And today, 150 years later, the Paris Commune of 1871 continues to resound as “a synonym of social struggle,” inspiring the slogans of radical democratic movements from Hong Kong to Spain to New York.

Why so stressed? Tom Ridge’s Homeland Insecurity alerts certainly hadn’t helped. Premonitions of what Bush’s bombing was going to do to neighborhoods full of people in Iraq made it worse. But then there was my particular, personal situation…(2003/03/07)