In the hyper-connected, globalized world of today, the experience that comes from a world of constraints is lost. The world now is radically different from the world 20 years ago, and even more radically different from the one the author writes about. It's difficult to convey the change in the human experience. But the author does a fantastic job. He paints a portrait of a smaller world, a world built around people and relationships. A world where Faxes were the best means of communication, given their constraints. A world where his parents could see the cultural changes associated with Asian-American immigration in real time. A world that was wholly and completely unprepared for the silent revolutions taking place in California at the time. Revolutions we're still struggling to grasp the effects of today. A world where the music industry was not the manufactured beast it is today. A world before 9/11, when it felt like we were in the cusp of huge, positive societal change.
The piece is both a love-letter to those times, and to the author's strongest influences (hence the title of the piece). His father seems incredibly kind, thoughtful, and supportive. It must have been incredibly difficult to reconcile this with the fact that he chose to live separately, alone, thousands of miles away.
As algorithms and AIs start to dominate our entertainment and curation, and as major publications struggle to adapt to this climate, it feels rarer and rarer for a piece to capture the Human Experience. This one did. It felt True. Whether you derive any value from it is up to you. But I assure you the value is there. The best stories are written from experience, and an autobiographical account is as close to the experience as you can be. And this one is fantastically written.
The piece is both a love-letter to those times, and to the author's strongest influences (hence the title of the piece). His father seems incredibly kind, thoughtful, and supportive. It must have been incredibly difficult to reconcile this with the fact that he chose to live separately, alone, thousands of miles away.
As algorithms and AIs start to dominate our entertainment and curation, and as major publications struggle to adapt to this climate, it feels rarer and rarer for a piece to capture the Human Experience. This one did. It felt True. Whether you derive any value from it is up to you. But I assure you the value is there. The best stories are written from experience, and an autobiographical account is as close to the experience as you can be. And this one is fantastically written.