What Europeans Think of Americans
So here it is: the story of the woman from Germany whom Jack and I met in New York.
We stayed, as I think I said, at the 414 Inn in Hell's Kitchen/Clinton, which is a European-style, bed-and-breakfast-y kind of place. On Sunday morning, Jack woke up early as usual (5:30-ish), so I got him and me dressed and took him downstairs for breakfast and a walk so that Daddy could sleep a little more. There is a Continental breakfast in the lobby of the hotel and Jack was very excited about the mini bagels that were there. He ate two of them. After a little while (keep in mind that it was 7AM on a Sunday morning), a couple staying in the hotel and visiting from Germany came in for breakfast and Jack was flirting with them. The woman was smitten with Jack and she and I talked for a little while about Christo (she and her partner had seen the Reichstag when Christo wrapped it) and New York (it was her first visit) and the strong Euro. Then, after this very banal chitchat, she asked me a question about the US: why did we have schools that were going to teach children that the Bible story of the beginning of life was a scientific theory as opposed to teaching evolution as the fact that it is and is taught in every other industrialized nation in the world? She went on to tell me that she had been educated in a Convent school and that she was taught science in one class and religion in another and that they didn't mix. I felt many different things at once: shame, embarassment, patriotism, defensiveness. I wanted her to know that I wasn't a yahoo redneck conservative who wanted to stand science on its head. And I wanted to defend this country's way of doing things that have allowed things like prohibition and laws against people marrying whom they want to marry. I wanted to reassure her that academia was still academia and that there is still enough academic infrastructure to prevent the laws of biology (ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny) from being overturned. I wanted to tell her that even though we frequently disagree with each other, we are still the best and smartest damned country in the world. And I wanted to ask her if she were me if she would consider moving to Canada. However, it was early Sunday morning and the woman's English was limited and my German includes "Entschuldigung Sie, bitte!" and Jack was climbing into the fireplace, so I think that I said something like it was all George Bush's fault and would change when he leaves office in '08 and left her wondering, I'm sure, how having a president with certain views can change things as radically as what is taught in the schools.
And I've been thinking of it more and more as I hear the news from Washington about Terry Schiavo and how some of these so-called Conservatives suddenly no longer believe in state's rights or privacy rights and all of a sudden want to legislate tragic personal decisions (whether about end-of-life issues or marriage or beginning-of-life issues.)
So, I'm wondering, how is the real estate market in Eastern Canada?
10:01:05 PM 
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