Paroxysm of Eroticism

Before a film I ate at Taqueria Traspasada. It was my second or third meal at a restaurant in the new neighborhood. The first and second involved falafel and a cuban. This time I got two vegetarian tacos and a chorizo taco. The place is a kitchen and a cane shaped counter to sit. The flames used to cook the chorizo were disproportional to the small amount of meat. They were eighteen inches. The film itself was the 2011 documentary about the chic nude dancing show with Champagne in Paris, Crazy Horse. The film is a perfect trap for people like me. A moving picture of naked women dancing avant garde, directed by an 82 year old man. Growing up in Connecticut, I was told that if you stand in Grand Central Station long enough, everyone you have known in your life will pass by. This film is the Grand Central Station for folks of a like mind to the 82 year old director. Which to me should be a lot of people. I asked the concessionaire how the show was doing in sales. I figured it would be a hit at the Music Box, amongst the filthy types. He replied that it was no big deal. My screening was respectable, in Theater 2. One guy walked out when the bald French artistic director was explaining how women who are naturally beautiful plateau in performance because they reach the level of their self confidence and can go no further, and the less beautiful develops a personality and strategies to go further. I am unsure what upset him- the meaning of the words or the pictures on the screen.

While Etta is on the road to the Southernmost Point, I took the time time to watch 5 hours of Sunday morning talk shows the following midnight. My friend tried to get a driver’s license using fake papers when he was 15. After the written test and eye exam, a man in a suit and a man in uniform asked him to a room. He could have been locked up or deported. I asked if that was the scariest moment. He said no, the first time he tried to make it to the U.S. with his uncle was worse. They walked for 8 hours and crossed the river, but were picked up by border patrol and almost separated on the way back to Mexico. The following exchange, the beginning of a debate between California Governor Jerry Brown and Arizona Governor Jan Brewer on Meet the Press yesterday, seemed prescient about the coming election-

MR. GREGORY: Let me, let me move to a really important issue in Arizona and in this fall campaign and that’s the issue of immigration. As I mentioned, Governor Brown , 34 years ago to the day, you were on MEET THE PRESS and we couldn’t actually find the tape for it, but we have something that you said about immigration which I want to put up on the screen. You said, “I do believe that the Mexican-American has been too invisible in California and throughout the Southwest . It is imperative that we in this country , and particularly in the Southwest , open our hearts and our minds to this culture and that we try to accelerate the melting pot and the assimilation process so that we can live together in harmony.” Here’s Time magazine this week and on the cover it is “yo decidito” — “yo decido,” which is that I’m going to decide. Hispanic-Americans are going to decide who the next president is if you look at the percentage that they occupy the voting bloc . And they are certainly not very happy with the Republican Party . Do you believe even more strongly today what you said 34 years ago?

GOV. BROWN: Very much so. And I was willing — I think — I may be the only governor, but I know I’m the one who signed the Dream, Dream Act in California …

MR. GREGORY: Mm-hmm.

GOV. BROWN: …that will enable undocumented students who do well in high school to go to college , pay in- state tuition and even get a scholarship. So I know there’s a lot of controversy in that, but you can’t round up 12 million people and ship them back across the border . That’s a disaster. We have to certainly secure the border , but we need comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship. And I think Obama would — supports that and I certainly do.