HELIOLITH

I am reading Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, a Vietnam War novel published in 1990. This is an excerpt:
“A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done. If […]

I visited the International Center of Photography last week, on 6th and 43rd. In a small room downstairs, there are photographs from the Abu Ghraib prison. They are photographs that most everyone has seen already. They are unframed, printed on regular printer paper, downloaded from the internet. They are tacked on the black walls at […]

In researching the Black Panther Party, I came across a website dedicated to illustrating the positive history of the political group. I found a quote on pacifism that resonates meaningfully, especially in the weeks before an election that threatens to reelect a war-minded leader. Huey P. Newton:
“The Peace Movement is extremely important, more important […]

El EZLN y El Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos siguen luchando en Chiapas. Cuando estudiaba en Oregon, tuve una profesora que nos sugirió leer los comunicados del líder de la rebelión. Desde aquel entonces, ni he buscado ni leido esos comunicados, pero como que ayer ví la peli de Gabriel García Bernal tan impresionante, me dediqué hoy […]

Michael Michael Motorcycle, how I have been dreaming about a homemade motorcycle since–well, since last night when I saw the Motorcycle Diaries. In addition to deciding I had to read it again, this time in Spanish, and also try to reread Subcomandante Marcos’s revolutionary writings, that movie made me want to build my very own […]

So now that I am a WiFi freeloader, I have undertaken the research project. I found a post on Broadband Reports that scoffed at a confused freeloader who wrote a NYT article about her experience getting “kicked off” (or so she thought). The snobs at BR say she just misunderstood the technology and received an […]

In mid-September 2001, NPR had a segment about a website called Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood. Specifically, the show was referring listeners to the WTC portion of the site, where a number of stories cluster. I looked up the url, discovered a brilliantly democratic and New York loving place to tell and read stories, share history, and […]

Since we’re on the topic, I thought I might add that the NYT had another interesting article about black suffrage (which I still can’t believe was only won as recently as 1965). The article links black disenfranchisement to felon disenfranchisement, citing two recent studies. Many states prevent felons from voting, even if they have completed […]

I gots to run, but I wanted to post a quickie and say that I’ve been avidly reading the paper, and listening to the public radio (and less so the Al Franken show), and I am appreciating being in the know. Have been closely following the convoluted story of those shifty documents that purported […]

I just finished the bit you wrote about Bush’s briefs. (And on that note, do we all agree that they are tighty whities?) For starters, I wish the Shrub would just say what he damn well thought. Why all of this “I don’t think that, but I am not willing to commit […]