A weekly report on things I’ve read, heard and seen since last Wednesday. 

Author Interview: Min Jin Lee on CSpan’s America’s Book Club hosted by David Rubenstein. Lee is a Korean immigrant who came to the United States with her family at age 7. She did well academically, graduated from law school, and practiced corporate law for two years before concluding the law wasn’t for her. With the support of her spouse, she quit and became a fulltime writer. It took a while but her novel, Free Food for Millionaires, was a success and her second book, Pachinko (2017) was a bestseller with the New York Times naming it one of the 100 best books of the century. Lee’s newest book, American Hagwon, was just released. I enjoy these interviews which last about an hour. They explore the writer’s life story and writing process. Although I read nonfiction almost exclusively, I find the fiction writers to be more interesting interviewees which suggests I perhaps should read more fiction. 

Newspaper article: “China broadens its military reach with an Air Force installation in Laos” by Chris Buckley, New York Times, October 11, 2026. Anytime I read something that touches on geopolitics in Southeast Asia, I read it carefully mostly because so many of our neighbors come from there and still have family ties in many cases. Laos is a landlocked country with Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south, Thailand to the west, and China to the north. Thus far, there are eight training-style aircraft operating out of this base, although the runway that was constructed there could accommodate the largest and most sophisticated aircraft used by the Chinese. With the US shrinking its military presence in the Far East as well as the commitment to allies in the region, it seems the Chinese are rushing in to seize the initiative. 

Newspaper article: “How ‘Da Bears’ immortalized Ditka” by Mike Peed, New York Times, October 13, 2026. The death of former Chicago Bears tight end Mike Ditka earlier this month prompted this article which is about a Saturday Night Live sketch that debuted in 1991 shortly after Ditka was fired as the team’s coach. The sketch features four guys in Bears shirts sitting at a table in a bar or restaurant, each wear Bears baseball caps, aviator sunglasses, and walrus mustaches, looking much like Ditka at the time. The four lament the firing but express their optimism for the Bears in thick Chicago accents. I only ever watched SNL regularly in the late 1970s so I missed the Bears sketch when it originated but it popped up in my YouTube feed not long ago and I found it hilarious, a funny commentary on the state of American football fandom. 

Book Review: The Perilous Fight, by Colin Kaepernick (2026). When he was an infant, Colin Kaepernick, who is Black, was adopted and raised by a white family in California. He was a multisport athlete in high school and was drafted by the Chicago Cubs baseball team. But he opted to attend the University of Nevada and play football where he excelled. He was drafted by the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers in the second round in 2011. The following year when the 49ers starting quarterback was injured, Kaepernick stepped up and led the team to the Super Bowl where they lost to the Baltimore Ravens. The following year, the team, led by Kaepernick, made it to the NFL championship game. Through all of this, he became increasingly aware of his Blackness in a white-dominated country. He consumed Black literature and political writing. In 2016, a series of police killings of young Black men haunted Kaepernick. He concluded that he would show his displeasure with how America allowed the police to treat young Black men, he would refrain from standing during the National Anthem at the start of each game. The first few games escaped the attention of most, but then the story burst on the national scene. He was injured and unable to play but the team cut him and no other team would sign him despite desperately needing an upgrade at quarterback. He continued to practice and stay in game shape. Eventually, coaches would reach out about playing for them but the owners always shot down the idea. Kaepernick sued the NFL which settled the case but insisted on a non-disclosure agreement. He never returned to the NFL but Kaepernick runs a nonprofit, co-produced a TV mini-series and has now published this memoir.