I'm taking down the Text section of my site. It may be permanent -- I just don't know yet. What I do know is that I haven't felt like writing in a long time. I used to love writing, but back then I lived in a country with civil rights, and an elected President, and we didn't have barbarian animals trying to kill us all with airplanes and anthrax. God knows I hope that President Bush and his administration can pull us through this mess relatively intact. But God also knows that this nation began seriously going down the toilet on January 21, 2001. I've just spent two hours sitting here trying to find some way of expressing my feelings about September 11, and I can't. I'm a pacifist, but I hope the murdering bastards die horribly. I remember a few years ago when I was in AA, a woman got up and spoke. She was staying in a halfway house, and as a Muslim she felt out of place and intimidated by the other women, who were Christian. Another man spoke next. He told her that her religion was not something to be ashamed of; that Islam was a faith with great truth and beauty and majesty; that God wears many masks. Are kind and tolerant Christians, Jews, Buddhists and Hindus truly farther from Allah than a gang of bigotted mass murderers? Who is really defiling Islam? I'm tired and angry and worried and sad. I love my family and friends, and I love my country. I hope something up there is watching over the world with compassion and pity. - David Bryant   October 13, 2001