yeehaw" to the redneck chowing down 16 ounces of American beef for his "21st birthday" (not really his birthday at all) never get old.

At this table were good, honest, hard-working Americans with no particular fears or illusions about competition and the global market. They see the Chinese making gains, they see higher-paid Germans selling parts for less than Americans, and lower-paid Mexicans getting jobs. Union shops that try to operate with the privilege that industrialized nations shared forty years ago are bound to be shut down. And this is how the rust belt grows. And how they keep their jobs.

But enough about that. Washington, D.C. was calling. And I go with open eyes...into the lion's den!