Yankee Doodle Dandy Stadium

We bleed Dodger blue, but we enjoy visiting other stadiums. Armed with my trusty little pink point-and-shoot, we hopped on the 4 train to my birth borough.

Mother-effing magnificent, this modern monstrosity.

The new Yankee Stadium is the most technologically advanced ballpark we've visited to date. The scoreboard is amazing -- so crystal-clear even when we viewed it from our cheap seats directly below.

It was still drizzling a bit that evening.

But the rain delay gave us ample time to grab some grub without missing any action.

Sadly, while the scoreboard was the best scoreboard we'd ever seen, the food was the worst -- worse than the food of the Dodgers, Angels, Padres, Giants, Mariners, and Red Sox. Shame on you, Yankees! Word on the street is that Shea Stadium has better chow.

The game was fun, though. For some reason, almost every time we travel to a rival ballpark, the Mariners are playing the home team. I was thrilled to see my darling Ichiro kick ass and take names.

Mariners 8, Yankees 4. Too bad more teams didn't do this to Yankees during the season.

For the record, I don't like the Phillies either. I wanted a freeway series, damn it!

Next: Mr. Monkey dons a suit for fine fish.

Liberty and Justice for All...Eventually

After our disappointing lunch at momofuku ssam bar, we ventured to Battery Park to board a ferry. Our lunch letdown dampened our spirits a bit, but we didn't allow the weather do the same.

Unlike many people around us, we were prepared for intermittent precipitation.

And then we saw her.

She was smaller than I'd remembered.

But just as beautiful and wondrous.

The gray skies lent a degree of solemnity.

As the clouds parted, a new feeling emerged.

Vibrancy. Hope. Opportunity.

In my romanticized mental version of history, this is what many immigrants felt as they saw the Statue of Liberty.

Our visit to Ellis Island, however, was educational and rather sobering.

The horrors immigrants had to endure back then were really something.

Among other things, I reeducated myself about the Chinese Exclusion Act and various quota laws. Did you know that, between 1943 and 1965, our country only allowed 105 Chinese immigrants a year?

Anti-miscegenation statutes also prohibited Chinese people from marrying whites up until 1948. Crazy, right?

And have you ever wondered how Asian-Americans became the "model minority"? I'll tell you my hypothesis.

The 1965 Immigration Act allowed seven categories of immigrants, one of which was professionals, scientists, and artists "of exceptional ability." If you're only letting in these folks, well, then your pool of Asian peeps is essentially the intellectual elite. And then, when these peeps procreate, their kids would be pretty bright, too, no?

Ok, maybe it's a stretch. But these are the weird things I ponder sometimes.

I appreciated that there were a few sections at Ellis Island devoted to Asian immigration issues, even though most Asian immigrants at that time came through San Francisco. Needless to say, I found these displays the most interesting because my public school textbooks glossed over all of this and focused predominantly on European immigration.

Stupid books.

Next: Awesome stadium, awful food.