Steinbeck and Copland

It's not often that I'm terribly excited to be American. Not that I don't love the freedoms afforded people of this nation, but we've been given a reputation as a bunch of loud-mouthed idiots who give the bird to the rest of the world as we do whatever the heck we want. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not a big fan of that label. Going overseas at the end of last year, I didn't know how things were going to pan out for me as an American because we're just not popular to anyone other than ourselves. And actually, I've never even cared for American history, never cared all that much about America's industrial revolution, the incredible changes we've made in the last hundred years.

A year ago I bought a copy of The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, right around the time I had freshly relocated to Oregon. Sometimes I get in this mood where I feel like my education is leaving me, and that I need to immerse myself in something, anything stimulating. So I decided to tackle a piece of classic American literature. It was AMAZING! Never have I read something that was so subtle in its characterization and so enjoyably American. The plight of the common man. Wow. The Grapes of Wrath made me better appreciate being American. Before I left for Alaska in June I went to Powell's Bookstore with Daylan and she told me if I wanted another Steinbeck novel, I should go for East of Eden. The beauty of these books is that I've heard the titles many many times but had no idea what they were about. I finished that one by early August, and again I appreciated not only the characters in this masterpiece, but the distinctly American setting. America didn't seem so stuck up and high and mighty for five or six-hundred pages of literature.

Many of you know I'm a bit of a technology freak, especially when it comes to film and audio quality. Several years ago I bought a DVD player that would play special super-high-quality CDs. Actually one of the formats is called Super Audio Compact Disc. Basically these recordings sound much closer to the way they were played. Maybe it's the kind of thing only a guy like me can appreciate, and if that's the case, I'm okay with that. I LOVE these recordings. They're harder to find, and mostly jazz and classical recordings, but when listened to on nice speakers or good headphones, it's just incredible. Anyway, last night I found my SACDs and popped in one I hadn't heard in a while, a recording of some of Aaron Copland's classical works. It was pretty amazing that as soon as I heard this music, so distinctly American, I instantly thought of the two Steinbeck novels I've read. American in its truest and best sense. So all this to say, I want all of you to go out and buy two things: a recording of the works of Aaron Copland (look for Fanfare for the Common Man or Lincoln Portrait or An American in Paris or Appalachian Spring or Rodeo - they tend to come with several pieces altogether) and a copy of Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. And if you don't rekindle your love for America, or at least breathe a breath of fresh air on the dying embers of your American patriotism, then perhaps you should consider living somewhere else. Steinbeck and Copland, and, to add another artist to the mix, put up a bunch of posters of Norman Rockwell paintings. It just might work. Let me know if it does.