Jerusalem

Mr. Wright gives us some of the historical-religious background of Jerusalem, so that we can better appreciate … ((how to say it?)) the emotional stakes underlying the Middle East peace talks. We are perhaps talking about the most volatile piece of real estate on earth. This excerpt is taken from Sadat’s historical diplomatic visit to Israel, as he visits the holy sites.

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Sadat moved on to the seventh-century Dome of the Rock, the oldest building in Islam, a magnificent eight-sided structure with ornate porcelain mosaics and a golden cupola that dominates the Old City. It is a resonant icon of Islamic spirituality as well as the ubiquitous political emblem of the Palestinians’ yearning for restitution. The shrine encloses the rocky outcropping that is the summit of the Temple Mount. According to Jewish tradition, the stone is the perch that God made for himself when he created the universe. Muslims believe that the Prophet Muhammad made his night journey to heaven atop his steed, al-Buraq, from this rock. At the end of days, according to Islamic tradition, the Final Judgment will take place in this sanctuary, with the blessed and the damned going their separate ways for eternity.

-- Lawrence Wright, “Thirteen Days in September”

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It continues to be a dark irony that such a strong sense of holiness should provoke so much murder and bloodshed.

The Civil War

"You have to understand that the raggedy Confederate soldier who owned no slaves and probably couldn’t even read the Constitution, let alone understand it, when he was captured by Union soldiers and asked, What are you fighting for? replied, I’m fighting because you’re down here."

-- Shelby Foote at The Paris Review

Mowing

I vowed that I was going to mow this week, in between 'grocery weeks', and I knocked that out this morning, both front and back, making it a one-day job, as I was determined on, so long as my right foot could hang in there. A real trial by ordeal. I am no longer a bouncy, irrepressible thirty-something. I started steeling my nerve for the chore as early as yesterday morning. It helped that the weather is expected to turn rainy tomorrow, thus narrowing my options. This morning, I was pumping myself up, "Get tough! Come on, get tough!" I had to, because I really felt like crying.

Doctorow

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AUDIENCE

Have you ever had the experience of losing a story because you talked about it to somebody before you’ve written it?

DOCTOROW

Yes. When you’re talking about a story you’re writing it. You’re sending it out into the air, it’s finished, it’s gone.

-- E. L. Doctorow at The Paris Review

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