There Is No Gap Between Art And

A Number Of Iraqis Told Us They Had Welcomed The U.s. Forces As Liberators Initially But In The Intervening Months, They Had Come To Feel That They Had Swapped One Oppressive Regime For Another. The Iraqis Did Exchange One Oppression For A Lighter Kind, In Some Ways.

Almost All The Military Personnel Were Wearing Sunglasses. No Iraqis Wear Sunglasses. They Really Want To See Your Eyes. So Immediately They Can't Trust The Americans.

There's So Many Ways In Which Canada And America Are Inextricably Connected Politically, Economically, Socially. There's No Stepping Away. But At The Same Time, We Don't Have A Say. Canada Is A Different Country. Sometimes I Think Of It As Finland In The Soviet Era. We're Totally Free, But We're Totally Free To Agree, Basically. If We Disagree Too Heartily Or Over Too Sensitive An Issue, Then We Pay A Price For That.

I Watch The Confusion Of Friends All Numb With Love Moving Like Stray Dogs To The Anthem Of Night Long Conversations Of Pulsing Rhythms And Random Voltage Voices In Spite Of Themselves Graceful As These Raindrops Creeping Spermlike Across The Car Window.

Resisting The Powers That Be, We Are Keeping Things From Getting Worse Than They Otherwise Might Be. And That Effort Is Very Much Worthwhile.