WTWN #94 - All Flavors All The Time
"The Dark Ages had the same sunny skies."
The world is all flavors all the time.
The Dark Ages had the same sunny skies.
In the Summer of Love, we were at war . . .- Nada Surf, “So Much Love.”
A lot of what I scrawl here on Substack--maybe most of it, actually--is a bit obvious, even meta, as one reader pointed out. You know, like writing about how writing reduces anxiety to alleviate anxiety.
But even the seemingly obvious (like suggesting we should eschew sentimentality and stop minting the penny) are rooted in things happening in the world right now.
There’s an answer to the questions “Why this? Why now?” for every one of these essays, even if the answer is known only to me.
This one is no different. But I hope there’s still something to learn.
I’ve been listening to the 2020 Nada Surf song, “So Much Love,” while preparing to see their Helsinki show in a couple of months. The song includes the line, “The world is all flavors all the time,” which I adapted for the title of this essay.
There are countless examples in literature of quotations that convey a similar message, not the least of which is the opening paragraph of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
This idea feels especially relevant during a period of history that sometimes seems objectively terrible. (I.e., Trump 47.)
I'm also thinking back to the early days of the global pandemic, when many thought the apocalypse had arrived. Here we are five years later, and clearly, that wasn’t the case.
As America appears to be going to hell (maybe it was already on the way there?), it's worth noting how many good things are happening at the same time. And some of them are being facilitated by the very forces we consider evil.
For me, one thing that comes to mind is my new learning over the past several months. When the President makes a foolish or inexplicable move, it motivates me to do my own research. Suddenly, I understand how tariffs work better. I also see how silly it is to rename the "Gulf of Mexico" in the name of “reclaiming” it by replacing a word (Mexico) whose etymology is Aztec with a word (America) whose origins are Italian.
I also realized the glaring hypocrisy in the recent push to kick the Mexican “invaders” in California, since Los Angeles was originally Mexican territory, the city’s full original name in Spanish being "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles". The real immigrants, it could be argued, are the Americans. But that's a whole other essay, like the fact that the entire United States was built on stolen land with slave labor.
Los Angeles was indeed part of Mexico for a period of time. It was founded by Spain in 1781 as a settlement called "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles". When Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, Los Angeles, along with the rest of Alta California, became part of the First Mexican Empire. This Mexican period lasted until 1848, when, following the Mexican-American War, California, including Los Angeles, was ceded to the United States through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
If you think back to the global pandemic, you’ll probably find many nuggets, things made more special by their rarity, the quiet streets and skies of the earliest days, or the intimacy created by taking nearly empty international flights. For me, it sucked that the peak of the pandemic was right in the middle of my MFA program studies in Paris, causing two or three of our six sessions to be remote instead of in the City of Lights, but it was still a special time.
But it’s always important to remember the value of the moment. As Nada Surf reminds us, “The Dark Ages had the same sunny skies.” The beauty possible in one part of the world isn’t destroyed by war or famine in another, just as the sadness of death does not destroy the joy of birth. They don’t cancel each other out. They coexist.
All this is a reminder to be grateful. Be grateful when things are good, recognizing that they're good because they could be worse elsewhere. And when things are bad; remember that good things still exist.
It's a call for optimism. Life is a miracle, no matter how you slice it—even as war rages in Ukraine and the Middle East becomes more unstable. Here in Finland, we're more concerned about Russian aggression since Finland became the 31st member state of NATO in 2023. But at the same time, anti-DEI efforts by the Trump Administration are inspiring increased commitment to DEI in parts of Europe.
Life is sweet. There's always something to cherish — even if fleeting, even when good times are cut short too soon.
Who knows how, but I’m still here.
David