September 13, 2001, 11:42 p.m.

a new, and by no means exhaustive, credo

back & forth

1. I believe I have heard from everybody I can think of in NY and DC. (Also my parents, who live not a half hour's drive from where the plane went down near Pittsburgh).

2. I believe I cannot give blood. They do not want my gay blood. I am happy to do what I can for the Red Cross, but there are limits to our patience. But now's not the time to couper cheveux en quatre.

3. I believe my parents' years in the Emirates have exposed the nerves of their racism and nationalism; they have finally finished chewing the hard bone of Them and Us. The light is dawning on them, I suppose. It's too strange to watch one's parents learning -- they should already know.

4. For lo, there is still nothing quite like sitting outside with a good beer and a smoke on a still summer night. Not all the savagery in the world can eclipse that.

5. Pray for peace.

a