While I travel, here is a tribute to the athletes of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.
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Author: David J. Kent
Vietnam for Americans – Part 2: A Cup of Tea and a Conversation I Didn’t Understand
In my last post I reminisced about my first real traveling experience out of the USA – to Hanoi, Vietnam. Of all my memorable experiences there I enjoyed most meeting the Vietnamese people and eating the amazing food.
After traveling half way around the world I met up with a friend who had been in Hanoi for several months already. Not one of the rare western-style hotels for me; I lived in the local dorm of the National University, which was less impressive than it sounds. The small room in a stark building down a narrow street in a corner of town not usually seen by tourists meant that I spent most of my time in the midst of the locals and experienced Vietnamese life first hand. That included the local kids begging for money (one 4 year old put on her saddest looking face for my benefit) and the occasional swarm of 10 year olds competing to offer their shoe-shining prowess to me.
Many of my meals took place on the streets. And I mean this literally – squatting on the sidewalk eating Bun Nhan (duck noodle soup), Bun Oc (snail and noodle soup) or Bun Mum Tom (noodles dipped into a ghastly smelling shrimp paste). The proprietor would grab a handful of noodles, throw them briefly in boiling broth (with the chicken or duck bones still swimming around), and then ladle it into a bowl. You grabbed your own chopsticks from a cup holding a dozen or so (making sure you wiped them off before using, if you’re smart). Clean up is easy, you just throw everything on the ground. Generally an open sewer ran along the curb and everything went into it, including children relieving themselves as their proud parents looked on. As startling as this may seem to westerners, it was a normal occurrence. It also emphasized what was Vietnam’s greatest resource at the time – its people. There were so many people in Hanoi that each evening an army of men and women came out with large straw brooms and swept up the city. They even separated out usable materials from materials that have unquestionably reached the final state of being trash. Quite amazing.
Here’s a quick look at the street food in Hanoi posted on YouTube by uncorneredmarket. Note that this looks exceptionally upscale compared to most of the spots I ate.
Though my time in Vietnam was way too short I didn’t just stay in Hanoi. Hopping on the back of one of the Xe Om motorbike taxis I had rented for the day ($20 for two, a month’s income for the drivers), I ventured far out from the city to two of the small villages. Bach Trang specialized in making pottery, most of which was brought into Hanoi on bicycles or carts pulled by an ox or pony. The other village was called Nhing Heip, which was reached by an extremely bumpy Xe Om ride over rough roads. Nhing Heip is where they make fabric, and was the location of one of my fondest memories from the trip. Because very few westerners ever make it there, my oddly pale face attracted a great deal of attention. This was especially true with three little girls of about 4 years old who would run up to me and then run away and push their friends toward me, all the while laughing hysterically. My companion informed me that they kept saying “Look how white he is.” The commotion they were causing led to one of the girls’ grandfather seeing us and inviting us into his house for tea.
The house was actually a single room that resembled more a garage with a simple fabric covering the large opening. Over the course of the next 20 minutes or so we drank many cups of tea while he chatted away in Vietnamese about how America is rich and Vietnam is very poor but they work very hard (he was obviously proud of his culture). Of course, most of this I found out after the fact from my companion since I had learned only about 10 words of the language in my four days in Vietnam. I had no idea what he was saying but I enjoyed it immensely. It was a most delightful and memorable experience and one that I will treasure forever.
A conversation I didn’t understand of which I would be reminded years later when I engaged in another discussion where neither I nor the gentleman I was conversing with had any idea what we were saying to each other. More on that event in a later article.
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David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.
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Vietnam for Americans – Part 1: Hanoi on the Halfshell
I admit that I grew up a rather sheltered child in a small New England town. After many years where world travel was defined as an occasional weekend jaunt a stone’s throw into Canada, I suddenly found myself flying halfway around the world to Vietnam. And not just any place in Vietnam – Hanoi, the former capital of the Communist North that became the new capital of the reunified Socialist Republic of Vietnam. To provide even more perspective, this was in late 2000, before the United States opened up trade relations and long before Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization to become part of the modern world. It was still the period where memories of the “American War” were still toggling around in the minds of every surviving 50 year old male. Yes, I went to Hanoi before going to Hanoi became cool.
It was in these novel surroundings that my first taste of world travel gave me some of the fondest memories that remain with me today.
Bigger than I expected, Hanoi itself was incredibly busy. Thousands of people on motor scooters and bicycles crowded every street. Many of them wore scarfs over their mouths and noses because the air was so polluted. As I rode around town on my Xe om (a kind of motor bike taxi), it was interesting to contrast the many tiny streets teeming with people doing business on the sidewalks with the ornate mustard-yellow official buildings left over from the many years of French occupation. The mausoleum of Vietnam’s revered former leader Ho Chi Minh (called “Uncle Ho” by the locals), had a prominent place in a large square. Usually visitors can see his preserved body there, but at the time of my trip he was in the middle of an official face-lift, so to speak, so a visit to the adjacent museum had to suffice. Within its halls I wandered into a back room where local musicians played traditional Vietnamese instruments and sang haunting melodies. After the show one attractive musician handed me, the lone westerner in the small room, a ravishing red rose and a seductive smile.
One interesting feature of Hanoi was that shops were clumped by item. By this I don’t mean just that each store sold only one type of item; I mean all the stores on entire streets sold only one type of item. In the US the norm is to find strip malls with one drug store, one shoe store, one clothing store – one of each type of item you might want to buy on a single trip. In Hanoi, one street was dedicated to selling shoes and every alcove on that street sold shoes and nothing but shoes. Other streets were designated to sell coats or silk or “gifts for the tourists.” If you didn’t like one store, you merely walked next door. To this day I still don’t completely understand the concept but I can say that I feel the warmth of the pullover jacket I purchased there.
On another street I ordered three silk shirts. The proprietor of the shop let me pick the colors from a room stacked high with bolts of the finest silk, then measured me every which way you can possibly measure a man’s upper torso. This was late one afternoon. After lunch the very next day I returned to find three perfectly handmade silk shirts that fit like they were made for me. Which of course they were. Overnight. I don’t recall how many Vietnamese dong the shirts cost me, but I do remember that it was equivalent to about $20 each.
I learned a lot while in Hanoi, but what really amazed me was the warm welcome I received from the people. Well, at least the ones that weren’t trying to charge “the rich American” three times the price paid by the locals. In my next post I’ll have more on the people – and the food – of Hanoi and an incredible tea party I had in a village outside the city. You won’t want to miss it. See Part 2 here.
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David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, scheduled for release July 31, 2017. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricityand Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time andAbraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.
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Abolitionist John Brown Hanged
John Brown was hanged today, December 2, 1859, just a year before Abraham Lincoln was elected to be the 16th President of the United States. History has a love/hate relationship with John Brown. There were many abolitionists in the antebellum Union. To them not only was slavery wrong, but it must be abolished immediately and for all time. So Brown was not alone in that belief.
But as a radical abolitionist John Brown took this conviction to its extremes. He believed in taking definitive action – including violent action – to erase slavery from this Earth. On this date he was hanged for a raid on the federal armory in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. His goal was to start an armed insurrection. It didn’t work. Abraham Lincoln in his epic Cooper Union Address given in February 1860 put it like this:
John Brown’s effort was peculiar. It was not a slave insurrection. It was an attempt by white men to get up a revolt among slaves, in which the slaves refused to participate.
Harpers Ferry was not the first time John Brown sought to stimulate an uprising. In 1856 he joined with others in attacking a military detachment in the Battle of Black Jack, perhaps one of the first incidents of what came to be known as Bleeding Kansas. Brown then hacked to death five pro-slavery supporters in the town of Pottawatomie, Kansas. So by the time of the failed Harpers Ferry raid John Brown was largely seen as a persona non grata by those who both agreed and disagreed with his views on slavery.
The Smithsonian Museum of American History looks at slavery and John Brown as part of its The Price of Freedom exhibition (Flash needed to view slideshow). In addition, the museum addressed how John Brown should be remembered by history as part of their Time Trial of John Brown. The YouTube video below introduces the series.
Expand the text below the video to find links to the various parts of this fascinating program. So, how should John Brown be remembered? As a violent murderer or as someone who felt the need to abolish slavery merited extreme action?
More on Abraham Lincoln.
David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.
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Tesla Science Foundation Sponsors Tesla Memorial Conference
The Tesla Science Foundation is sponsoring a Nikola Tesla Memorial Conference from January 5-7, 2013 at the New Yorker Hotel in New York City. Fans of Tesla will remember that Nikola Tesla lived at the New Yorker for many years and died on January 7th, 1943, in room 3327, exactly 70 years ago. The Tesla Memorial Conference thus seeks to honor the anniversary of Tesla’s final breath as well as continue to celebrate his life’s achievements.
The President and Executive Director of the Tesla Science Foundation, Nikola Lonchar and Marina Schwabic, respectively, describe with enthusiasm the aim of the Conference:
The world’s brightest minds, scientists, engineers, alternative energy entrepreneurs, innovation experts, artists and a myriad of Tesla enthusiasts will gather in this 3 day Tesla extravaganza to honor Tesla’s legacy, 70 years upon his passing on January 7th, 1943, in the New Yorker Hotel. This unique Tesla forum will include a diverse array of Tesla-related lectures, presentations, discussions and documented evidence of growing interest and recognition of Tesla’s contribution to the 21st Century.
Indeed the conference attracts some of the most avid followers of Tesla, including researchers continuing Tesla’s important work. The conference begins with a black tie Spirit Award Gala Benefit opened by the HRH Prince Filip Karadjordjevic of Serbia. Tesla Motors Founder Elon Musk is scheduled to give the keynote address and Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe President Jane Alcorn will be the guest of honor. Alcorn, along with some amazing crowdfunding spearheaded by Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal, successfully obtained the property at Tesla’s last laboratory and will turn it into a museum and tribute to the great inventor.
The second day of the Conference will feature a series of presentations by those who are working to keep Nikola Tesla’s name alive. Among them are people working on films about Tesla, Tesla museum projects, and artistic inspirations. I am happy to say that I will also be giving a short (but inspiring) presentation about my forthcoming book Tesla: Wizard of Electricity. Due out in the spring, the goal of my book is to bring Tesla to the masses since Tesla’s amazing contributions to electrical science have been insufficiently acknowledged in the historical record.
The third day focuses on the modern day uses of Tesla technology and the advances that are still being made off his patents and his ideas.
The Conference looks to be a major milestone in the efforts to educate the world about Nikola Tesla. I am very happy and proud to be a part of the event and will report more as the time approaches.
Read about the conference here, here, and here.
More information about the Tesla Memorial Conference.
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We Are Lincoln Men: Abraham Lincoln and His Friends by David Herbert Donald (A Book Review)
Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln is based in part on the marvelous book Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, which explores Abraham Lincoln’s relationships with his political rivals. But another author explores the relationships Lincoln had with male friends, some of whom were his rivals and some of whom were intimate companions. David Herbert Donald, is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and author of the book Lincoln, for which he won the Lincoln Prize and had a long run on the New York Times bestseller list. With We Are Lincoln Men Donald takes us through the rather short list of people that Abraham Lincoln could have considered to be friends. Somewhat surprisingly given his amicability and story telling powers, Lincoln did not have many close friendships in his life. Donald brings us into the ones he had.
He begins with a review of Lincoln’s upbringing, one which really didn’t see him build any real long lasting friendships. Donald then spends some time parsing the one man with whom Lincoln probably had his most intense friendship, Joshua F. Speed. Some have suggested that the Lincoln/Speed friendship was more than just friends, but Donald dispels this notion and puts us within the context of the times. Lincoln’s long law partnership with William H. Herndon – whom he called Billy – is well documented by Donald, as was Lincoln’s friendship with Illinois Senator Orville Browning. Browning became Lincoln’s confidant, and eventually his strongest supporter in Congress. Even here, however, the friendship could not withstand differences in the two men’s views of Emancipation and eventually they drifted apart to the point where Lincoln thrice passed over Browning for Supreme Court Justice.
The best chapter is probably the one on Lincoln’s friendship with William H. Seward. Initially competitors – Seward was expected to get the nomination for President that Lincoln ended up winning – the two men developed into a formidable team whose mutual respect led to an intense friendship on which each depended on the other. Seward himself is a interesting case study, and I look forward to receiving my signed copy of Walter Stahr‘s new biography of him soon. The final chapter examines Lincoln’s relationship with his two young private secretaries, John Nicolay and John Hay. These two began with simple devotion to the president, and grew into his most ardent supporters and to some extent confidants, before becoming in the end his official biographers.
Donald does great justice to the complex interactions Lincoln had with these men. Lincoln was not a particularly open man, and friendships came to him with difficulty. In some cases his reserve and his policies led to discord, but in all cases there was respect. And perhaps respectfulness is a better word than friendship to describe how Lincoln interacted with those he called “friends.” This book is an easy and a welcome read.
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Nikola Tesla handmade chair
Nikola Tesla died on January 7, 1943 and has been largely forgotten from a history that deifies Thomas Edison, Guglielmo Marconi, George Westinghouse and others. But perhaps that is changing. Recently Tesla has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity, reaching an almost iconic status because of admirers like Larry Page of Google, an eponymous electric car company, and a star-filled magician movie. Like David Bowie who played him in Prestige, Nikola Tesla has become a pop idol.
One of my favorite tributes to Nikola Tesla is this handmade chair made from recycled and specialty woods – complete with Nikola Tesla graphics painted on front and back.
The chair is the design of Scott Mulcahey (with photographs taken by and courtesy of Charles Mulcahey). Scott is a furniture maker, designer, and artist in wood. Besides beautiful cabinetry, he creates one-of-a-kind birdhouses and chairs.
Like the Nikola Tesla chair above, all of his creations “use ‘old school’ joinery such as mortise and tenon construction.” Each chair is signed, dated and numbered. The materials include “sea salvaged driftwood, historical woods, reclaimed timbers and any other wood with character.” Not merely furniture, these award-winning pieces are works of art. They do Tesla proud.
Check out Circa Chairs on Facebook! More about the artist.
By the way, if you want to buy the Tesla chair it is too late – someone already purchased it. But if you beg, Scott might create an original for you.
More on Nikola Tesla.
David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.
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Lincoln – Steven Spielberg and Daniel Day-Lewis Produce an Extraordinary Movie
Lincoln is a must-see movie. Steven Spielberg has taken an icon of history and explored him in a largely unknown situation that is sure to bring new insights into the complexities of both the man and the times. Abraham Lincoln is superbly played by Daniel Day-Lewis, whose performance is both disturbing in its believability and mesmerizing in its honest transcendence of the mythology that pervades our knowledge of the 16th President.
Lincoln is nominally based on the book Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. While Goodwin’s epic book covers the entire period from Lincoln’s nomination to his assassination, the film focuses entirely on Lincoln’s fight to get the 13th Amendment – which bans slavery – through a contentious House of Representatives. He battles not only the Democrats who opposed the amendment, but the radical Republicans who felt it didn’t go far enough. All the while dealing with the reality that opposition to slavery did not equate with acceptance of full equality in all respects. This distinction plays out in a number of the relationships explored in the film.
Day-Lewis has magnificently captured Lincoln’s long periods of contemplation, ability to remain calm while others around him are reacting to every crisis, and a voice that may catch viewers by surprise but reflects the descriptions of Lincoln’s higher pitch and cadence. Day-Lewis successfully brings Lincoln to life as real person. No less superb is the acting of Sally Field as Mary Lincoln. Field offers us a deeper insight into the highs and lows of the woman who would help Lincoln reach his heights while bearing great burdens of her own.
The rest of the cast is equally stellar. David Strathairn as William Seward, Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens, and Hal Holbrook as Preston Blair all exquisitely add to the dimension of the film. In one scene where Robert Lincoln unexpectedly interrupts a critical discussion between Lincoln and Blair, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s non-verbal action in a span of a few seconds brilliantly conveys an entire history of the relationship between father and son. Likewise, the expression of Gloria Rueben as Elizabeth Keckley upon hearing Stevens’ speech reminds us that prejudice won’t be erased by a Constitutional amendment. The passions of David Oyelowo as Corporal Clark near the opening of the film bring us into the frustrations of the former slaves who, while fighting for the Union Army at the end of the war, must rely on the political gamesmanship of white men to decide whether they remain free or perhaps are returned to slavery.
The film works on many dimensions depending on your level of knowledge of the times. Some will see a great story being told, others the many layers of depth as the film explores the complex relationships between the major players and the wheeling and dealing that was required to get enough votes for passage of the amendment. Still others may see the parallels to our current situation.
I highly recommend everyone see this movie. You won’t regret it.
[Update: Lincoln received 12 Oscar nominations on January 10, 2013!]
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Abraham Lincoln’s Proclamation of Thanksgiving
As Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln plays in the theaters and families gather to celebrate Thanksgiving Day, perhaps not everyone is aware that this day results from a Proclamation signed into law by our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln.
Issued in 1863 – in the midst of the civil war that was ravaging the nation – the Proclamation of Thanksgiving reminded us that we should be thankful for all we have, as life continued in this country even as so many were dying on the battlefields in a war that threatened to tear the country apart. Lincoln states:
I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.
The proclamation, which was actually written by Secretary of State William Seward before being signed by Abraham Lincoln, established the precedent for the annual day of thanksgiving on the federal level. Days of thanksgiving up to then were sporadic and set by the individual states, usually in the fall to offer thanks for the bounty of the harvest. Lincoln’s Proclamation sought to bring together all Americans – in the north and the south and the east and the west.
Today the fourth Thursday each November is set aside for all of us to give thanks for all with which we have been blessed. Abraham Lincoln remembered this during a time of great strife so it should be easy for us to remember all that we have gained since that era. With that spirit in mind I give thanks for all the wonderful people I have, and have had, in my life. Thank you all, and be well always.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
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So how did Nikola Tesla do when he went to California?
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Nikola Tesla joined me on my recent trip to Long Beach, California. And he did very well, thank you. At least my book about Tesla did very well.
I donated a copy of Nikola Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity to the silent auction at the annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC). Conference attendees saw a color brochure of the book that will come out in the spring of 2013. At that time I will inscribe and sign the book hot off the presses and ship it to the winning bidder. The book actually got five bids. Not bad for a biography of a long-dead electrical engineer auctioned to a group of toxicologists and chemists.
And the winning bidder is…Diana Eignor. While I didn’t know any of the first four bidders it turns out I do know Diana. Like me a past-president of the Chesapeake and Potomac Regional Chapter of SETAC, Diana actually works in Washington DC not far from my own office. That will certainly save me postage for shipping the book when it comes out (though it might gladly cost me lunch). And the money that Diana paid goes to help fund SETAC’s student activities. Everyone wins.
Next up for Nikola Tesla and me is a trip to New York on the 70th anniversary of Tesla’s death in the New Yorker Hotel. More on that in a later post.
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