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“Travel host” is at the top of the list of dream jobs. But it’s just not in the cards for most us. We’re just not cultured enough. We don’t have that joie de vivre. We don’t have that special ability to virtually look the TV viewer in the eye and say, “Come with me. Be not afraid. I shall be your guide.”
Jonah Ray, host of the Seeso Original Hidden America With Jonah Ray, possesses all these qualities. Jonah Ray feels things most humans can’t.
Where travel shows were once content to offer an authentic and honest portrayal of the places they visit, Jonah goes a step further: offering a very authentic and very honest portrayal of them. While others think its enough to expose viewers to local cuisine and culture, Jonah is willing to expose himself. And while some claim to document the melting pot of America, Jonah is willing to plunge his hands through all the proverbial fondue, and show us Hidden America.
Verily, I was initially tasked with writing an article on Jonah Ray. Instead, I’ve created a mea-culpa to my own ignorance. I thought I knew gumbo. I thought I knew the Boston Red Sox. I thought I knew experimental sex-art film.
But seeing America through Jonah’s eyes has called everything I thought I knew into question.
On Hidden America, Ray does all kinds of things the rest of us will never get to do, never get the chance to do, and probably, at the end of the day, aren’t worthy of doing. One is left with the impression that America is a country for him to discover, and for us to experience. Traveling to exotic locales is his job; watching him visit them is our job.
There’s so much of that big, beautiful world out there for him to discover. And discover he does, sharing with us his unfathomably deep insights – because he knows what we should see. Only Jonah Ray can truly show us, for example, a vegan restaurant in San Francisco where all the food is made of meat. Only Jonah can confirm that the Mississippi River is a river. Only Jonah can teach us that New Orleans is, contrary to popular belief, not a made up place.
From Austin to Boston, from Seattle to Denver, from the west coast to the east coast, Jonah is there, ready to show us common people all the places we’ll never get to visit ourselves.
Hidden America with Jonah Ray is streaming now on Seeso.
