The Sweet Smell of Success

It was raining tonight, rather heavily. When it rains in Ho Chi Minh City, everyone avoids going where they need to go, because they're usually getting there on a motorbike and I don't need to tell you the odds of a motorbike vs. a monsoon.

So I walked into my class and found two students staring back at me. They rather matter-of-factly informed me that no, we can't have a class with only two students. I asked them, then, what they came to school to do.

One student, Quyen, promptly answered: "Dream on. Aerosmith."

You could have knocked me over with a feather.

After all, these were the same students who, two weeks ago, shocked me by revealing that they'd never heard of Jimi Hendrix, and perplexed me further by suggesting that it didn't matter whether or not they'd ever heard of Jimi Hendrix. Can you imagine? A world where there exists such people totally without quality rock 'n' roll standards is a world I don't want to live in.

I mean, they come from a place where the most popular music falls somewhere in the ca. 1995--present cheesy pop spectrum. I don't even want to tell you how many times I've heard a guitar-and-flute version of "Kiss From a Rose," or "My Heart Will Go On." Just when I thought both of these things were locked safely away in the Cultural Vault of Shameful Atrocities, here they come again. I think these sorts of things are government subsidized here, a lulling tactic to keep people sedate and disconnected from the dark realities only an electric guitar can convey to you.

So the fact that this kid wanted to see an Aerosmith video was, as far as I was concerned, a step in the right direction.

As we watched the video, I tried to explain that I had once camped out for Aerosmith tickets, which wasn't really getting through and was really diminishing Quyen's viewing experience. So I settled for explaining Steven Tyler's trademark scarf-bedecked microphone stand and then finally just shut up to enjoy some good old-fashioned man-shrieking.



I hope that this post doesn't find you in shock that someone could be so arrogant and culturally insensitive. I lay no claims to American culture being the best culture, but it is hands-down my favorite culture. Go ahead, admit it. We, as a people, produce some amazing things. We also produce some amazing loads of crap, but such is the duality of a great civilization*.

At the end of the day, I was happy just to talk about something like Aerosmith with my students because I am homesick, and the pieces of home that reach me here, be it an incredibly well-timed care package containing a giant bottle of Pepto Bismol, or The Glee Project, are not always my cup of tea. It's always energizing to find some common ground.

I am, of course, going to see how far I can take this. Today, Aerosmith. Tomorrow, Purple Haze.

*This statement is tongue-in-cheek.