Laylat al Qadr   It�s 20 degrees in Washington this morning and the capital is bracing for a winter storm. People all over the metro region are hurrying to the Safeways and Giants to make the ritual purchase of eggs and  bread and toilet paper, whether they need them or not, and all are wondering […]

Turkey Day   There were two streaks of light, the pilot said. They came up alongside the aircraft. He was convinced that there were surface-to-air missiles. He continued to take the charter jet on climb out, probably sweating hard, wondering if there were two more missiles coming, seeking the heat from the engines, coming behind […]

  Thanksgiving Eve   Jimi Hendrix would have been sixty today, and with the news from Europe comes the sound of Voodoo Child and the wail of his tortured Star Spangled Banner. Remember how controversial it was? I remember when they reported him dead, choked in his bed. So many deaths that season long ago. […]

  Indian Call Centers   It has been wet this last month, the back of the awful drought is well and truly broken. Whatever the new weather pattern is, it is bringing moisture. Now that winter is here, is is also going to bring something else. They say there will be an inch of snow […]

Thankfull   I slept well, the sleep of the innocent, however unjustified. I went down after the Sopranos last night, around ten-thirty, and slept right through to the alarm at zero five. I have the feeling that I have finally conquered the jet-lag, and there is no more travel on the horizon, except for a […]

  After the Sizzle   I got this back from a pal about the Earl bit. It is nice, and below it is my response:   Thanks JR–a real treat for a Michigan guy like me, but saddening.  While you were hobnobbing with the headquarters guys, my neighbors were the tool-and-die makers (i.e. the top […]

17 November 2002   There is a commercial running on the tube these days, part of the hype for the Detroit�s new model year. It features a guy in a fedora who says his name is Harley Earl, and wants to sell you a car.   The New Year in Motown is not what it […]

The Fountain in the Moonlight Square   One year ago the Taliban quit Kabul, heading south before the forces of the Northern Alliance and American Special Forces. Tonight Virginia will execute Mir Amal Kazi, the Pakistani who gunned down five CIA employees as they waited at the red light on Route 123 outside the main […]

Half a World Away I was listening to the radio in my bed. It is dark and there is a chill in the breeze through my open window. It is 0500 on Sunday, a travel day, the end of which will not come for me until I am more than half a world away. I […]