February 19, 2004
Overcast this morning. Smells wet. Supposed to rain today.

I was reading The New Yorker last night and a fascinating article about a music lover who enjoys both pop and classical music really tickled me. “Music is too personal a medium to support an absolute hierarchy of values,” author Alex Ross explained. “The best music is music that persuades us that there is no other music in the world.”

Now that is profound.

This explains why so many Country fans stubbornly insist there is nothing else worthy (even though all I hear is recycled Classic Rock from the eighties). And needless to say, Metal heads and Jazz freaks can be just as insufferable when it comes to “their music.” But, I also think it applies to our current Mexican food war (see Feb. 14). Those crazy New Mexicans are so passionate about their version of Mexican food they have been “persuaded” that there is no other Mexican food in the world.

So I am having second thoughts about a Mexican food cook-off showdown between New Mexico and Arizona style cuisines. As my cook-off veteran and comrade Mad Coyote Joe puts it, “All you’ll get out of it is an argument, and even if you win, they’ll say you cheated.”

And I’ve got enough problems with all of that in the history field.

“You have to pick the fights you don't walk away from.”
—Old Vaquero Saying