Saturday, August 11, 2007
Dining With The Admiral
JimmyB (who is the brother of The JohnnyB), won the American Bar Association Award for Best Paper on Military Law, which he wrote on Jurisdiction Over War Crimes. It's a big thing, as only one such award is given each year, to one person. For that, JimmyB flew from the East Coast all the way over to The Golden City. (which some people tend to refer to as San Francisco).
Up we went to the city, to witness the ceremony with our own admiring eyes. Took us only 30 minutes of frantic driving around to finally find a parking garage that does not require you to withdraw all your life-savings for an hour of parking. We walked into the Marriott Hotel - and were immediately surrounded by lawyers. Tall lawyers and short lawyers; wide lawyers and skinny lawyers; sly lawyers and honest lawyers (well, there have to be some, eh?); smug lawyers and, hmm, OK, only smug lawyers. All men in dark suits, all women in high heels, and a lot of military lawyers in their fancy dress uniform.
And among al that crowd, The JohnnyB and yours truly. The JohnnyB nicely dressed with a tie, and myself dressed quite decently, and still feeling very colorful among all that seriousness.
Took forever to find our way to the Armed Forces room, where they had all the uniforms. We were introduced to the people with whom JimmyB spends his daily life and we've never met. Nice people, I have to say. Now, I really suck at the art of mingling (as in, standing around and carrying pointless small talk to which nobody cares to listen and the best response you can get is "oh-how-interesting"). So, I kept myself entertained by trying to figure out and compare the different uniform colors and various ranks, and countless colored strip-thingies and pins. I even had the epiphany of why they call 'navy blue' by that name...
Apparently, we could not sit down, as the big shot uniforms were standing up, but just as I was about to break this rule, as JimmyB claimed that ladies can sit down when they want to, and, well, I'm a lady (hey, isn't anybody out there watching Little Britain? SOMEONE?? PLEASE??? ...) - we were invited to sit down. It felt like musical chairs, everyone hovering above their chairs, and then sitting to attention.
It was quite interesting for me to see how things are done in the US military (well, in the JAG), and comparing it to my military days, years ago, back in my homeland.
There was a welcome speech, followed by a moment of silence dedicated to those who gave their lives and those who are at harm's way. I swear, it was less than 20 seconds! (I guess lawyers are more efficient at remembering...). Then came one embarrassing moment, when we were asked to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Now, I am not a US citizen yet (still procrastinating filling those forms!), and I have no idea what to do nor what to say. So I just followed everyone, stood there like an idiot, and eventually kinda put my hand on my heart. When in Rome...
The ceremony proceeded, with an introduction of the luncheon speaker (onion soup), opening speech (chicken leg with forbidden rice), main speech, and finally - the awards! (accompanied by cheese cake on which everyone nibbled secretly during the long ceremony. For the record, I have to say that my mom would have been proud of me, as I waited till the end before taking the first bite!).
Awards were explained, then speeched, then presented, then given, and eventually came the thank-you-I-am-so-humbled-ah-you-really-shouldn't-have-no-really speeches.
Then, it was Jimmy's turn. Before giving his own speech, he said, "I was taught to keep it short or funny". Thankfully, he chose keeping it short. In fact, just before handing the award to JimmyB, the admiral also exclaimed "...and I would like to thank JimmyB's brother, John, and his sister-in-law, Naiva, who came as guests." Would have been nice to have my name pronounced the right way, for a change, but - hey, a girl can only ask for so much, eh? For the sake of JimmyB, I chose to not correct the mighty admiral in public (and those who know me will know I would have had no problem doing so!), and so, Naiva just smiled graciously and continued to take the video, using the loyal services of LumiB. At least I snuck some good shots of the admiral, who has a great face for painting. Revenge is best served cold and in watercolors...
JimmyB's 10 minutes of fame were followed by the main speaker, who admitted not being funny, and promised he would try to keep it short, too.
Well, he may have tried.
But he sure failed.
Miserably.
I was dead tired, but I kept my eyes open (unlike the judge who was sitting next to the JohnnyB, enjoying a very enviable nap). He told a tale of Philippines who were executed during the Philippine insurrection, and it was considered murder. Or not. Or maybe yes. Or not necessarily. Ask The JohnnyB - he actually followed the whole thing! As the esteemed judge finished his (short...) talk, we had an opportunity to witness an impressive amount of jerkiness. Some idiot (sorry, a highly distinguished idiot who actually goes by [first name] [last name] III) kept pondering and questioning on why the judge did not distribute his bibliography, and that it would be very important to have it, and on and on, just to put the judge down. The judge explained he has it in his briefcase, and he will be more than happy to give it to anyone who wants it, but Mr. Jerk III kept going and going - - - it was like watching Law & Order, with a uniquely nasty character in it. It was fun!
Eventually, it was over. As a compensation for the over-lawyerly ambience, we went to the SF Museum of Modern Art, and enjoyed an exhibition of Matisse, that shows his paintings as well as his sculptures (aha! you didn't know he sculpted, did you!?). It was fascinating to see that the master, too, worked in a series with some of this sculptures (OK, a 23-year series...), and how he went from realism to abstract. We strolled through the museum to see other painting and photography shows (with me wallowing in shame due to the loud comments by JimmyB and The JohnnyB). For dessert, we visited my all-time favorite piece of (hmm, art): The 3 white canvases... yes, that masterpiece is still there (only in a somewhat different layout!).
It now has a runner-up: "Indigo Blue". An installation composed of a huge (Huge!!!) pile of blue jeans in the middle of a HUGE room. And - the best part: a wooden table and stool where an attendant sits and erases text from a book titled "International Law Situations", published by the Naval War College Law Situations. An excerpt: "The attendant moistens an eraser with saliva, rubs out lines of text, and allows the eraser filings to accumulate into a pile at the book’s edge. Hamilton has described this activity as a way of 'using the body to re-mark history—taking the mechanically reproduced text and replacing it with the mark of the body.'" You can read more about it here.
I thought it would be highly delightful if JimmyB (who was looking very impressive in his formal US Navy uniform) approached the attendant and told her she cannot desecrate the book as such. In fact, I stated his whole bunch of lawyers, plus the admiral, should go to that exhibit and talk to the attendant.
But hey, that's just me.
Anyway, it was a good day out, away from the annoying mess that was sitting on my mind during this week.
Nothing like a day out, an art show and 3 Beard Papa's fresh cream puffs to revive the soul.
Labels: Acculturation, Art, People
# posted by Nava @ 5:59 PM 
Comments:
It was pretty odd w/ JimmyB, US Navy JAGC, in full dress uniform walking by the attendant erasing what's supposed to be an US Navy Law book.
But I thought the U-Turn in front of Papa Beard's (what's with the name?) to go get Cream Puffs by Naiva and JimmyB was even funnier.
I've always been uncomfortable with the whole pledge of allegance routine. It's not that I'd rather be saying it to another flag, it's just that I'm saying it to a FLAG. I am professing a flag! Why don't you just have me get down on one knee and proclaim my undying devotion, how my heart yearns for the flag's touch against my quivering body...
The JohnnyB, those cream-puffs were well worth that U-Turn. Otherwise, you would have left all of them for me, which you didn't :-(
And, to Daniel: but that kind of routine would also require a very wide diamond ring to put around the flag's pole. And then what?
Nava, thank you for immortalizing our trip to SF in your weblog. My only point of contention is your statement "with me wallowing in shame due to the loud comments by JimmyB and The JohnnyB." I thought we were actually quite reserved in our artistic comments (or lack of artistic comments, or comments about the lack of artistic qualities in certain pieces of art) . . . Anyway, for the record, I saw quite a few artists walking around (you could tell because they looked serious, and were talking about art-type things), and I saw even a few of them literally raising their eyebrows at a few pieces (but then quickly changing their expressions before anyone noticed their incredulity).
# posted by 
: 8/12/2007 6:04 AM
James, indeed, I also took part in the sarcastic remarks about some of the ridiculous pieces of, hmm, art, at the MOMA. And yet: my blog - my artistic license.
Blueberry,If you have a big enough living room, I am sure it shall enrich your life. You do realize you'll have to have the attendant as well, don't you? Without him/her, the whole meaning changes.
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But I thought the U-Turn in front of Papa Beard's (what's with the name?) to go get Cream Puffs by Naiva and JimmyB was even funnier.
And, to Daniel: but that kind of routine would also require a very wide diamond ring to put around the flag's pole. And then what?
# posted by : 8/12/2007 6:04 AM
: 8/12/2007 6:04 AM Blueberry,If you have a big enough living room, I am sure it shall enrich your life. You do realize you'll have to have the attendant as well, don't you? Without him/her, the whole meaning changes.
