Something I like about my students is that, whether they realize it or not, they are frank, to the point of what some may call brutal honesty. I think this is probably true for anyone speaking a language less than fluently; it’s harder to beat around the bush when you don’t have the vocabulary to do so. The result, then, is something like what happened this week when I talked to my students about the attempted coup at the Capitol Building that took place on January 6th.
To start I showed them a video from an Austrian news outlet, which I picked because I liked the way it spliced video of Trump’s literal call to insurrection with scenes from the insurrection itself, and that it featured short interviews with rioters about why they came. In hindsight I maybe should have picked a video with a bit of commentary/more context, but my students actually didn’t really need it, as they immediately drew a contrast between the way the police responded (or, more accurately, didn’t respond) to the rioters—some of whom brought arms, some of whom carried Confederate flags or sported “Camp Auschwitz” shirts, many of whom attacked police officers as soon as they got close enough and vandalized one of the most heavily surveilled pieces of public property in our country. Oh, and almost all of whom were white—and they way police did this entire summer when protesters gathered and marched peacefully for the sake of Black lives. As time has passed we have learned more and more information about to what extent the police knew about the January 6th riot and could have prepared themselves appropriately (plenty), and lawmakers have begun to suspect the riot was enabled by people inside the Capitol. But when my students were asked by the teacher I was working with why the police acted so differently, they didn’t need any of this information; they stated, in so many words:
“It’s racism.”
And of course, they’re right. I couldn’t disagree, though I was even hedging myself when agreeing with them—“it’s hard to find any other explanation than racism…” I mean come ON, Emily. When the evidence is so clear, it shouldn’t be hard to take a page from my students and state the obvious, and frankly. Maybe they should be the ones running the country.
Next, per my teacher’s suggestion, we watched Arnold Schwarzenegger’s statement* from January 10th, which you’ve probably seen by now. The Republican former governor of California drew a comparison between the January 6th riot to Kristallnacht. Putting aside the fact that I don’t totally agree with the comparison (for several reasons; this article summarizes most of them), I acknowledge its power. If it takes Schwarzenegger, in his Austrian accent, recalling, in his words, “the most evil regime in history,” and the greatest shame of modern Austria, to get people to pay attention, so be it.
But I think Schwarzenegger should have stopped after about three minutes, right about after he cleverly quoted Teddy Roosevelt: “Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president.” Because in those last four-and-a-half minutes of the statement, Schwarzenegger hitches his wagon to Biden in a way that renders that powerful Roosevelt quote moments ago meaningless coming from Schwarzenegger’s mouth: “President-elect Biden, we stand with you today, tomorrow, and forever.” Really, Arnold?
The irony of this wasn’t lost on my students, either. Though few of them said anything about the comparison to Kristallnacht—talking about the Nazi past and the Holocaust is still uncomfortable for them, if not outrightly taboo—they all but rolled their eyes when Schwarzenegger compared the United States to the Conan’s sword. Immune to the blinding effects of patriotism, they know that America hasn’t emerged from this event stronger, just as it hasn’t done anything to correct and pay reparations (emotional or material) for any past injustices or suppression of democracy. If white supremacists and the past and present role of white supremacy in our country continue unchecked, Schwarzenegger’s words will continue to ring hollow. And my Austrian students will understandably roll their eyes the next time someone brings up American exceptionalism.
My week, otherwise
This past Wednesday my ten-day quarantine (required after returning from abroad) finally ended, and I immediately (you guessed it) went grocery shopping. I took an especially luxurious amount of time to run these errands since not only could I finally indulge myself in the thought of actually cooking something (I went ten whole days without! it was hard to bear) but it was my first time outside in a week. The previous Wednesday, day three of quarantine, I went for a walk, and not five minutes after returning to my room heard a knock on my door. It was the police! Making sure I was obeying quarantine! I had filled out a form upon arrival at the Vienna airport with my address, but I figured it was a formality. (Can you imagine this happening in the US?) I was paranoid the rest of quarantine. Luckily school started up again last Friday, so I had that to distract me at least. But what did I do the rest of the time?
What I watched:
The O.C., almost all of it. I thought I was starting a mind-numbing teen soap, so imagine my disappointment when I realized I…unironically like it? Like the writing is actually good and smart sometimes? Truthfully a lot of the reason I stuck around when the going got tough was Adam Brody’s Seth Cohen, whose Ashkenazi Jewish snark I felt in my bones and played all the more authentic because of Brody’s own Jewish roots (yes, I looked it up). The show’s Jewishness (I see you, creator Josh Schwartz) felt so satisfying because it was neither made a big deal nor brushed aside; it was just a part of their lives, requiring neither explanation nor sacrifice.
What I listened to:
Blowback, a “podcast about the Iraq War.” Simple enough, as I guess there aren’t really any podcasts about the Iraq War. Maybe I was overcome with some sort of nostalgia for the mid-aughts (see: The O.C., above) that led me to download the first episode after hearing about it on Twitter. That nostalgia was quickly replaced by disillusionment about the US—more accurately, compounding disillusionment as a result of, ahem, recent events. I had to stop listening in the middle of one episode at one point, overcome with an overwhelming feeling that I had been lied to for my whole life. Haha! If you, too, want to add to your own dread about the state of the world but also be reminded that the past wasn’t so great, either, this is the show for you! In all honesty, it does a really great job of explaining something I had next to no knowledge about (though it makes no claims to be “objective” in so far as “objective” means “catering to both sides”). If I’m bumming you out right about now, it’s only because:
What I ate:
almost an entire jar of Trader Joe’s creamy salted peanut butter (the one with the orange label), AKA the best peanut butter on the American market. Because, quarantine. One of my Austrian friends here had asked me to bring her 1) original Ruffles and 2) creamy peanut butter back from the U.S., and though I could have gotten Skippy or JIF, I thought I’d give her the very best. And for $1.99 a pop (I’m ashamed to admit that I have consistently spent 5.49 EUR on what I consider passable PB here), I had to bring one back for myself, too. I’m going to cut myself off for a bit now and see how I fare. Date-tahini smoothies anyone??
something else I brought back with me: stovetop mac and cheese. My first meal out of quarantine was a taste test of two classics with my aforementioned Austrian friend. Before I left for Christmas she asked me to make mac and cheese, so I naturally went all out with the most complicated recipe, this baked, bronzed, bread-crumbed, and béchamel sauced version, even though I was lying to myself: neither I nor anyone in my family has never made mac and cheese that way. So I figured I’d fess up to my friend and host a taste off of the perennial contenders for American stovetop mac and cheese glory: Annie’s (shells and white cheddar, duh) and Kraft (special shapes only, if it’s to be an even close to fair fight). To my bewilderment she preferred the Kraft to my bewilderment (I’ll even acknowledge that this stuff tastes good sometimes, but this one just did not taste good), and Annie’s wins for me, always. And I ate it alongside some frozen vegetables to really drive home the sensation of being eight years old.
Now that I can think about cooking again, I’m especially craving soup, and I think I’ll start with this one. Send me your soup recipes, etc.
Happy New Year, by the way. Hope you’re doing okay.
Til next time,
Emily
*Did anyone else, at around seven minutes (after he said, “And to those, who think they can overturn the United States Constitution, know this”) SWEAR Schwarzenegger was going to say “I’ll be back”??? I feel like he really wasted an opportunity there.