Previously: 40 Years in Beer, Part Twenty-Six: From a 1990 portal, Sportstime Pizza to Rich O’s BBQ to NABC.
Editor’s note: The black and white photos appearing in this chapter were taken by Viktor Kolář (born in Ostrava in 1941), who is considered “one of the most important exponents of Czech documentary photography. In his works, Kolář focuses mainly on depicting urban life in the Ostrava region.” Most of these photos date to the rough period of my visit in 1989, and they depict reality as I saw it.
It never ceases to amaze me that Americans tend to focus so obsessively on the phenomenon of immigration; specifically, as it pertains to those people elsewhere on the planet who seek to come to our country, whether their movement occurred 200 years ago or yesterday, but ignoring the plain fact that throughout the centuries, the vast majority of human beings have chosen to live their lives right where they are.
My countrymen seem collectively prone to weird, masochistic delight in thumping their chests and loudly proclaiming we’re the greatest country to ever exist (why does this even matter, anyway?), and then, when someone somewhere else agrees and wants to come over and join this...Read more
