100,000AADVANTAGE
MILESFORYOURTHOUGHTS
Emailusat
and ifyour letter ispublished ina
2015 issue,you’llbeentered intoadrawingtowin100,000AAdvantagemiles
PlayBall!
your fun article on baseball
superstitions (“Very Superstitious,”
April)broughtbacksomanymemories,
as I am a former college (at St. John’s
University)andminor leagueplayer. In
my junior year, I had abreakbetween
classesandattendeddailymass.Allofa
sudden,myperformancewas reaching
newheights, including leadingtheteam
inhittingwithabattingaveragehigher
than .400.Istartedtoinvitefellowplayers
and friendsto joinme.Beforeyouknew
it,ourteamwontheconferencetitle,the
regionalsandatriptotheCollegeWorld
SeriesinOmaha,Nebraska.Althoughwe
didn’twinthetitle, itmadeabelieverof
meandmanyofmyclosest friends.
SebbyBorriello,
Pipesville,Pennsylvania
MANAGINGEDITORTRAVISKINSEY
RESPONDS:
I’mnotone toquestionwhat
works, but I amone togo toabaseball
game (or 10). Thanks for thenote, Sebby.
PlayMore (B)Ball
kudosto
AMERICANWAY
foroffering
its readersmeaningful and thoughtful
articles, such as IsaacEger’s piece on
playingbasketballinParis(“AnAmerican
[Baller] inParis,”April).Every traveler
will empathizewith thechallengesget-
ting toknow the local culture. Anycity
in theworldwill remaina lockedsecret
forthosewhodonotknowthe language
andarenot includedby the locals.How
dowebuildcultural connections, espe-
ciallywhenthere isa linguisticbarrier?
Indeed, sports is one of thoseuniver-
sal languages throughwhichhumanity
comes together irrespectiveof cultural
or linguistichurdles.
Being an aficionadoof volleyball in
Arizona, I can confirm thatwehappily
welcomeMexican,Italian,Czech,Indian,
Caribbean,African,Germanandanyoth-
er visitors asplayerswhodemonstrate
skill and interest in joiningour teams.
ThisremindsmeoftheBritishandGer-
man soldiersplaying soccerduring the
Christmasseasonin1914duringWWI,to
thechagrinoftheirrespectivegenerals.
WhetherbasketballinParisorvolleyball
inArizona, we can all experiencenew
friendships in foreignworlds.
Dr.AlbrechtClassen,
Tucson,Arizona
SENIOREDITORERICCELESTERESPONDS:
Weagree,Dr.Classen.We found thestory
compelling for thehumorEger found inhis
universal predicament, aswell as forhowhe
wasable toovercome the languagebarrier.
Findingqualities inus that transcendgeog-
raphy isoneof themagazine’smissions.
Lively Indeed
theaprilarticleandprofileabout
BlakeLivelygrippedme,whichwaskind
ofasurprisebecauseIamrarelyfocused
oncelebrities.ThewonderofToddAaron
Jensen’s interview is that it depicteda
down-to-earthperson,notanunreach-
ablecelebrity. I laughedwithher in
The
Sisterhood of theTravelingPants
, and
now I am certainly looking forward to
seeingher again in
TheAge ofAdaline
.
Thebestpart isthatherapproach is liv-
ing in thepresent.
LucasManterola,
PanamaCity
ASSOCIATEEDITORCHRISTIANANIELSON
RESPONDS:
Thankyou foryourkindwords,
Lucas. That’swhat’sgreataboutBlake:
She’sasdown-to-earthascelebritiescome.
I thinkwe’ll beseeinga lotmoreofher.
TheBigD
i’vealways been surprisedat the
lackof
AmericanWay
storiesonAmer-
ican’s hometown, Dallas/FortWorth.
Then,mywifeand Iboardedaflight to
SanFranciscotocelebrateouranniver-
sary.Ilookedatthetableofcontents,and
thereitwas:astoryaboutDallas(“Dallas
Reborn,”March). Iwasbornandraised
DanielJoyce,9(farright),pullshis
luggagetotheplanewhileyounger
brotherNicholas,7,pullshis little
brotherNathaniel,5, inVail,Colorado,
onthewayhomefromspringbreak.
>
16
JUNE2015
AMERICANWAY
COURTESYJAMESJOYCE
AIRMAIL
