Somehow once a while you will be reminded that less than a century ago neither of the above was granted in the United States. It’s amazing when you realize how much this nation has changed from the past within decades. I often criticize that US is no longer as great as it used to be. But the 2008 presidential election has shown the world, no matter how much you disagree with this nation’s policies and doctrines, no matter how imperfect it is, the United States of America is still one of the greatest nations (if not the greatest) in the world. It keeps the path open for every ordinary citizen to the top, even though that path is narrow and tough; it gives the nation’s biggest power to a 47 years old African American whose name sounds so alien; it allows its media and public criticize its men in power freely and sourly; it embraces a joyful liberal movement coming forth 50 years later after the last painful, sometimes desperate, war for freedom.

The world has not forgotten the blood that shed for those hard fought progresses in the history of freedom. Hillary Clinton reminded her audience in the concession speech to think of those kept on fighting until women could vote, and think of the civil rights heroes and foot solders who risked their lives to bring about the end of segregation and Jim Crow. When CNN announced Obama’s victory on the election night, one of the guest speakers cited the last paragraph of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s final speech with tears in his eyes:  He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain . And I have looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the Promised Land.

In an article published in the Wall Street Journal a week ago, Juan Williams looked back at the civil rights movement in 1961. He talked about a group of young freedom riders got on a bus from Washington D.C. to take a trip through Virginia and into the South. The bus was raided in Alabama. Riders were beaten so badly that some suffered brain damage. In a subsequent campaign supported by Robert Kennedy, the then-Attorney General, to challenge the segregations and the racists, three young men set out to the south and later were killed. There were more men and women chose to continue the unfinished journey.

In Dr.King’s most famous speech I Have A Dream, given in 1963 in Washington D.C., he painted a picture that all brothers and sisters, in all colors, shall see a more perfect nation. One day freedom shall ring from every mountain top. One day people will not be judged by the color of the skin but the content of their character.

He was assassinated in 1968; less than five years after JKF was shot in Dallas. Following the two giants’ deaths, there was another dark night in 1968. Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy, brother of JFK, was assassinated only two months later after Dr. King’s death during his presidential campaign. It was one of the darkest hours in American history. Courage, truth, faith and freedom were defended by blood and lives.

It is amazing when we, outsiders, go back to those times and cheer for a new age.

Yes, I have to admit that the United States of America is a great nation after all. It once again inspires the world by demonstrating that progress toward liberality and equality can be made. Just when the world starts to question on its ability and credibility as the leader of the free world, it proves that it can once again crow back from the cliff and leave us behind.

Let us never underestimate America and never underestimate the power of people. Let us, the Chinese, learn from our former rival and hold up our pride. We have a long way ahead. We are not there yet until the voices of people are heard and answered. We are not there yet until the lives of our citizens are secured and all the children can receive better education. We are not there yet until we provide equal opportunities to our people no matter where we are born. We are not there yet until we prove the world we are the source of inspirations and the centre of freedom.

No, we are not there yet. There is still a long way ahead.

It is a three-channel video installation. Artist Charly Nijensohn filmed the videos earlier this year during the raining season in the salt desert of Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. The desert is 13,000 feet above sea level and contains billions of tonnes of salt. When it rains, the vast landscape, the endless clouds, the sky and their perfect reflections on the water, present an infinite emptiness above the existence of individuals.

You see tiny little things as evidence of life amid the emptiness, such as the changing sunlight, the gentle rain drops on the water, the running tide. You hear the sound of wind, water and rain, but nothing else.  

Here the dividing line between real and reflection is fragile and vague. It’s like the two worlds of life and death: they are so close, so alike, yet stand at opposite end and we human are there in between.

There are human figures occasionally appear in the video. People are isolated from each other, wrapped in black jackets, faces covered, standing faraway on the water as if they are floating like spirits.  Most of the time, they are standing still. No dialogue, no movement, no facial expression. Sometimes you know they are looking at you. Sometimes you are totally ignored. You can’t stop asking yourself, what are they thinking? What are they looking at and looking for? What would come into your mind if you were there, in such a great silence?

“Exposed to the erosion of time, they vanish into the emptiness. In silence and isolation, they are testimony of an existence which, in disappearing, becomes a declaration of principles. ” Charly Nijensohn once talked about this work.

I wonder what principles he meant. Could they be the answer to the long-asked question of being? Could they be a challenge or surrender to the mysterious nature?

I am very interested to find out the original ending of the story. I also expect a more detailed and vivid description of the complicated and subtle emotional touch among the three characters in the book. I believe that texts carry richer images than images do for human’s memories. Using or copying Charles’ comments on the difference between painting and photography, I shall say that image is a reflection of details, but writing is an expression of feelings. Hence paintings are better than photos, text is better than image, and book is better than the move – at least for memoirs.

However Mr. M, who invited me to the movie, has warned me that the book carries much more religious themes in it. He must understand very well how strongly I feel against the Catholic preaching part in the movie as I am an atheist like the old Charles.

I remember when the movie was over, M and I walked out from the cinema. I was puzzled and I asked him:”So, what’s the ending message? After all those struggles, the director wants to tell us that Charles finally found his peace in god and settled down with the past???” Both of us were a bit confused. And it was all Julian Jarrold’s fault. Because he-according to M’s reliable source-edited the ending part and made Charles believed in God. Such manipulation is totally unacceptable to me. If Evelyn Waugh was still alive, maybe she wants to use the book to knock Mr. Jarrold’s head (I don’t mind help Ms Waugh do that). Hence I am greatly interested in the book: only after I study the original work in details, shall I be able to make the arguments about the “modified ending” base on an in-depth understanding of the book.

I made a joke with P while talking about the movie: Isn’t it weird that all the handsome nice guys from Oxford University appear in movies are gay?

He laughed and gave me a nod.

电影简介

安西的画有一种拙朴天真的味道，他采用的色彩和线条又简单又有趣，而且他对“瞬间”的精湛把握真是令人叹服。虽然这本书《常常旅行》是我看过的第一本真正意义上属于安西的作品，这个顽童一样的画家对我来说就好像是老朋友一样毫不陌生。喜欢看台版村上散文集甚至日文原版的村上迷应该看过无数安西给村上作的插画还有这两个边吃吃喝喝边天马行空的胡说八道对谈录。大陆的村上朝日堂系列把安西的插画全部都删掉，简直是一种暴殄天物的罪行。

不过正是因为这种熟悉，以至于我在看这本书的时候常常忘记这本是百分之一百的安西家大作，从文字到插画到里面记录的吃喝玩乐故事都属于比村上要更加为所欲为的安西水丸。少了村上式的轻幽默，而多了一点游乐人生的味道；少了点爵士乐和猫，多了点美人和日本料理；读起来就好像安西大叔正在面前拿着烟满不在乎地胡侃一般，令人心情愉快。

可惜这本书是掉头的私藏，不然我就把它带回家了。郁闷的时候，没有酒喝的时候，想怀念一下雪天的时候，或者厌倦了鱼丸汤和海鲜米粉的时候，把它摸出来翻两页，岂不是妙得很？

I was standing right in front of the TV when CNN declared that Obama had won the election. In fact, the world was watching the United States on this day and the answer was finally revealed. I saw people on the streets of Washington, Chicago, New York and more cheering, singing and dancing. Many of them had tears in their eyes but more were smiling and hugging each other joyfully. Flags and balloons were everywhere.

They deserve a night like this. After two years’ campaigning, eight years’ failing glory and more than two hundred years’ pursuing a more perfect union, after all the struggles and efforts, they have come this far.

My department is so “blue” that five of us are either behind Obama or Hillary, though none of us can vote for the President of United States. It doesn’t matter. We have seen the historical moment in the world’s history, just as many of our ancestors witnessed the moment of end of World War II or the beginning of a new nation. History will go on. And our children can see more: a better future, a more liberal world, a place where boundaries can be removed.

History is not written for us. It is written by us.

So shall we say.