I was humming this song this morning. Couldn't possibly have anything to do with Sunday's trip:

up on the airplane
nearer my god to thee
i start making a deal
inspired by gravity
   - indigo girls

I was daydreaming while sitting, stopped, at a red light during my lunch break, looking into the vast expanse of sky. I was enjoying the only slightly hazy blue of the sky. From my memory, the D.C. area is a bit smoggy.

I open up news sites and find myself recoiling over what I see. You can read for yourself, and I rather hope that perhaps you're asking yourself the same questions I am.

I've been most disturbed by what I've seen happening recently in Israel. The sheer pointlessness of the brutality stuns me. The shot of the man leaning out of the police station, grinning, holding his bloodied hands up for the screaming crowd to see… It makes me shake my head. It makes me ashamed to be human, to be counted with these people—on both sides.

Ask yourself questions, and look behind and beyond that snapshot. First, the man—what would it take for you to become so angry, so full of hate, to attack another human being and then wear his blood on your skin like a trophy? Secondly, the crowd—to cheer such an event?

Some of you might remember that, long ago and far away, I was a literature major once. Despite the fact that it seems altogether a different world, my love of the written word remains.

I may not have a favorite actor or actress, but I do have a favorite poem. It's not terribly well-known, unless you're familiar with twentieth-century American poets, but it's a piece that I have loved since I first read it. I know virtually nothing about the author, and have read nothing else of his. Sometimes I wonder if they live up to the high standard he set here:

The song in my head today:

Seven days and not a return / Seven lives and not a thing learned
Take a lover on the highway / Do you know…

'Cause I am sleeping on a time bomb / And I am waiting for the light to come
You and I could get away now / Do you know…

'Cause I don't know how / I don't know where
We are… We are…
And I don't know why / I don't know if
We are… We are…
[ Vertical Horizon ]

Lots of thoughts going through my head today. I spent most of the day at the computer, working on things that I wanted to work on for a change. I spent a good hour or two revamping how I do archives here on domesticat, and I'm pleased with the results. While it requires a bit more effort on my part, I think that it will make more sense to you, the reader.

"and I feel, so much depends on the weather…"
- Stone Temple Pilots, "Plush"