The protests against GWB’s inauguration last Saturday [January 20, 2001] were the largest since the anti-Nixon rallies on inauguration day in 1973, the press has informed us. But a lot of newspaper and TV reporters have been pretending not to understand why so many of us were standing in the cold rain in Washington, chanting and waving placards and booing when the dignitaries rolled by Freedom Plaza.

Dying for a mirage: ­ Yesterday I saw Ellen McLaughlin’s play “Helen,” based on Euripides’ play of the same name…  Just like in real life, the bloodiest wars are fought for things that exist only in men’s minds: “eternal Israel,” “free Palestine,” “jihad,” “Tamil homeland,” “Aryan supremacy,” “the American way of life,” etc. Pretty perceptive, that Euripides. I hope he writes some more. 2002.03.24