My sister, Shannon, and brother-in-law, Phil, have posted more baby pictures, and the whole family on both sides appears, except for me and Remei, of course. Just click here, and then click on the left where it says "John Wesley" for lots of cute photos from a nice middle-class Middle Western/Highland Southern family. This is the real America, families living their regular lives, not the crap you see on TV and read in the press, and it ain't those pretentious jerks on the Left Coast being cooler than thou, either.

Oh, by the way, Shannon and Phil have five college degrees between them--two B.A.s, two M.A.s, and a Ph.D. Among my parents and me, we've got five more. Six if you count my father's M.B.A. equivalent from General Electric's auditor-training program. So don't call us a bunch of gringo hicks until you can beat that, even though we do talk a little funny and my parents do horrible old-fashioned stuff like go to church. Hear that, Manuel Castells?

A little defensive? Hell, yeah. According to certain people who think they're sophisticated there's nothing of value between New York and L.A. They call it "the flyover." You won't believe how much wank I've heard from Californians about how cool they are in comparison with, say, me.