The letter arrived yesterday, but I was too bogged down with work to mention it. Things are getting interesting.

Three Things

1. Jonno is currently en route to Manhattan. So far as I know, he’ll be staying with the minx, so he’ll have access to email and stuff. I’m sure he’ll want to see each and every one of you New Yorkers while he’s there. Why not drop him a line and take him out for a drinkie-poo?

2. Politically, I find myself bouncing between the Left and the Right, depending on the situation I’m in. For example, at the gym the other day these two “hey-bruhs” were talking about the goings-on in the Middle East and the people dancing in the streets of Lebanon after Tuesday’s events, and in the process they made more references to falafel vendors and nuclear weapons than I could count. Not only was I offended by their thoroughly racist, ludicrously facile politics, but part of me–the newly discovered Lebanese part of me–also took it as a kind of personal attack. Not that I was raised with a sense of Lebanese identity or anything, not that I’ve even met my biological father, it was just…what if I had? They just presumed their conversation wouldn’t offend me ’cause I’m a white boy.

The very next day, I’m working out, and these two quasi-liberal homos are in the room, ragging on Bush and the fiercely militaristic, nearly autocratic stance he’s adopted the past week, and I’m offended again. I mean, yes, Bush has been whiny, and he should probably can most of his speech-writing staff, but did anyone really expect him to behave differently? He’s doing what he’s go to do. Giuliani, on the other hand: now there‘s a pleasant surprise.

3. On a completely different note, I got a call from the adoption agency yesterday. Contact looms near.

Hmm. It seems the Bush administration–that is, W’s administration, the one shrieking at Afghanistan as we speak–recently gave the Taliban $43 million. Apparently, W was trying to keep alive Ron and Nancy’s ill-conceived “war on drugs,” and forked over the cash in exchange for the Taliban’s declaration that opium growing is “against the will of God.” Bush et al. somehow felt such a statement would immediately stem the tide of smack flowing from the Hindu Kush into the veins of America’s rosy-cheeked rock stars. Ironically, that gift made the US one of the Taliban’s biggest financial backers.

The really funny part? The thought of W and his staffers flipping furiously through bank statements to see if the check’s been cashed…

Link via Nathan.

“I want justice!”

Yeah, and I want a new president, but wadda ya gonna do?

Maybe I’m just a cynic, or maybe my job has made me too aware of the workings of the American political machine, but honestly: people who think it’s possible for the US to avoid some kind of war or military attack somewhere in the world–likely Afghanistan at this point–strike me as patently naive. To be sure, in large part I agree with the level-headed and indisputably wise reactions some folks have had to these events, and I think lots of Americans see things similarly; I think the majority would rather see some sort of surgical strike to take out particular individuals rather than a full-scale war on an entire nation that, in theory, had nothing directly to do with this week’s events. I mean, even my family–the bulk of whom are gun-toting Republicans from Mississippi, and therefore, my sounding board when I want to get a sense of popular American sentiment–understand it’s a difficult situation we’re in, with massively complex political ramifications. There are no simple solutions, and no matter what sort of military action we take, it can never begin to get to the root of the problem of anti-American sentiment abroad.

Nevertheless, we all know something will have to be done. It won’t be done simply as an act of vengeance–though that’s in there, too–but more importantly, as a political gesture. To save face with the world and with constituents across the country (note the single voice of dissent in Congress’ overwhelmingly multi-partisan decision to authorize the use of force—a vote, essentially, of 518-to-1), our nation’s leaders have to retaliate. Let’s just hope they do it quickly, effectively, and with the full cooperation of the international community.

Unfortunately, I’m pretty cynical about that, too.

I wonder what Al Gore’s thinking right about now.

More interesting than Falwell/Robertson’s casual theological discussion of Tuesday’s events and their implications is the superficially more reasoned text of bin Laden’s fatwah urging jihad against Americans. …Interesting and yet, completely bizarre.

In the end, no matter how measured, how rational either of these arguments presume to be, both are full of rhetorical acrobatics I can’t seem to follow. But then, maybe if I possessed a degree of religious zeal, I wouldn’t have this problem.

Link via megnut.

I can’t believe what I’m reading. Oh, wait, I was raised Southern Baptist. Maybe I can.

What’s truly amazing here is not their conception of goddess, nor is it the vast jumps in logic and rhetoric it takes to make such an argument. No, what’s truly amazing is that two religious pundits who are so very politically active could be so completely myopic as to make such a decidedly un-savvy statement. Of course, wasn’t it Falwell who preached against the Tinky-Winky Conspiracy? So again, why am I surprised? …With any luck, this’ll be just one more nail in their political coffins.

Thanks for the link, JB.

It seems like a pretty minor thing right now–I mean, heroism is heroism is heroism, right?–but still, it’s kinda cool to know that a significant part of a massive terrorist plot might have been foiled by someone from our team. Yeah, yeah, I know: I’m making presumptions about the “queer community” and all. Too bad. I’m not up for debating it right now.

…I wonder if it’ll ever come out in the major media (no pun intended). I mean, CNN did say that he’d called his mother from the plane, and that’s a big hint, but, you know, most people need more than that…. Help us out here, Mr. Brokaw.

From all accounts, New Yorkers have come together in beautiful ways over the past 48 hours. People are aware of the fragility of others; they have followed Ms. Holzer‘s advice: they have turned soft and lovely, they have found ways to be very tender.

The one and only time I’ve been through anything nearly this traumatic, the same thing happened. There were about ten of us involved. We were emotionally, physically, psychologically raw, and we took care of one another. For a solid week, we gathered each night, had dinner, sat around the living room talking and reminiscing, holding hands, making one another laugh. It was a bonding experience that none of us would have chosen, but we went through it, and as horrible as everything seemed at the beginning of that week, by the end of it, we’d begun to function normally again. Our appetites weren’t what they should have been, and we didn’t quite feel like celebrating yet, but we’d built each other back up enough to face everyday life. A full week had gone by: we wanted to see other people, do normal things. So we did.

Since that seventh day, that Saturday, I haven’t really spent time with many of those folks. I mean, sure, I’d see ’em on the street, see ’em at the corner bar. But it was as if they’d forgotten the closeness we’d developed over those seven days. Maybe they just didn’t want to relive it all. Maybe they moved on faster than I did. I still remember it as a beautiful shining week when things were clear: we knew what was important and what wasn’t.

Hold on to your memories of now, take pictures, make notes, because–fortunately and unfortunately–things will return all-too-quickly to the way they were before. Or, again in the words of Ms. Holzer: “Savor kindness, because cruelty is possible later.”

Finally: word from Julian…

Sorry for the silence. Been busy looking for an in-law who is likely not to have survived. It’s been quite an odyssey. While it does not leave me hopeful about him, the kindness and care of every person I’ve encountered has astonished me. How New York will ever recover is a mystery to me, but if it is ever to do so, it will be because of New Yorkers themselves. Choire is posting almost hourly, though. (He lives across the street.) Also, my internet access is limited at best. This is part of a bulk emailing that I hope will go through. The scene here is simultaneously surreal, nauseating and oddly beautiful. Despite that, however, I recommend that you not visit for a while.