Chinese American Heritage Tour of the West 2010 (With opening act: Molly Hatchet!)

Seven days in the American West on a shoot for the US Forest Service and the Wing Luke Asian Museum with the irreplaceable Mr. John "Johnny the Boot" Pai. John and I drove a strange and miserable rental vehicle (a "Jeep Compass") a couple thousand miles through some amazing landscapes of desolation to archeological sites through-out Oregon,Idaho and Nevada, following a tour group. I learned a great deal and am amazed that most of what I learned never was brought up in any discussion of US History I have ever had in school. The Chinese were deeply involved in the settling of the West and the building of this country and the ignorance and fear and unfairness of the Exclusion Acts were sometimes overwhelming to hear about. The 19th century was hard on many people, there was no real middle class and so the fear of some one different, who might be paid less, would be understandable if you had nothing yourself and were afraid that some one might take what you little you did have, but in no way does it justify what happened. Being concerned about wages and telling some one that they can not have their family with them are two different things. Frankly what became apparent by the end of the trip was that the whole unfair nightmare was being replayed right now in Arizona.

There was a fairly moving emotional moment in Baker City OR, at the Chines cemetery where the members of the tour held a ceremony honoring the forgotten Chinese laborers buried there. Incense and, reincarnation and paper items meant to represent wealth in the afterlife were burned in a metal box so that the tinder dry hillside would not go up in flames. There was a stone burnt offerings hut there for just such a purpose. These are rare apparently.

John and I spent a lot of time talking in the rental car and had to share hotel rooms. We ate a lot of shit. The food was bad. Had salty Basque food in Boise.

Virginia City NV is Disneyland for bikers and tourists. We ate mediocre pizza in the Red Dog Saloon while a blues rock band, consisting of what looked like microsoft engineers played almost every classic rock song on my ipod. They were okay. I was dismayed at the number of anti-government signs throughout Nevada. One bed sheet was spray painted and hung on a barbed wire fence: "Obama: your cult of personality has failed!"


Like almost all shoots, this was an excellent field trip , though most of the sound is flawed by the wind, or the bus or passing semi-trucks. This was filled with a great deal of beauty, some true ugliness and the loneliness of the American highway. I did miss my family.