Week of April 23

1) Veep

I saw the premiere of Veep the other night and really liked it. Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays a similar character to Christine in the now cancelled show The New Adventures of Old Christine, but slightly less absurd. I've always liked New Adventures and would watch whenever I stumbled upon it. This show is a little like Parks & Recreation with higher production value. We are reminded that the Vice Presidency holds little power in America (no wonder no one wants to be Romney's running mate), but that's where Politics with a capital "P" stop. Office politics on the other hand is the central focus of the show, it seems. And interestingly, while I think "Girls" is a hilarious show, I can relate more to Veep these days. I've worked in an office for 12 years now so my world is no longer about figuring out who I am and dealing with scary entry-level interviews and dudes who are just not that into me, but navigating corporate life and all that it entails. Speaking of Veeps, I need to figure out how to get a VP in my title. I shall continue watching Veep.


2) New York Magazine Interview with Barney Frank
I enjoyed this frank conversation with Barney Frank in New York Mag. He's an intelligent guy who gives good insight into why the government is not working very well these days. One of the most interesting parts of the article is when they discuss the role of government in our lives. I for one believe in government. Our institutions are the only entities that hold our civilization together, without them, we're nothing. Without them, we have apocalyptic chaos. You can argue about the efficiency or inefficiency of the government these days, you can criticize the current paralysis in the House and Senate, but I don't think the argument should be around "government interference" like it's a bad thing. Look at the bail-outs. If the government had let the banks fail due to lack of responsibility and temporary insanity, we would have seen the greatest depression on a global scale that the world had ever seen (and probably apocalyptic chaos). Not even a free market advocate like Hank Paulson could have let the markets regulate themselves on that one. If this crisis taught us anything it's that humans are not rational and that acting on individual self-interest doesn't always ladder up to the greater good (got that Adam Smith?). 


3) French Tourists Got Me Thinking
I saw a family of French tourists on the subway on way to work the other day. Inevitably, irrational thoughts come to my head, like shouldn't you be back home voting? Don't you people  have jobs? You know, mean shit. This stems from my love-hate relationship with my country of origin. At the same time, one of the only reasons I would want to move back to France is for the generous vacation policies. But more than just "policies", their generous vacation culture. In France, vacation is your God-given right and everyone accepts les vacances as a non-negotiable thing. Hour long lunch breaks fall into the same category. In America, while you can negotiate for more vacation time than your two weeks, you're almost apologetic whenever you take a single personal day. You send the email to the team saying, hey, I'll be out of the office this day, but don't worry! I'll have access to email and cell phone! It's just because flights were less expensive on that day! Email me any time! Or something to that effect. This is why I like to take vacations out of the country; time-difference and roaming charges act as natural and digital barriers. I haven't figured out lunch though. In America, the fear of losing one's job is great, the fear of being replaced is huge. In France generous social laws make it virtually impossible to lose one's job. Of course this has also led to a stale economy, an unsustainable welfare state and high unemployment, pick your battles. But in America, people wear their inability to take vacations as a badge of honor, it is a reason to brag: look how hard I work, look how much I'm needed, just look at how so very employed I am. In France they would just look at you like you're insane (except for the employed part). Being both American and French, I feel tugged both ways and I'm a contrarian whenever it suits me. I am totally two-faced when it comes to these two very different cultures.