Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Leaving Reno




Sitting on the tarmac in Reno, Nevada with a delayed flight.  Heading down to LAX for a connecting flight back home to Beijing.  I didn’t have a very favorable impression of Reno the first time I visited, some ten years ago.  I recall and see once again, legions fat, middle-aged, white Americans of limited means, hunched over slot machines, 斗鸡走吗[1].

This time I was put up in a resort away from the downtown area, which could have been any other casino in Las Vegas, to my eyes.  But the view out the sixteenth floor window to the town and the desert and the mountains beyond was redeeming.  And for someone who hates random video up in my face, the screens they had everywhere showing nicely curated footage of Austria, Australia and Capri were quite pleasant. 



Sun setting now beautifully off to the right as we fly down the California coast.  I always opt for aisle seats.  I’ve got one just now, but there are times when a window view would be preferable.  I tried to do some meditation on the flight but kept dozing off and learning over on to the poor lady next to me, who, quite reasonably, asked me to lean to the other side.   I’m flying American Airlines, which I never do, but it was the only flight that let me get down at the time I needed.  The plane was held on the tarmac for about thirty minuets and I took note of the little things that American Airlines does differently.  On United you must pay for drinks with a credit card.  On American, you must pay in cash.  On American they comp their frequent fliers with free drinks.  No such luck on United.  The American Airlines CEO does not promote himself at the outset of every flight like Jeff Smisek.  Who is the American Airlines top dog? 

This flight has no in-flight entertainment.  Hurray!  I would pay extra for this sort of feature absence; an upgrade for a flight where all other video screens were turned off.  But unfortunately the guy two seats up on the right has his iPad up at his eye level so its unavoidable not to take in his action-packed drivel.  A middle-aged man has just begun slapping around a blond woman on his screen.  Why do I have to watch this violence?   Now a guy who is a dead-ringer for Richard Nixon is flapping his jowls, with feigned seriousness.  As always, I’d like to resist the urge to let my eyes wander over to the man’s screen.  It’s futile

My memories of Reno were largely reinforced for the 24 hours I just spent there.  The “poor-man’s” Vegas looks much as I remember it.  Las Vegas itself is a poor man’s magnet for gambling and “entertainment.”  This time, I had to walk through the casino a number of times, to get to the place where my meetings were being held.  To be fair, there were a few families, bringing kids over to the pool.  These people were redeeming.  But mostly it was my stereotype assortment of Americana who really have better things to do with their money than drip feed it in to slot machines, time after time.  This lot was in full flush at my hotel.  Just like Vegas without much of the eye candy.   


                                                                                                                                                 
Righting myself from nodding off and drooping leftward, I ended up chatting with the woman next to me, on this flight.  She was from Suffolk County, Long Island but had lived in Arizona for years.  She’d only just moved to L.A.   She told me she had to work for years to loose her New York accent.  

A single mom,  she mentioned that her son, was interested in diplomacy.  At this I brightened up tremendously.  I mentioned the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy where I did my graduate work.  Her son, had lived in Italy and was keen to consider this Foreign Service.  Something about this warmed my heart immediately.  “Really?  Well , look . . .”  I told her, “if you son is ever interested in going to China, please have him drop me a line.” This, apropos of nothing, handing her my card. We need all the young Americans we can get, who are interested in the world beyond the U.S.A. to engage.  Tell him to consider Fletcher and tell him to consider China.  The relationship is going to be tested sorely in the next few years and we’re going to need every, single nuanced thinker like your son we can have to keep things from veering off course. 

Odd, instinctive, but unfiltered and heart-felt.  And with that, we all landed in LAX, which isn’t Reno and isn't much to look at.




[1] dòujīzǒumǎ: cock-fighting and horse-racing (idiom); to gamble

No comments:

Post a Comment