as usual, paul krugman has a very, very interesting column in today's nyt. he's right, of course, that al qaeda seems a lot smarter now than the bush administration. if the worry is Terrorism, in all of its many forms, then what are we doing trying to convince the entire arab world that we are exactly who, exactly what al qaeda says we are? or do we think that the opinions of people in the middle east just don't matter? i think that may be the real problem. as always, the opinions and the lives of americans, most especially privileged americans who won't fight in any war, are what really make the difference in this debate. we (you know, "we." the bush administration and its 150 million cronies.) are too short-sighted to imagine the damage done in radicalizing the muslim world.

watched black hawk down tonight with roban, which provided an interesting illustration of the above ideas. bhd is a fabulous movie. i mean, really really good. but for some reason, this movie, set in somalia, has no real somali characters. they are rogues or nameless, silenced victims, or, even better, big violent black mobs surrounding small frightened groups of white men (who have names and dialogue). and by the end of the movie, because it's a really really good movie, we care a lot about the nineteen americans who were killed that day. somehow, though, we care nothing for the thousand somalis killed in the same incident. the perspective coming from the US, whether it's from the white house, or congress, or hollywood, seems always to be that american lives are more important. ugh.

much less interestingly, it's still break. still time for gym, and arranging music, and sleep-gluttony, and cooking. it's funny...emails slow down so much over break here that i occasionally have this sensation that everything, not just the college, has stopped for the week. very odd.