Well, where to begin. In the name of full disclosurem I guess the most important changes have to do with my major and mbeing single (chronological order, not necessarily importance). After a poor performance in my last class for Human Development and Social Relations, my former major, I decided to change my major to Theatre Arts. I loved HDSR and I feel fortunate to have gained as much as I did, but I couldn't convince myself that the amount of work I was doing was worthwhile, hence the change. The change to theatre has been wonderful. I have the opportunity to study more in depth one of my passions, plus I'm getting a degree out of the deal. Send me an email some tim and I'll tell you all about it.

As for the change to single life, that happened early February. Guinevere and I decided to end out two year relationship on a good note. To be completely honest, I'm not really digging the whole single bit, but the decision was the right one for both of us.

Another big thing going on in my life is that, after four long years, I will finally be going back to Japan! I was recently accepted to participate in the Studies In Cross-cultural Education (SICE) program here at Earlham college. It starts in late August, and until mid December, I will be an assistant teacher of English in one of the public schools in Morika, Iwate Prefecture. It's designed as a field study in education with a heavy emphasis on Japanese culture. Everyone says it's a lot of work, but I'm incredibly excited to be going back.

I'm sitting in an Earlham owned van on my way to Washington D.C. for the antiwar protest. I took the first shift driving, from 7:00 EST to about 11:00 EDT. Actually protest isn't quite the right word, at least not in my opinion, because we haven't started a war in the traditional sense of the word. I guess demonstration or mass expression is the better term. I want to express that I don't feel that my government is representing me, that just because the majority of the country supports or accepts what's going on doesn't mean that it's right or that I agree. In these times, it seems to me that dissenting opinions must be made clearer than ever in order to prevent things from going too far.

Although, I enjoy driving, I'm appreciating the chance to look around at what appears through the darkness. Every so often we pass a police car parked on the side of the road by some some road work that;s taking place. And although I know it likely has nothing to do with the current state of national affairs, I can't help of being reminded of how things have been recently. I imagine people of middle eastern descent being the targets of racial profiling, being prohibited from flying on major airlines, being the targets of hate crimes committed by those claiming to be performing a duty to their country. It's unsettling to say the least.

Jay, who's using the affinity name "Oharjo" is driving. We've put on a mix he made which reflects how he felt the week after the attack. It's providing a rather interesting atmosphere. It's as if I'm taking part in something people would watch like a movie, and the music is the soundtrack. People would watch this, involved in what they were seeing, yet detached because they know it's not real; it's not happening to them.

I've chosen the affinity name "Pink" in light of Pink Floyd, which happened to be running through my head as we were choosing names. My choice actually came more in light of the character "Pink Floyd" from "The Wall" album and movie. I imagine he felt the same sort of detachment from things that I kind of feel from what's going on. Things are happening that I can't influence in the way I'd like. My civil liberties are threatened by people trying to pass legislation they could never slide by in a time when the people weren't scared. Scared of what terrorists might do, scared of what their fellow citizens might do if they expressed any sort of sentiment which might be interpreted as doubting our apparently infallible leaders.

To tell you the truth, that's one of the things I'm kind of frightened of about this protest: the 700 predicted counter-protesters, accusing me of being a bad american. I'm afraid of running into the same people who killed Muslims because someone of the same religion potentially committed these terrible acts. I think I have more reason to fear my fellow americans than I've ever had to fear Osama bin Laden.

But I'm going to face those people, because it's something I want to do. I'm not the kind of guy who jumps up and protests something as a knee-jerk reaction. I didn't go to the protest of Bush's inauguration because I didn't believe it was something worth protesting. I didn't plan on going to the IMF/World Bank protest because I don't know enough about it to be for it or against it. But this is something I want to do. I'm tired of personal mandates being carried out in my name. I don't want my government saying that they're going to find and punish whoever is responsible for this because it's what the american people want. I am an American person, and I don't believe you can punish anyone who is capable of this sort of act. You can torture him, imprison him, and kill him, but even if you managed to find some sort of way to make him regret what he did, it would not prevent him from becoming a martyr to others. Someone like this is likely looked at by some in the same way as the people of South Africa looked at Nelson Mandela. He was imprisoned and was used by the government as an example of what would happen to dissenters, and look at what happened. His imprisonment only gained further sympathy from others, and strengthened those who followed him in the first place. if we as Americans are truly right in what we believe and hold dear, then we can not risk provoking such a force.

Looking back at what I've written so far, I realize that this has taken a slightly different turn from what I had originally thought. I guess it's an indication of the kind of influence politics can have on how a person thinks, or at least the way I think. I'm tired of politics.