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HUP TWO
We marchedfor hoursgoingnowhere We satswelteringin classroomspretendingto learn Six weekslaterthey told uswe werewarriors Our haircould beginto grow back Heavensave usfrom thisendless war,fromourselves.
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MADE IN
You learn to shop carefully,always searching for wherean item is made, avoiding placesyou know are not socially responsible. The search is complicatedby the lack of nearby stores,by the ubiquity of Amazon,by the certainty that the productwon’t arrive for some time,and when you find oneyou like, you scroll downand see the magic buzzword“Imported” and you knowfrom…
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PECULIAR?
I grant you cats can be peculiarbut they have one significantadvantage over all other pets,except maybe hamstersand gerbils, for when youneed someone to talk to,to unload your problems on,to try and wrestle witha thorny issue of public policyor geopolitical intrigueand that night has swallowedeveryone you know, anyoneyou might dare disturbin the hours after midnight,you may…
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THE GRADUATE
You really ought to pauseand wonder just how differentthe world might be todayif in that crucial momentthings had gone ina wholly different direction. A single moment canset the course for allof the moments that follow,a definite future pluckedfrom an infinite arrayof possibilities. I mean, of course,that moment whenMr. McGuire, in the guiseof Walter Brooke turnsto…
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THIS LAND (IS) WAS MY LAND
I would very much liketo look down from above,unseen by those below,in my country, see the turmoilroiling so many, the linesformed at borders, a queuefor those deemed less valuable,and I wonder where in the linemy ancestors would bewere they still alive.I wonder what lifewould be like if Iwas born in Lithuaniaor if my parents never…
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AFGHAN, ANYONE
Symbols have deep meaningeven to those so blind theycannot see them, and our politicshave become wholly retail. Any good retailer will tell youthat $19.95 is significantlyless than $20.00, a nickelthat swallows the dollars. So we got out, and nineteenyears and 354 daysis considerably shorterthan twenty years we are told, but everything blew up around us,but…
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ENDGAME
He knew it was timeto call it a career whenthey handed him the listof what he could not say,what terms were verbotten,what topics were off limits. Once upon a time he watchedthe fight over textbooks,how they approached sensitivesubjects like race, war, equality,but he could teach aroundwhatever strictures theywould ignorantly impose. But now whole topics,entire aspects…
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ARISING
It is far too early to think about that,although many would sayit is already far too late. That is the conundrumin which we find ourselves,defining our options, drawingpolitical lines that arenot dare crossed unless youaccept there can be no return. And those who say it’stoo early, it can wait, must hopethat they can emulatethe Phoenix…
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GREAT DANGER
There are those who saythat we are engagedin a culture war, and thatmay be an apt description,even as it misses its mark. It is hardly cultures thatare at war, but those whotake shelter under theirfalse mantle, armoredin labels, shielded by cliches. But the weapons of the warare quite real, knownfor ages, Stalin and Alexiecalling them…
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LANDING
She sends us a map showing on which tribe’s land we are now living. This is not something we have thought about, not something we want to think about, for that would demand that we are the usurpers, the horde whose pogrom was ultimately successful, and that is a face that refuse to see in…
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an old writer and his words 