The Manifest Destiny Tour - Day 16

4:48 pm - Los Angeles

I've never really understood our obsession with celebrity. Why do we idolize these people? Most of whom have minimal talent. Many of whom are alcoholics or junkies or adulterers or vain assholes or worse. Don't get me wrong. I was thrilled to see Elijah Wood on 6th Street last SXSW. And it was fun sitting behind Evander Holyfield at a high school football game in Georgia several years ago. I may have even fantasized about chance encounters with Kelly Kapowski when I was younger. But I don't care where these people are vacationing or what they're wearing or who they've knocked up or been knocked up by. I'm not saying that anyone who reads People or watches TMZ or surfs Perez is a fool. I'm just saying that I've never understood it.

Until today. Almost every place we've been, I've been struck by the separation, the loneliness, the disconnect, the distance in our eyes. Even when people want to connect with one another, we're not sure how. We lack a constant, middle ground. Something outside ourselves we can rally around and call our own. I guess hundreds, even thousands, of years ago, humans had their villages or tribes, the collective best interest to unite them. As cities grew larger and countries formed, as wars were waged, as great groups of people began migrating and the world shrunk, humans clutched at nationalism and patriotism and racism and religionism. But now that these things are all but dead, what do we turn to for keeping us united? The answer: celebrity. The comfort of celebrity.

I wouldn't have believed it, but walking down Hollywood Boulevard, stepping over the stars of the past and present, Gene Autry and Vivien Leigh and Dolly Parton and Pee Wee Herman and Keanu Reeves, I notice how excited everyone is, how joyous the spirit, the delighted pointing of fingers, the gleeful snapping of the camera lenses, the heartwarming charm of the children's laughter, and I realize that of all the places we've visited, this is the most unified, the most connected, the least lonely, because here is the heart of our new rallying point. Here is something we recognize as our own. Because believe it or not, celebrity was created by us, the common people, and not by the celebrities. We are merely using them to feel like we belong. And now I understand.

The Manifest Destiny Tour - Update

Just so everyone knows, Jordan and I are safely back in Texas in real life. In blog life we are standing on the beach of Playa del Rey contemplating the mysteries of the universe. In metaphorical life I suppose we're still doing that. The main reason for the delay is that I haven't finished documenting our travels. I have a few more entries planned and am just searching for the self-discipline to put them on paper. School starts back in a couple of weeks, so my plan is to wrap up the The Manifest Destiny Tour travelogue before then. Then, back to classroom hijinks. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers while we were on the road; they were much needed.

The Manifest Destiny Tour - Day 15

Standing on the beach of Playa del Rey near Santa Monica and looking out at the Pacific Ocean, I get that feeling again. The one I get when I see pictures of deep space and consider the limitless universe. The one I get when driving through the Texas Panhandle or Central Nevada and wonder about the few inhabitants. The one I get when looking down on the Grand Canyon, at all those striations in the cliffs, designating all those millions of years. The one I get when listening to Stravinski’s Rite of Spring, or reading Bukowski, or hearing a woodblock. The feeling I get when smelling honeysuckle, or eating an apple, or looking through a microscope. The one I get when flying, or hearing babies cry, or thinking about π. The one I get when I try to ponder eternity, that there is no beginning and no end, no lines nor circles, there is no perfect center because there is no center, so there are no perfect halves, no equality, no compromise, no marriage and no divorce, there is no space and no time. It’s the feeling I get when I think about God. You know the feeling I’m talking about.

The Manifest Destiny Tour - Day 14

San Francisco to L.A.

486.7 miles/142 songs

Neil Young – Harvest
Okkervil River – Black Sheep Boy
Rolling Stones – Through the Past, Darkly
Eisley – Room Noises
The Blow – Paper Television
Dave Matthews Band – Stand Up
Colin Meloy – Colin Meloy Sings! Live
Low – The Great Destroyer
Simon & Garfunkel – Greatest Hits
The Smiths – Louder Than Bombs
The Beatles – Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Spring Break Mix ‘06

9:27 pm

California intimidates me. I’m not sure why. Could be that I’ve never been here before. But I had never been to Nevada or Utah either, and they didn’t intimidate me. Maybe it’s because I expected all Californians to be beautiful and intelligent and rich and socially conscientious. And while the requisite handful might match that description, as I look around me, they all appear fairly average. Maybe it’s because of the Pacific Ocean. That might actually be part of it. We drove down California 1 today, from Monterrey to San Luis Obispo. And there was certainly something awe-inspiring about those cliffs and beaches and mists and endless blue off to our right. But I don’t think it should be enough to be intimidating. I don’t think there is anything physically intrinsic in California to make me feel this way. It’s more of the mythology surrounding the place. It’s the names and stories, the movies and celebrities, the music and fashion, the Steinbecks and Kerouaks, the Hepburns and the Nicholsons, the Merle Haggards and the Beach Boys and the Dr. Dre’s. I think maybe it’s how others might feel when visiting Texas for the first time. At least I hope so.

Of course, we still have L.A. to experience. If California is mythology, then L.A. is Mount Olympus. It may yet live up to the hype. We have several days to find out.

“Now let me welcome everybody to the wild, wild west
A state that's untouchable like Elliot Ness;
The track hits ya eardrum like a slug to ya chest
Pack a vest for your Jimmy in the city of sex.”
“California Love” – Tupac (featuring Dr. Dre)

[I had fogotten about this ridiculously awesome video.]