Welcome to 2016!
*I previously posted this story on Le Mobile Feast's blog*
Jean, our host, clangs her wine glass from the far end of the dining table, where ten of us have begun eating our candle lit New Year’s dinner of moules frites and a vegetarian ramen stir fry. While John—a friend and sous-chef for the evening—and I were preparing the meal earlier, the others enjoyed wine and appetizers. By the time we sat down, we were already in the midst of engaging conversations. The loud clanging momentarily silences us.
“Let’s go around the table and share how each of us knows the others in this group,” she proposes. We are an eclectic group of friends from different circles, most of us invited by Jean and her boyfriend, Joe, who is next to me at the other end of the long table.
Jean starts the go-around because, indeed, two people I invited have met her only a couple of hours ago. She sets the tone by revealing not only her relationship with Joe and cursory information about herself. She also elaborates on how she knows most of us individually and a brief life story of significant moments.
Our narratives circle the table, each taking a few minutes. The pre-dinner chats and flowing wine nudge us to reveal more personal and intimate details than might be expected in a dinner party icebreaker.
We come from all over the United States, and most of us have lived in other countries. Two were immigrants. One cancer survivor. Two have been in the military; one currently serves as a Marine major, but she is performing in local musicals and hopes to transition to a second career in show biz. One will graduate from college later this year but already has built websites for a nonprofit organization.
New York, Kentucky, Connecticut, New Mexico, Vietnam, and Iraq—we have all found our way to this dinner table in San Diego, California. We have much in common, enough to understand our differences.
“I was born in Baghdad,” says Wedad, the woman sitting across from me who earlier took great interest in how John and I were prepping the meal. “I first came to this country for education, as an engineering student.”
The talking stick has traveled halfway around the table by the time it reaches Wedad, and the stories are getting more colorful.
“Before coming here,” she continues, “I thought that Americans were greedy because you were capitalists and had a Superman mentality.” Someone asks if she still thinks this. She says that the people she has met have changed much of her perspective, but that the corporations still regard profit more highly than public welfare.
Several people later, someone declares that he is a supporter of Donald Trump, the controversial Republican contender in this year’s presidential race. The comment renders us mute for a few seconds, as if we all understand that such statements require explanation. Without going too deep into the politics of it—it’s a holiday dinner party, after all—he confesses, “But I wouldn’t vote for him.”
I make a mental note to follow up with him to learn more. His is the final introduction, and we have uncovered many other topics of great interest more appropriate to a group conversation. No need to pursue this for now.
Dinners such as this one are what I hope to help create through Le Mobile Feast. This is a “trial run,” my friend Joe says. If this is a sign of things to come, then I can hardly wait until the trip begins in a month or so.
