In attempt to rekindle my online flame...a pretty weak attempt, but one nonetheless.  Its effectiveness will prevail.
An email just sent to Rose: (in response to an article from Democracy Now: Amy Goodman talking with Seymour Hersh, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, author of the book, Chain Of Command: The Road From 9-11 to Abu Ghraib.)
     Well, hell, I made it to the end, alright.  I genuinely thank you for putting      a damper on my day.  I forget sometimes, and just go about it.  But I greatly      appreciate it when I put my era into a contextual perspective. 
On that note,      I made dinner for a soldier the other night.  He got abck in December from      over a year in Iraq.  Yup.  narly.  They come back different.  and they are      coming back by the thousands...and this is not going to have a huge, long term      impact?  And what a miniscule aspect of this chaos...  Anyway, what's pretty      scary now, is that they return from over there, contemplate what they could      have done differently, and now they can expect to go back! No      regrets, just actions!  Because they ARE so protected by numbnuts.  Not many consequences      for crazy, and I'm talking CRAZY, actions.  Just from what I've heard, we      really don't know anything. Know nothing about what we're doing over      there...just doing things.      
So I talked to this lad for quite a while about his experiences.  Pretty      ethnocentric way of thinking operating over there, first of all.  "they need      help, get them out of the huts they live in, can't even read..." yada      yada...So what!  Shit, man... And this lad was just saying how weird it feels      that he is an expert...that he goes around and makes orders, as like a civil      engineer, a police man, a social consultant...and he doesn't know what he's      doing!  They spent a couple months building a prison for this town so that the      town would tell them where  the "bad guys" are located, he tells me, only for      the next day to have the towns people blow it up!  The people are scared!  and      lost.       Shit, man.      
So, this semester, I'm taking two global classes.  One on peace and one on      gender wars.  Heavy.  Think I'll either come out of it wanting to be      forgotten about in Mexico for a while, or batteling it out in some      international non-profit agency.  Who knows...how can you predict?  You can't.
      Can't really plan, just prepare yourself for oportunities.
I love you, Ro, come see me.