I enjoy my job, I really do. I am one of the few people I know who can say that. I work with great people, tons of books, make my own hours, etc. So why do I just want to go home today? Not to get all philosophical, but I do a fair amount of reading on current events. And its all depressing! It just makes me want to scream. I finished an article by Francine Prose today in last month’s Harper’s on how reality television is altering the consciousness of Americans. They lie and cheat and we get desensitized to that. So when our politicians do the same, we are not that outraged or at least that’s the simple version of her argument I think. Its just so maddening because it could be true. I don’t want to become some political blogger. In fact I refuse. You may have to hear me vent from time to time though. I used to believe that I was lucky to be an American—I know I know, its too optimistic for a pessimist like me. But its true. We have a lot of privileges here. Again in Harper’s Readings section of the March issue, they ran some interviews with Iranian brothel workers conducted by Roya Karimi-Majd for Zanan, a woman’s magazine published in Tehran. The stories the women told are truly horrifying. Beaten almost to death by her brother for wearing a colorful coat, one woman fled her home. And she had nowhere to go. She tried to sleep in the bus terminal, but the religious (!) police rounded them up and she was not only fined 30,000 toman but also sentenced to 80 lashes. And then her brother caught up with her again. This time he took her to the woods to hang her. And so, at 15, life made her turn to selling herself. The stories don’t get any better. So, yeah, I am glad to live here. I don’t fear religious police or family members beating me for sleeping with my boyfriend. I can say what I want, do a lot of things I want, etc. But they are slowly chipping away at these things. How long before I can say almost anything I want? That’s a big deal. And they (and by they I mean Bush and his admin., not some sort of conspiratorial they) keep changing things on the down-low so that we do not even notice. Its shameful. It really is. I don’t know what they are trying to protect anymore. Its all in the name of preserving our way of life, but that way of life is changing so much that its getting unrecognizable. Okay, I can’t talk about this anymore. I am getting too angry and am having problems typing now.