New York as Dog

I caught the middle of a conversation by two men, probably Canadians, on the van radio. They were talking about asymmetrical relationships. For example, the relationship between a woman and her dog is asymmetrical. The woman has many interests: cooking, politics, her dog, literature, movies, friends, relatives, jogging, etc.  The dog is fixated on her. She has his devoted attention; his eyes, his nose, his ears are tuned in on her most of the time. She is much more important to him than he is to her.  Canada, they said, joking, is America's dog.

I've come up with another example, the American Revolution. Great Britain was engaged in a world war, fighting all over the globe. They cared about their American colonies, but that was a small sideshow. Americans were fixated on their cause. We know the result of this asymmetry. (The Vietnam War was a similar example.)

My family has been in California for many generations, but, when young, my wife and I moved to New York for graduate school and ended up on Long Island, where we were employed for about 35 years. I liked it a lot. While there I heard and read numberless times about the rivalry between New York and California. I noted at the time that I had never once heard Californians mention this rivalry--or talk about New York at all, except for one young woman I dated who planned to visit New York to improve her wardrobe.  Since moving back to California 12 years ago,  I haven't heard a word about the rivalry or come across any interest in New York. Nada. I do remember one comment made by a friend of mine at UCLA in the 1950s when someone asked him if he wanted to visit New York. "What for?" he asked. "Ethel Merman sings there."