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Here is some recent work by Jay:







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"I have seen war. . . .
I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed. . . .
I have seen children starving.
I have seen the agony of mothers and wives.
I hate war."
--FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT



We know now that the Iraq war was a terrible mistake. It has been a military disaster, a political disaster, an economic disaster, and a moral disaster. It has created the very situation, the very danger, that it was purported to address, and has caused untold suffering in the process.

We have painted ourselves into a corner, unable to stay and unable to leave. I've been trying to think about the wisdom of troop withdrawal in a nonpartisan way, trying to really think it through, and listening to people I respect on TV and radio. Now I'm trying to cull through the issues involved:

1. We have been in Iraq for five years.

2. If we withdraw before peace is established, here are the things that might happen: continuing civil war, an Islamic state, the Afghanistanization of Iraq (in which it becomes a haven for al-Qaeda), or a civil war that draws in neighbors like Iran, Syria, and Turkey. All horrible alternatives.

3. The administration refuses to negotiate with neighbors like Iran and Syria to set up plans for withdrawal that would prevent such a "drawing-in."

4. The war has been terribly mismanaged. New leadership of the war may provide different, better results.

5. It is possible that we cannot bring peace to Iraq and that we cannot create a friendly government (and friendly society) there no matter how much blood we spill, how much money we spend, and how much time we devote to it. In the meantime, we are bleeding money into Iraq, bleeding time, attention, resources; most of all, bleeding lives.

7. It is possible that, whenever we leave, a spike of violence will ensue, or more civil war will ensue, or an influx of al-Qaeda will ensue---whether we withdrawal in one year or ten years.

8. If we stay, we may find ourselves in the exact same position five years from now. If five years have not been sufficient to turn the situation around so far, what makes us think another five years will?

This morning Diane Rehm had experts on her radio show discussing Iraq. A disabled Vietnam vet called in to talk about how he felt, lying wounded in a hospital in Japan, when he heard over the radio that the US had given up that part of Vietnam which he and his buddies had fought for. He wanted to cry to think of the lost lives, his friends blown to bits, for nothing. And then he talked about reading Robert McNamara's mea culpa a few years ago, a memoir he wrote about the period, and how he felt when he read that McNamara and his colleagues KNEW that the war could not be won but kept it on for years because they didn't want to lose face. The Vietnam vet couldn't read on, couldn't finish the book. He was so heartbroken at the thought of his friends dead and gone, all to save the pride of a handful of government officials who couldn't face their own failure.

Thinking about Iraq without reference to Bush and the anger so many of us feel toward him, it's still hard to see what the best road is. If the war can be won, without bankrupting us economically, militarily, and morally, it should be. But if it can't be won, or if the price of winning is far too steep, we should leave, and the sooner the better. The consequences of leaving are unknown, so it can be tempting to stay the course, choosing the evil we know over the evil we don't know. But the price of staying is very high, and the appeal of inertia should be resisted.

I would love to hear all of your thoughts on the direction our country should take on this.

This is a dark-looking image of my first-ever garden. I'm sure any gardeners out there are cringing at the state of these plantings, but my fingers are crossed and I figure it can't be any worse than the bare patch of rock-hard earth that graced the side of our house previously. I've got rhododendrons in the back, two kinds of hostas in the front, and impatiens (thank you, Tim) at the far end.

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You know her, you love her . . . It's the winner of the Miss Bridge Club Cutie Contest, 2007! For those of you in the market for love, she's a youthful 80 years old. Her: Loves dogs and coconut cream pie. Makes a mean chili. You: Active. Likes travel. Doesn't mind hairy legs.

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My friend Susan sent me a link to an article about the science and meaning of dog wagging.

The results shared in the article are interesting, but mostly it had just the cutest scientific illustration ever:










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OUT-AND-OUT COMEDIES:

The Trouble with Harry (1955)—directed by Hitchcock, but a comedy!

Ruthless People (1986)—a kidnapping caper; still one of my favorite comedies

Hairspray (1988)—my favorite comedy of all time; will be a movie musical this summer

Serial Mom (1994)—another John Waters comedy, mostly shot around my high school and other familiar sites around Towson

Waking Ned Devine (1998)—one of those twee British comedies about village eccentrics; the scene of the two old men riding naked on the motorcycle alone is worth the price of admission

GalaxyQuest (2000)—a comedy about a Star Trek-like show

American Dreamz (2000)—a satire about a show like American Idol, with Hugh Grant as a combination Ryan Seacrest/Simon Cowell character

Le Chevre (1981)—a French farce about a girl who gets kidnapped and the two mismatched detectives who are sent to find her

The Dinner Game (1998)—another great French comedy about a suave handsome man who tries to play a trick one a clueless ugly one, and the reversals of fortune that ensue

COMEDIES, BUT DRAMATIC TOO:

A Room with a View (1985)---the original Merchant-Ivory blockbuster about pretty English people in Italy

Radio Days (1987)—Woody Allen’s film about growing up in the 1940s

Corrina Corrina (1994)---lovely film about the relationship between a widower and the woman he hires to watch his daughter

Il Postino (1995)---the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda befriends a rural postman in Italy; “heartwarming!” say the critics

Sense and Sensibility---Jane Austen; nuff said

L’Auberge Espagnole (2003)---European youth living together in Barcelona; “delightful!” say the critics

Love Actually (2003)---ensemble British comedy-romance; I love this film; but be warned: there is unexpectedly graphic sex---do not watch with your children or parents

Spellbound (2003)---hilarious documentary about kids in spelling bees

Goodbye, Lenin (2004)---a young man in East Germany tries to hide from his mother the fact that the Wall has fallen and Communism is dead


NOTE COMEDIES, BUT EASY TO LIKE:

Widow’s Peak (1994)---light intrigue in an English village

Chariots of Fire (1981)—about early 1900s British Olympic runners

Mountains of the Moon (1990)—wonderful, wonderful, little-known movie about the two men who discovered the source of the Nile in Africa; the first half is an action movie, the second half a psychological drama

The Last Seduction---slick thriller about a bad husband and his bad wife

Angels & Insects---fascinating movie about a young Charles Darwin staying at a rich man’s mansion and discovering what, and who, he really loves in life

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)---oooh, I love this movie! Sneaky, innocent-looking Matt Damon is Ripley

A Walk on the Moon (1999)---a 1950s housewife at a summer family camp is tempted by the “shirt man” . . . who happens to be Viggo Mortensen; contains my all-time favorite sex scene

Frequency (2000)---thriller about a troubled man who comes into contact with his long-dead father through a ham radio and tries to solve a mystery

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As I drove by my old college today, I thought about how vulnerable the students must feel this week. But also how, for outsiders with no direct ties to the victims, the Virginia Tech massacre seems slightly less horrific than that of Columbine, simply because high school kids are that tiny bit more vulnerable and, well, kid-like. That got me thinking about one of my favorite movies, Elephant, about a Columbine-like killing. It sounds like something no one would want to watch, but it's a truly wonderful and touching movie. Here are some of the best movies about tragedies. You may think to yourself, I don't want to watch a movie about THAT. But you did watch any of these, you would be glad you hadn't missed it:

Elephant
United 93
Hotel Rwanda
Pan's Labyrinth
The Magdalene Sisters
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My friend Kim sent out this statement to friends and media outlets yesterday in response to the Virginia Tech killings. Talking about things like the perpetrator's mental health is not an "excuse"; it's a vitally important key to the puzzle of violence. Excusing those who commit violence isn't the point---reducing occurrences of violence is.

Here is Kim's statement:

I want to extend my sympathy to forgotten victims of the VA Tech tragedy: Cho Seung-hui and his family.

Almost ten years ago to the day my brother committed suicide. Ravaged by mental illness, he was unable to make good decisions about his health care. Geographically distant from his family, evicted, homeless, unable to obtain appropriate care in a hospital emergency room or community clinic, possibly paranoid, possibly psychotic, he lost touch and disappeared in the city of Portland, Oregon. Months later he killed himself in a public place in an extremely violent manner.

At the time, my one comfort was that he had not hurt anyone but himself. The loss of my only brother, an intelligent, talented musician, was devastating, but I wasn’t able to bear the thought that in the tangled depths of his mental illness that he may have inflicted harm on others. I can’t imagine the grief of Cho Seung-hui’s family.

Our communities are failing to deal with mental illness. We are failing the families of those who suffer mental illness and we are failing to face what is increasingly becoming a public health problem. Every city in America has mentally ill homeless people wandering the streets--visible, but virtually ignored. Every town in America has trouble providing services to those who suffer mental illness and their families. It is a complex problem. We can’t ignore this problem any more. Incidents like the VA Tech shootings are not typical--thankfully most mentally ill people are not violent. But there is a deep terror that settles in when one sees a loved one fall through the cracks of society, sinking deeper and deeper into an unknown world.

The answers aren’t easy or obvious, but it is obvious that mental illness is terrorizing families and communities all over the country. When are we going to take this problem seriously?

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Interesting comments from the Washington Post's national security reporter, Dana Priest, in her blog today:

We have failed to come to terms with the limits of military power to alter political landscapes. The military is a tool that can buy political powers an opening, a reversal of the status quo, whatever. It cannot, cannot, cannot create political solutions.

Our strength--and ultimate security--is not derived from the actions of our CIA or military, its from our core values, of which human rights and the rule of law are central.
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Thinking today of the deaths at Virginia Tech and in our various war zones. And how some people today have had their lives on this earth broken and ruined for good, while others are finding out that they are pregnant for the first time after a long wait, or are simply soaking up the sun on a beach, feeling peaceful and loved and like all is right with this world. It's all made me think of this quote from Virginia Woolf:

The beauty of this world,
which is so soon to perish,
has two edges,
one of laughter, one of anguish,
cutting the heart asunder.

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Because everyone in the world is a more entertaining blog-writer than I am, I am once again subcontracting out to another blogger today. For a very entertaining paean to Friday Night Lights, visit:

http://gofugyourself.typepad.com/go_fug_yourself/2007/04/fugday_night_li.html
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I received some wonderful news this week.

My stock portfolio has jumped in value?

Jay has sold a painting for $10,000?

The Queen has requested my presence at afternoon tea??

No---The Sci Fi Channel is running a Battlestar Galactica Season 3 Marathon!!

Part of the long series of narrative TV shows featuring emotion, drama, action, and comedy, BSG has taken its place among Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Friday Night Lights as my latest story-obsession. I've already watched the opening mini-series, season 1, and season 2 on DVD, but I've been unwilling to tune into the current season (season 3) mid-way, leading to severe withdrawal symptons.

Then the news: On May 16-18, Sci Fi will run the entire 20 episodes of season 3 in order. Some of you may notice that these are weekdays. This is a snag that is yet to be worked out (take my floating holiday? get Tivo?).

Here are some pics from BSG to get you in the mood:

I know this blog may seem a little beaglecentric to some, but I can't help it that I'm so lucky in the dog department. Try to put your jealousy at my good luck (or, as you might put it, "annoyance at my repetitious, boring references to beagles") aside, and enjoy this snippet from a washingtonpost.com discussion today. The chatter/question-asker is "nova," who I swear is not me. The guest/question-answerer is Mike White, the director of "School of Rock," "The Good Girl," and a new comedy called "Year of the Dog," starring Molly Shannon and others.

nova: I'm a lifelong beagle-phile and therefore I was happy to see that you "cast" (?) a beagle in Year of the Dog. I haven't seen it yet, but I'm planning on going as soon as it's released.

Questions: (1)Was it difficult having a dog play what must be a pretty important role in the movie? Beagles can be slightly obstinate at times.

(2) Aren't beagles the best dogs ever?

Mike White: The beagle in the movie was a total pro and maybe the most adorable dog in cinematic history.

Here is my favorite sonnet of all time, written by George Meredith in 1883. For some reason, I associate this poem with summer, maybe because I memorized it in college and would recite it to myself when I went out jogging in the warm weather.

Lucifer in Starlight

ON a starr'd night Prince Lucifer uprose.
Tired of his dark dominion swung the fiend
Above the rolling ball in cloud part screen'd,
Where sinners hugg'd their spectre of repose.
Poor prey to his hot fit of pride were those.
And now upon his western wing he lean'd,
Now his huge bulk o'er Afric's sands careen'd,
Now the black planet shadow'd Arctic snows.
Soaring through wider zones that prick'd his scars
With memory of the old revolt from Awe,
He reach'd a middle height, and at the stars,
Which are the brain of heaven, he look'd, and sank.
Around the ancient track march'd, rank on rank,
The army of unalterable law.

George Meredith, 1883

One of Jay's favorite artists, Sol Lewitt, died this week. Lewitt was a minimalist and a conceptualist, believing that the idea of the artwork was more important than the finished result. He was known to sometimes paint over his wall art, and he created detailed instructions on how to replicate other pieces so that fans could make their own versions. Here are some of his pieces. I've never been a huge fan, but I do like the third piece below, which reminds me a little of Jay's work.

One of the pleasures of living in the woods is the number of animals I've come to recognize. It's pathetic but before I moved here I could probably only identify three or four birds (robin, blue jay, cardinal . . .). A favorite new animal for me is the black squirrel. This animal came to our area in 1902 when they were introduced at the National Zoo. Some squirrels escaped the zoo and have been spreading out to surrounding counties ever since. Here's a photo of a black squirrel:

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"God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illuminated by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason." --Dag Hammarskjold

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I'm reading Karen Armstrong's fascinating and learned book A History of God right now, and came across this lovely passage from the Koran:

"Do not argue with the followers of earlier revelations otherwise than in the most kindly manner---unless it be such of them as are set on evil doing---and say: 'We believe in that which has been bestowed upon us, as well as that which has been bestowed upon you: for our God and your God is one and the same, and it is unto him that we [all] surrender ourselves."

An interesting portion of this ancient text. And this passage from ibn Al-Arabi, the 12th-century Muslim mystic:

"My heart is capable of every form
A cloister for the monk, a fane for idols
A pasture for gazelles, the votary's Kabah
The tables of the Torah, the Koran.
Love is the faith I hold: wherever turn
His camels, still the one true faith is mine."
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1. Most of the flower names I know are those that my mother would point out excitedly every April: "Look, the crocuses are coming in!"

2. She loved forsythias.

3. In the old 1980s "season color scheme" she was a "Spring."

4. About this time she'd get the eggs boiling and we'd dye our Easter eggs.

5. I find myself saying to Rocky, "It's such a beautiful day---why don't you go outside??"

A Monday

This weekend we saw The Host with our friend Gerry. This is the Korean monster movie that's been getting a lot of press. Nice cinematography, good characters, some funny scenes: not a masterpiece but an enjoyable movie. It seemed that during the 1990s American independent movies were so big that they took over the art house screens. It's great to see foreign films back in wide circulation.